Report: Marcin Gortat held out for 5th year on contract
When the Marcin Gortat deal with the Washington Wizards was revealed, many didn’t fret displaying their frustration with the deal.
At 5-years, $60 million, the money isn’t the issue. These days, if you’re a two-way center, you’re going to make upwards of $10 million dollars. Due to Gortat’s age, he’ll be 30, the $12 per year make sense. The issue here is the length of the deal due to Gortat’s age and according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post, Gortat held out for the fifth year of his contract.
"The two sides were initially unable to agree upon the number of years, according to a league source with knowledge of the situation. When Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld added the fifth year, Gortat agreed to return."
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By the end of Gortat’s deal he’ll be 35 years old. Based on the trajectory of centers across the league, the prime of a big man comes between the ages of 26-32, depending on the ceiling. We saw this recently with Tyson Chandler of the Dallas Mavericks who peaked around age 30 when he anchored the defense for the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.
Gortat is in that prime and for this Washington Wizards team who hasn’t dealt with success often in the last few decades, you see why they jumped to make sure Gortat is back with the franchise because had he left, the Wizards would’ve been a borderline playoff team in the Eastern Conference.
With the deal done, the Wizards now expect in-house improvement to propel the team to new heights. In a weak East, the conference finals could be within their grasp, but none of that happens if Gortat signs with someone else.