NBA Free Agency: Greg Monroe set to opt in for final year of contract

Coming off of perhaps his most productive all-around season, Bucks center Greg Monroe has decided to pick up his player option and defer his free agency until 2018.

According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, Milwaukee Bucks center Greg Monroe will pick up his $17.88 million option and remain with the team for one more season. After a rough year in 2015-2016, Monroe bounced back as Milwaukee’s first big off the bench last season. He produced at a high level on offense and had the best defensive season of his career.

Monroe’s situation represents an interesting test case for free agent centers in the NBA as the cap begins to plateau. During last summer’s spending bonanza, teams dished out lucrative deals to centers like Noah, Mahinmi, Mozgov and Miles Plumlee. Those contracts have quickly become dead salary. Just yesterday, the Lakers had to trade D’Angelo freaking Russell for the Nets to take on Timo Mozgov’s contract. Teams will be wary of signing one-way bigs moving forward.

Had Monroe been lucky enough to enter free agency in 2016, he probably would have received a big payday. With open cap room becoming increasingly rare across the league however, the market for centers has already shrunk. Monroe seems to have surveyed the situation and realized that he most likely wasn’t going to strike a rich deal.

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As far as the implications for the Bucks’ offseason, Monroe’s decision essentially ensures that they will operate as an over the cap team this summer. Unless the Bucks trade some combination of the Henson, Delly, Teletovic trio, they will have no space to work with. Milwaukee will have numerous exceptions at its disposal, so it can still pursue some lower tier free agents. The top priority for the Bucks will probably be to duck the tax though, which could become a real issue if a team makes a big offer for restricted free agent Tony Snell.