Even with his youth, there was no way that MPJ was worth a max contract and I say that as someone who is high on him than others. Duncan Robinson wasn’t that bad at the time as other 3pt specialist like Hield got the same deal, but his has aged worse than others.
Even with that last year not being fully guaranteed, it was still an overpay based on his injury history as they were in no rush to offer him that deal.
They could have left him hit RFA and got him a cheaper cost especially since the back injury would have hurt his leverage. It was rumored anyways that he even injured when he signed that deal.
That’s true they should’ve waited. But hindsight is 20/20. If he hadn’t gotten injured, a bad team with cap space would’ve thrown him a max offer sheet. And while they can match, there can be lingering tension between the player and organization for letting it get to that point that can spill over into the locker room. Look at Ayton and the Suns.
