NBA Rumors: Why It Makes No Sense for Andrew Bynum to Sign Extension with 76ers
Fresh off the deal that brought Andrew Bynum to the Philadelphia 76ers, the franchise is apparently happy with what it sees so far.
News anchor Jeff Skversky reports that the organization is already thinking about the future in a big way:
"Sixers are internally preparing an offer for Andrew Bynum, but they have not begun preliminary talks regarding an extension yet.
— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) August 20, 2012"
But, is Andrew Bynum thinking the same thing?
He probably shouldn't be.
After all, there's a good reason that peers like Dwight Howard are determined to hit the free-agent market next summer instead of accepting an extension. They can make a lot more money.
According to the collective bargaining agreement the NBA struck in 2011, a player with Bird rights can re-sign with his former team for as many as five years. Extensions, however, are capped at just four years.
In other words, it almost never makes sense for a guy to do the extension. Deron Williams didn't. Roy Hibbert didn't. Dwight Howard won't.
The only reason Bynum might even think about it is because of his injury history. If something catastrophic happened to him this season and threatened his value on the open market, he'd already have some long-term security in place.
But, even by that logic, it makes more sense to wait until this summer to make a deal happen.
Bynum is coming off his healthiest, most effective season ever. It's far more likely that he'll run into injury trouble in three or four years than it is he'll run into more problems now. In that event, that extra year would be especially useful.
Even apart from the added security, the extra money is reason enough for Bynum to wait.
And, even though he already likes what he sees in Philly, he just might want to explore his options.
It would cost him that additional fifth year, but he could be willing to make that sacrifice in the event that something goes south with the 76ers. That's hard to imagine given this young team's rapid improvement, but anything can happen between now and next July.
Of course, Bynum might decide he'd rather sign on with a more established contender, reprising his role as a second option and escaping the tough scrutiny for which Philadelphia fans are well known.
Both the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks will have ample cap space, and one could argue they're closer to a title than the 76ers are.
Whether Bynum's bottom line is money or winning, he'd be ill-advised to sign an extension. Even if he's fully committed to returning to Philly, he'll wait to make it official.
