NEW YORK - JUNE 24: Xavier Henry stands with NBA Commisioner David Stern after being drafted twelfth by the Memphis Grizzlies at Madison Square Garden on June 24, 2010 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
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Xavier Henry and the Memphis Grizzlies remain at an impasse.
There are only two first round picks from the last draft that have not signed, and they both belong to the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s because Memphis has broken with what is seen as rookie contract tradition.
According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, rookie contracts are on a scale, in Henry’s case that first year salary is $1,683,500.
Memphis can offer from 80 to 120 percent of that scale. Teams almost always offer the 120 percent figure (the Spurs are the prominent exception). As is pointed out in a great contracts post at Sham Sports today, often incentives are used to reach that 120 percent figure (or a part of it). But those incentives often are pretty obtainable things, such as keeping up with workouts. Things that the player can control.
Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace doesn’t see it at way, as he told David Aldridge at NBA.com.
Wallace is tying the bonus to the number of minutes Henry plays.
That brings us to the Nate Robinson story. Last year late in the year, Doc Rivers sat Nate Robinson for a few games. Robinson had a couple rough games before that, but that is Nate -- some nights brilliant, some nights he struggles more. Sit him and you risk missing one of those nights when he wins the game for you off the bench. Rivers sat him anyway.
Then it turns out missing those games cost Robinson a contract bonus of $1 million. As Boston was paying the luxury tax, that is $2 million in savings to the franchise.
Look at that and you can see why Henry and his agent Arn Tellem balk at the idea of Henry’s bonus being in control of the team. Over the course of his rookie deal, that 20 percent could be worth $1.7 million. A lot of money to a rookie and to a small market team.
So here we stand. Memphis has picked a fight with a tiger in Tellem, and the fight drags on. To the potential detriment of the franchise and the player. Maybe it’s all just a foreshadowing of the lockout next summer.
