Ackshun wrote:
Something clearly went wrong between the org and pascal. What a mess
I don't really understand where this belief comes from other than one report about the team "cutting off communications" in the summer (whatever that means).
The team offered him an extension at the start of last season that he declined. It was reported as a 3 year extension, which makes zero sense because that would only add 1 new year to his deal. I suspect the reporter meant an offer that extends his current deal another 3 years after it ends. That means the Raptors offered him a 5 year extension because the CBA includes the remaining years on the current contract in the extension term.
Pascal declining this offer probably means he wanted to try and make All-NBA to increase his base salary and/or wanted to wait so that he was able to get more than 3 new years on an extension (the maximum available at that time).
The team did not offer an extension at the start of this season. When Masai was asked about it he referred to the selfishness of the team last year. I don't think that's specifically about Pascal being a selfish player. A team being selfish can mean they don't trust their teammates enough and not that players are only trying to put up numbers for themselves. It makes sense to me that Masai would want to see if the team can play unselfishly this year (especially without Fred—addition by subtraction IMO) before committing to keeping Pascal as part of the core for 3-4 years.
The report about the team and Pascal working towards a December 30th deadline for an extension makes little sense to me. Yes, it would have setup his tradability for the start of the off-season but how is that a good thing to be negotiating around? We want to sign you now so we have the flexibility to trade you in 6 months? That isn't much of a commitment from the team and it would be fair for a player to be put off if that actually happened.
A possible factor actually creating "mess" is if Pascal thinks the 5 year extension that was offered last season (per my interpretation) should still be on the table; that would add 4 new years to his expiring contract. Meanwhile, the team might only be offering a 4 year extension right now so that the length of his contract remains the same as it would have been if he signed an extension last year (3 new years). If this is a point of contention then it again makes sense that Pascal wouldn't sign an extension before the off-season.
I think they all know it's a business. It is in the best interest for the team to try and trade him if they think they can get more value than Pascal would provide on an extension. It is in Pascal's best interest to not make any commitments now and explore free agency. The Raptors could hold firm on an offer with 3 new years but tell Pascal to explore free agency and they would match an offer of 4 years. In the end it might be in both their best interests to re-sign in Toronto. We shall see.
