Raptors News: NBA cap expert grades Scottie Barnes' extension and states the obvious

Max contracts don't grow on trees.

At least, there should be some care as to which players are handed a maximum contract. Especially in the new salary cap landscape of the NBA with the introduction of punitive penalties for having an expensive roster, it matters which players get maximum contracts. Some of the worst contracts in the league -- Ben Simmons, Bradley Beal, Zach LaVine -- were max deals handed to fringe stars who subsequently fell off and don't deserve them.

The Toronto Raptors handed out a maximum contract this summer, giving Scottie Barnes $224.2 million over five seasons, a deal that will kick in for the 2025-26 season and begin at $38.7 million. Barnes was also able to negotiate "Rose Rule" language into the deal, increasing his deal by five percent of the cap if he makes an All-NBA team. In that case, the contract would start at $46.4 million and total $269.1 million.

Were the Raptors right to give Barnes such a large contract? NBA salary cap expert Eric Pincus, working with Bleacher Report, went through and graded each contract extension handed out to players from the 2021 Draft Class, of which Scottie Barnes is a part after the Raptors took him fourth overall.

How did Pincus grade Barnes' deal, one of a few max contracts handed out? By walking down the middle.

Stating the obvious about the Raptors

On the one hand, the Toronto Raptors were not paying an arrived superstar a maximum contract to continue leading their contending team. Pincus states the obvious by pointing out that "The Toronto Raptors weren't very good" last year, winning just 25 games, and later again states "the Raptors weren't precisely dominant last season."

When a team is led by a young player who is already competing at the highest levels, a maximum contract is a no-brainer. When the player has not yet fully realized that potential, or is playing on a bad team where he hasn't yet proven himself capable of driving winning, the evaluation becomes a bit more difficult.

The Raptors could have negotiated harder with Barnes, trying to get him to agree to a lower number. Such a move would have been fairly unprecedented in the modern NBA. If a player becomes an All-Star in his first three seasons he is getting the max; that's essentially how it goes. Barnes may not be an MVP candidate yet, and his team isn't "precisely dominant" but as Pincus points out, Barnes' All-Star status and the Raptors' "internal confidence" on the trajectory of the team sealed the deal.

Barnes was far from the only player to receive a maximum contract extension from this class, although he is arguably the most accomplished of the group. Franz Wagner, Evan Mobley and Cade Cunningham all received maximum contracts despite not yet achieving the same level of personal success as Barnes. To some extent, these contract extensions are an expectation of what is to come. Worth it or not, that's how the market has worked over the past few years.

Pincus grades the Barnes extension

Coming back to Pincus and his evaluation, then, he acknowledged that this was always going to happen. The benefit of the Rose Rule is that a player can annoucne to the world that they signed a $270 million extension when the Raptors are only on the hook for $224 unless he makes an All-NBA team, at which point they would presumably be happy to pay the higher amount.

The Raptors also did not allow Barnes to negotiate a player option, and even at the max number his contract will increase less year-over-year than the salary cap is projected to, likely making that fifth and final year somewhat of a bargain is Barnes grows into a perennial All-Star player.

Pincus therefore grades this deal as a "B+" which was by far the most among his max-contract peers. Wagner and Mobley received a "B-" as their growth is less realized than Barnes, while the Pistons got a "C-" for the Cunningham deal given that their window for competing is so very far off.

Barnes has one last bargain year before his contract kicks in, and he will be gunning for an All-NBA spot to increase his contract. If Barnes can take that next step to being a Top-20 type of player, the Raptors will likely be pleased to pay up.