San Antonio Spurs center Jakob Poeltl may get a lucrative new deal once the NBA's free agency period rolls around, the Stein Line's Marc Stein wrote in a Sunday article.
“One more leftover rumble from my recent San Antonio trip: League sources say in-demand Spurs center Jakob Poeltl, who is in the final season of a three-year deal worth $26.3 million, will be seeking a new deal in the $20 million range annually this summer when he hits free agency,” Stein wrote. “The Spurs have been telling teams that they hope to keep Poeltl despite the significant trade interest he’s generating and San Antonio’s obvious dreams of winning the Victor Wembanyama lottery sweepstakes.”
Poeltl signed his three-year extension in late 2020, bumping his pay up to an average of an average of $8.75 million per year from the $3.8 million he earned the season prior. The 27-year-old center will have earned a total of just over $38.2 million from NBA contracts by the time free agency hits, according to Spotrac, meaning he could earn just above 52% of his total NBA earnings in one year should he sign get the contract Stein said he would seek.
Poeltl would join a short list of NBA centers who are earning $20 million or more per year, including an MVP finalist in Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and the 2022 NBA MVP in Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić. The $20 million cap hit would put him on par with Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen and Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic.
“The list of NBA centers currently making at least $20 million goes only nine deep … and that’s only if we include both Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota,” wrote Stein. “The others: The Lakers' Anthony Davis, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, Denver's Nikola Jokić and Phoenix's Deandre Ayton are all with Gobert and Towns in the $30 million-and-above category; Boston's Al Horford ($26.5 million), Chicago's Nikola Vučević ($22 million) and Cleveland's Jarrett Allen ($20 million) are next in line.”
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