One of the biggest concerns by a fair amount of NBA players right now is the increased risk of injury they will be subjecting themselves to once the bubble restarts, and how a potential injury will have an adverse effect on their contract negotiations in the upcoming offseason.
According to reports, these players and their camps have found a potential solution to address this dilemma, and are hoping that the league considers their proposition:
Per a league source: Some are pushing the NBA/NBPA to allow players potentially in line for a max contract extension (Bam Adebayo, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, etc.) to sign that deal prior to the resumption of this current season vs having to wait for the offseason.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 17, 2020
That does sound like a fair compromise, but we are not certain if this is something their respective teams will be amenable to. A lot can still happen between now and the NBA offseason — including how the teams and the players fare in the playoffs — so to some extent, signing a new contract this early would be jumping the gun. This is especially the case when you consider the amount of money involved in these deals. All three of the aforementioned players in the report are looking to sign max extensions with their respective teams, which means that whatever financial commitment the team gets into now will pretty much determine the future of the franchise for the next few years.
Then again, you also need to consider the loyalty factor here. At this point, it appears that teams are being expected to show their loyalty to their stars. We all know how the Miami Heat, Utah Jazz, and the Boston Celtics have no intention of letting Bam Adebayo, Donovan Mitchell, and Jayson Tatum, respectively, go anywhere, so perhaps they could do them a solid by offering the extension prior to the restart. After all, we are living in unusual times, and while it is unprecedented, a move like this might be necessary at this point for everyone's sake.
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