espn.com <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">In the hopes of discouraging New Jersey from matching the deal, the Denver Nuggets have included one of the largest signing bonuses in NBA history -- one worth at least $15 million -- in the six-year, approximately $82.3 million offer sheet they are prepared to give Nets restricted free agent Kenyon Martin, sources told ESPN's David Aldridge on Tuesday night.</div> this kinda hurts. i pretty much had a feeling if denver was going to go in, they were going to go all in. if we kept keyon,we would have to pay between 20-30mil immediately to honor the terms according to the article. we still really know nothing about bruce ratner. a man's words can only mean so much. you would like to feel that when he told rod/ed to anything to keep kmart w/o trading kidd that that would mean to just match the offer kenyon got from denver, which he is going to sign today/wed. also, it is 1:10am and i just saw steven a smith on espn talking about the fa's and he said kenyon will sign denvers offer sheet later today/wed. he also said to expect the nets to 'take thier sweet old time' in making a decision. so he thinks they will wait the 2weeks and make denver basically miss out on other fa's. so either denver will have to wait 15days to get kmart or have to wait 15days to get nothing and have a good majority of fa's off the market. DONT SCREW US BRUCE 'RAT' RATNER! your rep is on the line!
This could really hurt for the Nets. That's a huge deal to match, especially that signing bonus. They could have a very tough time getting him back, if he even comes back. This is going to be interesting to see what the Nets do about him, because, if they do match this offer, they lose RJ after next season. So, they also have to think of the future before matching the deal. They have to think who is more important to that team, Jefferson or Martin? Because, they can only have one after next year anyways, so, this could be the choice right here.
Man, one of the biggest signing bonus in NBA history for my man KMart. I should be happy for him as a KMart fan, but not as a Nets fan. Write that check Ratner!
Yeah, I guess you can say that the NJ Nets are pretty much screwed this season. Kenyon is the 2nd biggest part of this team next to Kidd.
They have to do a sign-and-trade, or hope that Martin accepts a non-front loaded contract. I personally prefer the sign-and-trade, because that relieves some salary woes that the Nets will have if Martin accepts an 'offer beater'.
