In a surprise move, Golden State Warriors point guard Baron Davis has opted out of the final year of his contract and will test the free agent waters. Why is this a surprise? I don’t know…maybe it’s because he is leaving about $18 million in guaranteed money on the table! Yes you read that correctly. Davis’ contract next year would have been for a little under $18 million. Now ultimately he will probably just re-sign with Golden State. The only teams with cap space are Philly and Memphis. He certainly isn’t going to Memphis. Davis in Philly would be interesting though. A line up with Andre Miller, Davis, and Andre Igoudala could certainly make some noise in the East. But Davis is a west coast guy and is just looking to milk the Warriors for a new contract. That being said, Davis is almost 30…not a good age for point guards. Davis will get paid no doubt. When healthy he is still one of the top 5 point guards in the league. BUT…HE IS LEAVING $18 MILLION ON THE TABLE!!! It is guaranteed money. All I’m saying is…if I told you someone was passing on $18 million you probably would think that person was pretty stupid. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.

UPDATE 07/02/08 - So it appears Davis has accepted a 5 year deal worth $65 million offered by the LA Clippers. So doing the math that is about $13 million per year. Now while he is getting the security of a 5 year deal, the $13 million per year is a lot less than the $18 million he passed up from Golden State. It is hard to believe that Golden State would not have offered a deal with similar years and more money. So basically Davis has not only cost himself some serious dollars (he will now be making only $13 million a year), but he has undoubtedly stirred up bad blood with his loyal Oakland area supporters. It doesn’t help that he left them for a conference rival (at least if he went to Philly he would be in the Eastern conference). From Golden State’s point of view I would look at this as a good thing. Davis leaving frees up a ton of cap space and more importantly, they can officially hand the reins of the team over to Monta Ellis. Ellis is a superstar in the making who will now be the undisputed point guard leader of a team custom made for his style of play. Factor in that Davis has barely ever been able to stay healthy for a full season and has only lead them to the playoffs once during his tenure…and ultimately his bolting starts to look like a positive long term development for this team.

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Tags: Baron Davis, basketball, Golden State Warriors, LA Clippers, Sports