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The Whiteboard: Welcome to the NBA summer of qualifying offers

By Ti Windisch

OAKLAND, CA - MAY 26: Clint Capela #15 of the Houston Rockets seen in the locker room before the game against the Golden State Warriors in Game Six of the Western Conference Finals during the 2018 NBA Playoffs on May 26, 2018 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - MAY 26: Clint Capela #15 of the Houston Rockets seen in the locker room before the game against the Golden State Warriors in Game Six of the Western Conference Finals during the 2018 NBA Playoffs on May 26, 2018 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The current NBA cap crunch means some talented young players will look to the qualifying offer to help them find real money next summer.

Young, talented restricted free agents in the NBA have three options: they can sign an offer sheet with a team and see if their team matches, they can simply sign with their team, or they can sign a one-year, cheap qualifying offer.

For anyone who doesn’t know (aka for anyone who has a life), the qualifying offer must be extended to a restricted free agent to make them so. It has to be a one-year deal, and any restricted free agent that signs it is then an unrestricted free agent next year.

The qualifying offer is not used that often, because it’s not really that advantageous for either party. The player gets away from their team faster, but with a lot of risk and almost no guaranteed money, in terms of NBA contracts. The team, of course, will probably lose the player after the year is up.

Greg Monroe taking the QO from the Detroit Pistons after his rookie deal was up was notable because it was one of the few times a player did so. Monroe felt the frontcourt in Detroit was crowded since the Pistons added Andre Drummond, and he wanted to bail. So he did.

A cap crunch is making life very difficult for all sorts of NBA free agents this summer, and the restricted ones aren’t safe from it either. As of Thursday night, 13 restricted free agents remain unsigned. Bobby Marks of ESPN listed them all, plus what their qualifying offers would be worth. As you can see, the answer is generally not much.

Some of those players are still around because they’re just not top priorities, but some of them are young players with real talent, especially Clint Capela, Marcus Smart, Jabari Parker, and Zach LaVine. In a normal summer, all of those guys would expect and probably receive longterm contracts.

Unfortunately for them, the money just isn’t there this summer. To get back on the market quickly, the qualifying offer could be signed in a lot of those cases. Capela, who is probably the most proven of those players besides maybe Smart, is reportedly considering signing the QO.

Don’t be surprised if other players on that list reach the same conclusion. Lots of free agents, restricted and otherwise, are taking one-year deals to hit free agency next summer, when the money is back. Although, if everybody is a free agent next summer, will there really be that much cap space to go around..?

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