Veteran swingman Matt Barnes, one of the most coveted free agents left on the open market, announced Monday night that he is headed to the Toronto Raptors.
But the limited sign-and-trade options available to Orlando -- Barnes' last team -- could scuttle the deal, according to sources close to the situation.
Barnes
Under the impression that he would be receiving a two-year contract in the $10 million range, Barnes thanked Magic fans via his Twitter feed and said that he'll be "playing for the Toronto Raptors" next season.
Sources told ESPN.com that the teams will resume discussions Tuesday, as planned all along, with the intent of landing Barnes with the Raptors via sign-and-trade.
Yet no such deal could be assured as of midnight, raising the possibility that Barnes would have to accept new terms to sign with the Raptors or that other teams that have been chasing Barnes will get another shot at him if the deal collapses.
Since Toronto recently spent the bulk of its $5.8 million mid-level exception to sign Linas Kleiza, it doesn't have the available funds to sign Barnes outright to a deal that starts in the neighborhood of $4 million.
The Magic, though, are prevented by salary-cap rules from starting a sign-and-trade deal for Barnes at higher than $2 million, because Orlando doesn't have Barnes' full Bird rights after employing him for only one season. A sign-and-trade deal would also have to span at least three years, although only the first year is required to be guaranteed.
Barnes was initially believed to be on the verge of signing with a title contender late last week -- such as Miami, Boston or the Los Angeles Lakers -- when the Raptors made an aggressive late rush to join the bidding.
Barnes also gave serious consideration in recent days to the Cleveland Cavaliers before talks with Toronto got serious.
Barnes started 58 games last year for Orlando in his only season with the Magic after a hard recruiting push from center Dwight Howard.
The 30-year-old averaged 8.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in Orlando and had originally signed a two-year deal with the team. But Barnes 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 own 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.
If Toronto does not become Barnes' eighth stop in a career that began with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2003, it will be the second high-profile deal to unravel unexpectedly at the Raptors' expense this offseason.
Earlier this month, Charlotte agreed to participate in a trade originally hatched by Toronto and the Phoenix Suns, which would have brought Tyson Chandler and Boris Diaw to the Raptors. But the Bobcats pulled out and traded Chandler to Dallas one day later
They are handling them HORRIBLY.
I hope you're right. I want ownership to fire Colangelo and Triano and bring in competent management that know what the heck they're doing. This is Colangelo's 5th year in charge of the team and the 4th time he's completely overhauled the roster. He brings players in and then trades them away months later...then when we get off to a slow start every season the team says they need time for all the new players to build some chemistry. Our idiot GM fired Sam Mitchell for an 8-8 start in 2008, but then gave Triano an extension after he went 25-41 in 08/09 and then 40-42 in 09/10 with a roster that Colangelo called the best he had ever assembled as Raptor GM.
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Portland was loaded at the wing position the last few seasons with people like Brandon Roy, Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster and Nicolas Batum. There just wasn’t enough PT to go around. And it’s tough to get burn when the team’s best player mans the same position as you.
loaded. Yeah, sure. Didn't Roy miss a few games? Didn't Martell miss like a whole season? Didn't Outlaw also miss half a season? Didn't Batum miss half a season? But kid couldn't get any playing time?
Dude is pure vag, stays behind the 3 point line at all costs, he wants no part of the paint whatsoever, and the fact he wants to play for D'Antoni is even more proof.
Great move by Pritchard getting him though. And hyping him up to no end.
I wonder what Bayless thinks of Wes Mathews deal.
Yeah I thought Detroit's off-season last year was bad, but Toronto has far exceeded all expectations. It seems like each move is a huge overreaction to other teams' signings or just done with no rhyme or reason.Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez
I hope you're right. I want ownership to fire Colangelo and Triano and bring in competent management that know what the heck they're doing. This is Colangelo's 5th year in charge of the team and the 4th time he's completely overhauled the roster. He brings players in and then trades them away months later...then when we get off to a slow start every season the team says they need time for all the new players to build some chemistry. Our idiot GM fired Sam Mitchell for an 8-8 start in 2008, but then gave Triano an extension after he went 25-41 in 08/09 and then 40-42 in 09/10 with a roster that Colangelo called the best he had ever assembled as Raptor GM.
This team is a joke from top to bottom. We have consistently been one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA for the last 4-5 years and yet Colangelo has failed to add any significant defensive pieces to our team.
If the Raptors finish 7th or 8th in the East next season it'll be spun as a major achievement by management seeing as how we've missed the playoffs 2-years in a row and we just lost our best player. Mediocrity FTL
They musta asked him to rebound and play defense.......Originally Posted by rck2sactown
Amare's punk *%* decided he no longer cares about his country and decided not to play for team USA this summer.........ok actually it had something to do with the insurance on his 100 mil but still...
Originally Posted by rck2sactown
Amare's punk *%* decided he no longer cares about his country and decided not to play for team USA this summer.........ok actually it had something to do with the insurance on his 100 mil but still...
