Bobby Marks, ESPN's NBA labor agreement expert, today analyzed the salary issues the Lone Rangers face during the offseason, saying Tim Hardaway Jr. expects to get a new contract with a starting salary of between $15 million and $18 million.
If Hardaway Jr.'s eventual contract extension starts at $18 million, which will put the Lone Ranger's total salary above the salary cap, then they will only have $9.5 million in the middle class and $3.8 million in biennial exceptions that can be used in the free agent market.
In an interview today, Hardaway Jr. talked about the free market options that he was about to face, saying: "If you ask the people around me, they will tell you that I like life in Dallas. ”
Hardaway Jr. averaged 16.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game this season and shot 39.1 percent from three-point range. In the playoff series against the Clippers, he averaged 17 points per game and averaged 3.3 three-pointers per game from 40.4 percent long-range shooting.
![The Mavericks 4-for-1 deal is out! Hardaway Jr. goes to the Raptors, and the 22+6 top forward gallops to help Eastern Europe![fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)