The NBA is still in the backroom, it has not left Walter Tavares’ options for next season. Real Madrid’s Cape Verdean center, who just turned 32, ends his contract in June. His situation has not been resolved and he has long been one of the few shadows (also those of others in similar cases, such as Hezonja) of a happy team, leader in the ACB and Euroleague, where it also defends the title.
Tavares, the most dominant center in Europe in recent years, MVP of the last Final Four, three times Best Defender and three times in the Best Quintet (and five times the leader in blocks), sees with the best eyes, in sports and in personal, the option of continuing in Madrid. But this remains blocked because he considers that his salary (about 3.5 million euros, but gross) does not match his current performance. He wants more. Real Madrid has clear salary criteria that it tries not to break so as not to create imbalances that in the middle position turn the structure of the squad into a puzzle that is very difficult to solve. So both parties continue negotiating, still without good news for the white fans and with obvious risks, as long as it is, because it is an absolutely differential player, already a veteran (he will complete seven years in Madrid) but devastating in the areas from its 2.21.
Donatas Urbonas, a Lithuanian journalist very connected to the European basketball market, reopens the NBA route for Tavares. He assures that the door to the United States would open again if a competitive team arrives, one that has a defined and important role for it and that puts on the table a salary that would cover a good part or all of the midlevel exception, one of the weapons to sign players. of franchises in the free agent market. That midlevel is now, according to the current salary cap, at about $12.5 million.
Edy Tavares is exploring his NBA options as he becomes a free agent this summer. Tavares is seeking a substantial role on a competitive NBA team, with his desired annual deal potentially reaching the mid-level exception level, valued at $12.5M, per sources.
— Donatas Urbonas (@Urbodo) March 23, 2024
There were already rumors of teams like the Portland Trail Blazers, which did not materialize, in past market windows. And it’s not just the NBA: Panathinaikos already tried to sign Tavares last summer and has made it clear that he will do it again. He wants to do another pharaonic project to culminate his return to the European front after a few years of slump and, obviously, there are few better options on the market… as long as no agreement is reached with Real Madrid.
Tavares, trained in Gran Canaria (2009-15), went to the NBA (2015) but returned in 2017, disappointed. He had hardly had any minutes, nor a clear role nor personal stability: Atlanta, Cleveland… a lot of toll in the Development League and only 13 games and 101 minutes in an NBA where the defensive rules and style of play are sufficiently different (especially all because of the three seconds in the zone and the predominance of the three-point shot) enough for a player like Tavares to go from absolutely devastating as he is in Europe to totally residual.
However, it seems that the center believes that, so many years later, he could erase his bad mouth in the United States if the right conditions are met. The hand in the game, in any case, is still Real Madrid’s and the most plausible option, his continuity. But there are alternatives, and these might not just be in Europe.
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2024-03-23 10:44:50
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