<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Without a hint of hesitation, Lewis said he's sure he'll exercise a clause in his contract to void the last two years of the deal following the 2006-07 season. He knows he's scheduled to earn more than $10 million in the '07-08 season, but expects his value on the free-agent market will exceed that. Lewis isn't certain how much he'll be able to command, but he's fairly certain that it will be more than what the Sonics can afford. "My mindset is that I'm going to look at the last two years of my contract, how much money I'm going to make in the last two years and how much money I can get if I opt out of my contract," Lewis said. "I think it's a lot of areas I'm going to have to look at [and] see what teams are going to be able to do. Is there going to be a lot of teams out there that are going to be able to pay me? "Are the Sonics going to be able to pay me? I don't know. I know that same year if I opt out, Luke Ridnour is going to be up. Nick Collison is going to be up. There's going to be a lot of confusion going on after the amount of money that Ray [Allen] got. It's going to be tough, but I do plan on opting out."</div> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/soni...1_sonics24.html Pretty much a no-brainer to explore his options. Still, if he's looking for Ray Allen money I'd be mildly surprised if he got that.
Deng man, I cant imagine Lewis anything else but a Sonic, hopefully he'll stay, but we probably cant afford him if he is looking for Ray Allen type money.
I predict that Shard will follow in Ray's footsteps. Next time that they play the Spurs he will go up to Pop and tell him how much he would love to play in San Antonio.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">I predict that Shard will follow in Ray's footsteps. Next time that they play the Spurs he will go up to Pop and tell him how much he would love to play in San Antonio.</div> I am guessing you mean Barry's footsteps.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post">I am guessing you mean Barry's footsteps.</div> No, he meant Ray.
I think Ray pretty much told 28 other teams that he'd love to play there, not sure if he got in contact with Bernie Bickerstaff though. Anyway, does anyone blame Lew? He is having another All-Star calibre season, right now the team isn't doing so well and he's fully entitled to test his market value. I'd expect any other player in the same situation to do the same thing, and I am pretty confident that if management looks after him then he'll stay a Sonic for the rest of his career.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">I am pretty confident that if management looks after him then he'll stay a Sonic for the rest of his career.</div> By 'look after' are you talking max deal or close to it?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">By 'look after' are you talking max deal or close to it?</div> If he is an All-Star this season and next (or around the mark), then yes. If he is planning on opting out, then it obviously means he's going to have to put his game to that level over the next two seasons and that's a positive for us. Just saying that as long as management don't lowball him and offer him a fair deal when he does opt out - which may be near the max - then I don't think we'll have too much to worry about.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting odde23:</div><div class="quote_post">No, he meant Ray.</div> As I recall, the rumour was two years ago that Barry went up to Pop during a game and begged, half jokingly supposedly, to get me out of here. Of course he got the offer that off season. I haven't heard Ray accused of the same, though he was on the FA market this year, I am sure he talked to everybody, but wasn't interested in the teams that could afford him (e.g. Atlanta).
