OFFICIAL: Okafor signs 6 year contract for 72 million

[tamburello]

This is what ESPN reports. Months passed and it looks like Okafor won the battle against FO. He is able to take last year's offer, although he didn't show any improvement.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3509028

All in all, if this becomes official, I'll be glad to keep him and all these RFA nonsense would finish. Next job would be Felton's extension, of course if they want to keep him, if DJ was really drafted as a backup of Felton.

[Icky Thump]

Wow, thats a long contract and a good bit of change. If he's staying here for that kind of cash and for that long he best bring a change of attitude from last season (again I can understand playing under Vincent but dude needs to pick it up PERIOD). Will be good to have a decision made one way or the other.

[tamburello]

Charlotte Observer says Rod Higgins confirmed the deal.

Bobcats, Okafor agree to $72 million deal

The Charlotte Bobcats are keeping their center, at a considerable cost.

Early this morning, Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins confirmed to the Observer that the team has agreed to a six-year, $72 million deal with Emeka Okafor. Higgins expects the contract to be signed in the next few days.

The deal was first reported on ESPN.com overnight.

Higgins said he felt it was crucial for the Bobcats to retain Okafor, their best defensive player at the rim.

“You need that big guy to defend the Tim Duncans, the (Shaquille) O’Neals, the (Kevin) Garnetts,’’ Higgins said. “The big guys control the game in the post, and that’s our guy when it comes to doing that.

“The way this team is set up with (new coach) Larry (Brown), this was important. Larry is very defensive-oriented.’’

The Bobcats significantly raised their offer – both in dollars and contract length – to make this happen. A source familiar with the situation said last week the Bobcats were offering closer to $10 million this summer than the $12 million average that ultimately got the job done.

That lower offer ticked off the Okafor camp and caused some hurt feelings. Higgins told the Observer Friday that he wasn’t interested in any sign-and-trade of Okafor, but acknowledged it was also not in the team’s best interest for Okafor to sign a one-year, $7 million qualifying offer.

As other big men signed (Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut and Golden State’s Andris Biedrins) it became apparent that a long-team deal, in the $12 million-average range, was a fair number.

“It was a long time coming – actually about a year of negotiations,’’ Higgins said. “Any time you have a player like Emeka – a rebounder (10.8 per game), a defender at the rim, it’s imperative for a team to keep a guy like that.’’

http://www.charlotte.com/bobcats/story/733240.html

[amour217]

Well I'm glad this is all over. All I have to say is Okafor better EARN his money and play like he has a pair.

[spectre]

YES!!!!

Interesting that we added a year AND that we so quickly moved up from the reported 10 per to 12. Could Bonnell's reporting have actually sped up the process? At any rate it certainly appears that the agent helped his client by leaking where the Bobcats were in negotiations.

I'm ecstatic that we got this done!!!

[chabber]

YEA!!! I was seriously set thinking we'd just get him to sign the QO. This rocks!!

[Icky Thump]

Well I'm glad this is all over. All I have to say is Okafor better EARN his money and play like he has a pair.

AMEN!!!! Glad to have it over with, if nothing else it will show other players we will pay our players.

[spectre]

We've retained every FA worth their salt so far (if I'm not mistaken) and the only one that can be argued as overpaying would be Hammer...and he's on a declining deal. People will say that Mek is overpaid, but 12 per IMO is around what he should be getting. We didn't get a great deal like Crash, but I think we paid him what he's worth in the marketplace.

They should be proud of that...and so should we.

[murphman]

Interesting. Both sides were backed into a corner somewhat that is why I assumed he would sign the QO and move on next year to a team with some cap space.

The FO caved. We already have an overpaid player on the roster with a long term deal (MC), and if G-Force gets another concussion this season we may have two. I hope this isn't another.

[WarioVsMooChicken]

This is a great deal. It's hard to find a big as good as Mek for that kind of money.