Darko agrees to $20 million deal with Minnesota
For a guy who has never felt at home in the NBA thus far in his career, Darko Milicic looks like he will be staying in America after all. The Wolves and Darko have reportedly agreed on a 4-year, $20 million deal, keeping Darko in Minnesota where he finished last season. This is a dramatic turn of events for Milicic, who was expected to go back to Europe this summer, but endeared himself to coach Kurt Rambis and GM David Kahn.
For one of the biggest draft busts in history, seeing Darko get $5 million a year is shocking to say the least. Kahn, always going against common sense, must see something in Darko that the Pistons, Knicks, Grizzlies, and Magic never saw in his first seven years. Kahn has said he sees Darko’s return as a big factor in whether Al Jefferson will still be with the team next year, so in case there was any doubt, Jefferson is now officially on the trading block.
In addition to giving Darko this obscene deal, Kahn also gave former second-round pick Nikola Pekovic a 3-year, $13 million deal last night. These two have effectively diminished the Wolves cap room to around $5 million, ruining their chances of acquiring even the slightest of stars in this free agent class.
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July 1st, 2010 at 12:59 pm
marcus the great says:
lolol
even though i think darko is a lot better than he is portrayed to be…..
FAIL
fukka first….
July 1st, 2010 at 1:00 pm
shakashi says:
astonished not a good move but we’ll c
July 1st, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Antouan says:
Talk about panic decisions….simply the difference between a sub-par team and a medicore team. I see no wisdom in these moves
July 1st, 2010 at 1:07 pm
H-man says:
Totally insane move by the T’s. But good for all the other teams (e.g., the Nets) who may get shut out of the Lebron sweepstakes and now have to turn elsewhere.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Jordi says:
Another T-Wolves Fail
July 1st, 2010 at 1:10 pm
frmkt says:
i think rambo-rambis loves l.a.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Daniel Marks says:
@antouan
You are right, it makes the Wolves slightly better but does nothing to help them become relevant again in the standings
July 1st, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Mike says:
Eh, Kwame Brown got a 2-year, 8mil deal in 2008 so 7 years of being a bust clearly isn’t enough to keep guys from 4 or 5 million per year.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:20 pm
dagwaller says:
Don’t see how this is any worse than Drew Gooden at 6mil plus. It’s not like they’re throwing him a ton of money OR a ton of years.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Matt says:
After the trade, darko wasn’t awful. 11 and 5 or so. He’s only 24 or 25. Not a horrible signing… better than overpaying Rudy Gay…
July 1st, 2010 at 1:37 pm
jace says:
at 5 mil? thats not bad. big men are hard to find. i think hes important for al jefferson tho. darko lets al play at his natural position.. the power forward spot. whenever they play k-love and big al at the same time.. theyre pretty undersized. nobodys afraid of driving in on that duo.. at least darko can give them a big body in the paint for a couple blocks. 5 mil is like the midlevel exception.
this is not a bad deal. lets face it.. there are infinitely more worse deals out there.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:57 pm
lebacire says:
yeah! nice deal if they just let darko play his own way of playing…the team he use to play force him to bang inside..just watch him play last fiba tournament..he got skills its just that it is used in wrong system…..
July 1st, 2010 at 1:58 pm
jryu says:
so basically, david kahn took that article you guys posted the other day about how to build a championship contender and took a GIGANTIC ASS DUMP on it…
July 1st, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Sporty-j says:
lmaol… Minnesota, you are surely heading in the right direction. You will have the #1 pick in the draft. When are these teams ever going to come up and i see y after they draft there lottery picks that are good that someone like L.A. steals them away after a couple of yrs and stay on top.
July 1st, 2010 at 2:10 pm
eazy yeezy says:
fact: giving darko 20mil immediatly after giving a 2nd round pick 13mil is not the way to build a successful franchise. but seriously, its minn- who gives a shit?
July 1st, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Daniel Marks says:
There are worse deals then this but spending effectively all your cap space on Darko and Pekovic doesn’t solve anything. The Wolves have no direction right now
July 1st, 2010 at 2:35 pm
karizmatic says:
This is a case in point of why some organizations will never be successful.
July 1st, 2010 at 2:40 pm
DZ says:
All I have to say is one huge OMG.
July 1st, 2010 at 3:11 pm
dsflkjdsfa says:
i don’t think the TWolves understand supply/demand. you’re telling me if they offered him 15 mil, he would get signed by another team at 16mil?
hell, they probably coulda offered him 10 mil and he’d still sign.
July 1st, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Heckler says:
david kahn has kevin mchale syndrome.
July 1st, 2010 at 3:41 pm
DoubleA says:
Big guys get paid, that’s how it works. As a T-Puppy fan I’d rather have Darko at $5 mil per than Brendan Haywood at $6 mil per.
July 1st, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Legend 33 says:
I think Kahn recently said that the wolves don’t have anybody on their roster that can start for another team except Darko. Give Kahn 3 or 4 years and see how things pan out, Minnesota is at a disadvantage to get free agents because of the weather, so they need to build around Euros and the draft.
July 1st, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Brickshooting J says:
Las Vegas Timberwolves in three years’ time?
July 1st, 2010 at 5:08 pm
lobohobo says:
Kahnman is doing a TERRIFIC job building a championship team, for SACRAMENTO!!!! I can not believe that Rambis is as dumb, another reason Sacramento is thankful for Kahnman. AND he WANTS to trade Jefferson away???!!!
July 1st, 2010 at 6:20 pm
quest??? says:
I think this is a good signing. Ever since Darko was traded to Minnesota he was been a very solid big man. Also, Darko fits better with Kevin Love than Al Jefferson fits with Kevin Love. I like this deal, the only reason people say Darko is a bust is because he was chosen number 2 overall on a great draft. If he was chosen on the late first round or the second round, people would say he has been solid lately. Its not his fault joe dumars fucked up and picked him with the number two draft pick.
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:06 am
AL says:
reminds me of that Dan Gadzuric signing a few years ago… Or that dumbass Brian Cardinal signing by the Logo.
Both guys were somewhat useful at the right price, in the right role, to the right team.
But teams really need to learn not to bid against themselves.