There’s no panic in Stephenson’s camp, however, at least not yet. His agent believes the process has gone as expected, and is preaching patience as the scenario continues to play itself out.
Besides the discussions with the Pacers, Stephenson, 23, must wait until the big sharks of free agency open the waters for everyone else. …
“If we’re talking about a deal with the Pacers, I don’t know if any of the dominoes have to fall,” Stephenson’s agent Alberto Ebanks predicted before the start of free agency. “(But) if we were talking about some of the other teams, I would think that those teams are looking to explore the very, very top tier LeBron James and company … so I would think that yes.” …
“We’re in a rush to get a really good deal done,” Ebanks has said, “and we’re in no rush to enter into something that’s short of being a good situation for him and the next team or the current team.”
The ancillary players who have agreed to deals in the early days of free agency have been overpaid, which in theory, is good news for Stephenson. In a world where
Avery Bradley is going to get $8 million per year, the offer to Stephenson that falls short of $9 million a season feels (
somewhat ironically) like a bit of a slap in the face.
It’s unclear if Indiana is willing to shed the salary necessary to up their offer to Stephenson. But once teams start missing out on the bigger names in free agency, it’s likely that one of them with cap space will come calling with a much larger offer to retain Stephenson’s services.
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....tephenson-were-in-no-rush-to-get-a-deal-done/