Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: Reports Say Big Extension
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is close to a $52 million dollar extension with the Charlotte Hornets according to reports from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. This extension will keep Kidd-Gilchrist from hitting the market next season as a restricted free agent. The extension really hits next year’s cap which is assumed to be much higher from new NBA deals that kick in that season.
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Kidd-Gilchrist was the reward for the Charlotte Bobcats suffering the worst season in NBA history on a percentage basis. He was raw then, and he is not to his complete form yet. However he is twenty-one years old and his game has been improving steadily each year. Sure Mark Price is not around to fix his shot anymore, but someone will keep working on Kidd-Gilchrist’s fundamentals.
Defensively, Kidd-Gilchrist has been a good fit for Coach Steve Clifford’s philosophy. His length and athleticism have always been useful there. He has been injured at times, but he continues to be the third building block behind center Al Jefferson and point guard Kemba Walker. This extension guarantees that the Hornets are going to try to keep building their core, even as the other surrounding pieces seem to keep changing year after year.
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Kidd-Gilchrist’s new contract could be arranged a couple of different ways, but the simplest version would see him making $13 million per season in the four years of the extension. That would be more than Walker in the current scheme of things but less than Jefferson. Of course Jefferson will also be on a new deal by then, so it might not be as close as it is right now.
With Kidd-Gilchrist locked down, it becomes more important for the Hornets to locate shooting to run beside him and the not quite distance friendly Walker. We know that is Nicolas Batum and Jeremy Lamb for now, but not necessarily the future.