So BSO previously reported that Joe Johnson was virtually a lock to accept the six-year, maximum salary contract offered by the Atlanta Hawks a couple of days ago … well, now it looks like Joe is not a lock just yet.
There are now various reports that Johnson is hesitating to accept the (more than generous) offer from the Hawks because he wants to wait and see what happens with the other top free agents.
ESPN reports:
Sources tell Chris Sheridan that Johnson is interested in playing for the Bulls or Knicks depending on which free agents may end up with each of these other two suitors.
One source put the chances of Johnson ultimately accepting Atlanta’s offer at only slightly better than 50 percent.
If Johnson chose a team other than the Hawks, he could still sign a max contract if a sign-and-trade can be arranged.
As I said in my previous post, I do not think Joe Johnson is a max contract player, so Joe Johnson not re-signing with the Hawks would save the Hawks from themselves ultimately. But with that being said, I think Joe Johnson is the 2010 Allan Houston, with an upgraded 360 wave game of course, which means the Knicks would probably be willing to match that obscene contract that the Hawks were offering. Regardless, I don’t see Joe turning down all that money on the table already for a chance to play wingman to one of the REAL max contract players, for a significantly lower amount.
I don’t know about you, but all this free agent duck-duck-goose game nonsense is getting kind of old. This is like the situation in high school where the rich girl with an average body and an average face asks you to the prom and offers to pay for your suit, and you tell her you’ll get back to her because you’re waiting to see what the Apollonia (yes, I said Apollonia) looking girl is doing for prom, even though she sits at the cool table for lunch and you sit with the debate team. You better holler at that 5 before she decides she doesn’t want to go to prom anymore.
OUT!
Kris Moyo is one of BSO’s newest writers and comes from a long background of jive talking and pimp walking. You can follow Kris on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/IAMKRIS24
