C.J. Watson: Brooklyn Nets Contract Breakdown

The Numbers:
2012-13: $992,680
2013-14: $1,106,942 (player option)

Contract: C.J. Watson signed a two-year deal for the veteran’s minimum in the 2013 offseason with the Brooklyn Nets, the second year a player option worth a little over $1.1 million. Watson is expected to decline his option, making him an unrestricted free agent.

There’s a good chance that Watson could have earned more on the open market, but decided to come to Brooklyn to back up the recently signed Deron Williams and join Brooklyn’s competitive roster.

What the Nets can offer: The most the Nets can offer C.J. Watson is the entirety of the taxpayer midlevel exception, worth about $9.98 million over three years. The exception can be split up but not exceed the $9.98/3 figure (or 3.183 million in the first year). If the Nets do not offer a whole or part of the taxpayer midlevel exception to Watson, the most they can offer him is 120% of his earned salary last year, which is only about $85,000 more than his player option.

Expectations: If C.J. Watson indeed declines his player option as expected, it’s all but certain that we’ve seen the last of him in a Nets uniform. The Nets are likely to use their taxpayer midlevel exception on Bojan Bogdanovic or Andray Blatche, and it’s possible that after a solid season shooting the ball (a career-high 41.1% from 3) Watson could even earn more than that on the open market.

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