Trusted source Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Matt Barnes is coming to Toronto in a 2-year $9mil deal, with the 2nd year being a player option.
Word is that Matt wanted to jump to a contender and get a ring, but nobody was offering him this type of money. Could this be a case of over-paying?
Matt Barnes has confirmed he is a Raptor via his Twitter.
From ESPN:
Barnes averaged 8.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in Orlando and had originally signed a two-year deal with the team but exercised his option to become a free agent after playing for $1.6 million in 2009-10.
With salary-cap rules limiting the raise the Magic could offer unless it cut into its $5.8 million mid-level exception, Magic general manager Otis Smith said last week that matching Chicago’s offer sheet to sharpshooter J.J. Redick and signing Quentin Richardson were budget priorities.
Barnes, who turned 30 in March, has played for seven different teams over his seven-year NBA career.
From NBA.com:
The handwriting was on the wall for Barnes in Orlando when the Magic signed veteran swingman Quentin Richardson to a contract and matched the three-year, $19.5 million offer sheet for guard J.J. Redick given by the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers came hard after Barnes, who averaged 8.8 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Magic last season. Barnes got into a celebrated row with Kobe Bryant during a late regular-season game and then accused Bryant afterward of throwing numerous elbows and said he would not back down from challenging Bryant in the future.
That assertion may have impressed Bryant–who, a source says, pressed hard for the Lakers to get Barnes just as he had pushed them to sign former nemesis Raja Bell. Bell opted to return to the Utah Jazz with a three-year, $10 million deal last week.
A source said that Barnes wanted to return to Orlando but didn’t get an offer from the Magic, which had signed him to a one-year minimum deal last summer.The Raptors will be Barnes’s eighth NBA team. Miami and Boston could only offer the veteran’s minimum of $1.146 mllion for Barnes after the Heat used its remaining cap room to sign forward Mike Miller, and the Celtics used their mid-level exception on Jermaine O’Neal.
From The Toronto Star:
The deal is not finalized and could still fall apart but sources suggested it’s far enough along that both sides are confident it will be done.
The move will have to be a sign-and-trade deal for the unrestricted free agent and will eat about $9 million of the $14.5 million trade exception the Raptors got when Chris Bosh left for the Orlando Magic.
The Raptors would have to send something else — likely a second-round draft pick — to Orlando to complete the transaction.