Let’s compare Ant and Crabbe real quick if you’re going to go there. Crabbe got that 4 year/$75m contract after averaging barely 10pts on 45%/39% in a time when the salary cap was lower. Anfernee getting $14m today would really be more like getting $10-11m back in 2015. Anfernee has at least shown by the end of year 3 that he is a considerably better shooter than Crabbe was through year 3. Crabbe can catch and shoot like Ant, but that was the extent if his shooting ability. Ant shoots off the dribble and often makes difficult ones. To me, that alone makes Ant a better player than Crabbe was when he was ending year 3. Crabbe was also never a good defender either and was never going to be a threat off the drivble. Anfernee is already at least as good on offense given his limited playing time compared to Crabbes 26mpg in year 3.
Not sure if I’m the only one who shares the opinion that Ant through year 3 was better than Crabbe through year 3. Maybe it’s debatable, but if there’s no doubt to you that Ant was better than Crabbe, then $14m a year ($10-11m back in 2015-16ish) isn’t a bad deal at all. If he earned all $5m of his incentives, more power to him. All things considered, even though I wouldn’t offer Anfernee this much, $17.5m/year for Ant now would be a better deal than Crabbe for $17.5m/year back in 2015. So $14m/year right now would probably be the sweet spot for me.
Just to remind everyone, Ant’s most recent playoff performance in limited playing time through 6 games: 6.5ppg/2.7rpg/.8apg on 56%/61%/0. Crabbe through 11 playoff games in 2015: 9.5ppg/2.9rpg/1.4apg on 52%/43%/74%. If I’m not mistaken, Crabbe was also 24 when he got than extension whereas Anfernee is 22 right now. Team option in year 4 limits the risk even more.
