Andre Drummond not focused on contract extension

Andre Drummond on signing a contract extension, via Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press:

"“I’m not really focused on that,” Drummond said. “It’s in the back of my head, but I’m not really worried about it as of yet because there’s so much time to really go into that.“I think, for now, I’m just going to continue to play my game, work on my body and just continue to play hard. We got up until the 31stof October. I’d love to be a Piston and when I decide to really sit down and talk about that with my family and my agent when the time’s right.”"

Drummond can sign a contract extension this offseason, as he says, through the end of October. If he and the Pistons, don’t reach a deal, he’ll become a restricted free agent.

His rookie-scale contract runs through next season, so whether or not he signs an extension, his next contract will begin in 2016-17. In other words, there’s no jockeying to get a deal that begins once the new national TV contracts kick in. Drummond’s will.

Drummond will surely draw a max contract (at least the low end of how that term is used). The only questions involve the form it will take. How many years? Player option? Extension or new contract? Provisions to trigger the Derrick Rose Rule?

The key extension issue from Drummond’s perspective is whether he will be Detroit’s designated player and receive a five-year extension rather than the typical max of four. A team can have just two designated players on its roster, including only one it designated itself. (The designated-player tag refers only to rookie-scale extensions. It’s irrelevant to veteran extensions and any newly signed contract.)

A smaller issue is whether he’ll get more if he reaches the Year 30% Max criteria, AKA the Derrick Rose Rule. Unless Drummond makes an All-NBA team this season (not happening), the only way he’d qualify is winning MVP next year. That’s probably not happening, either, but both sides will have to negotiate what happens if it does. Essentially, if Drummond signs an extension this offseason, it could include a salary structure for if he wins MVP and a salary structure for if he doesn’t.

From the Pistons’ end, other issues come into play – mainly that it makes more sense to re-sign Drummond as a free agent in 2016. His cap hold then would be lower than the starting salary of a max contract, which would give them more cap space that summer. They could use that cap space and then exceed the cap to re-sign him.

That plan would carry risk for Drummond – what if he gets hurt or regresses? – but the Pistons should push for it. He might not like it, but would he really turn down a max offer in 2016 just because he wanted to sign the exact same deal sooner?

Greg Monroe illustrated the risk of that route for a team, signing the qualifying offer to become an unrestricted free agent the following year. Drummond would have that same nuclear option, but he’s clearly a max player. It doesn’t seem the Pistons ever offered Monroe that much.

A smaller, but potentially relevant issue: If Drummond re-signs – even on a five-year deal – rather than signing an extension, he wouldn’t be a designated player. Why should matter whether the deal is an extension or a new contract? I have no idea, but that’s how the CBA is written.

So, in simplest terms, Drummond is a max player. There’s still a lot to sort out.