NBA Free Agency 2017 Player Profile: Ersan Ilyasova
By Ti Windisch
Salary
Ersan Ilyasova made $8.4 million in the 2016-17 NBA season. Thanks to the generosity of the Milwaukee Bucks front office, the role player made a nice annual salary for the past few seasons. That deal looked a lot worse two years ago, as the rising cap made the number more palatable.
At 30 years old, it seems highly unlikely Ersan would get another deal like that. That being said…
The also 30-year-old (at the time) Mirza Teletovic got a three-year, $30 million deal for being a very similar player to Ilyasova. Stretch bigs have done very well in the NBA lately, actually.
Chandler Parsons and Harrison Barnes are both hybrid small-power forwards who got max deals in free agency. Jeff Green, somehow, got $15 million for a single season from the Magic. Jared Dudley signed a $30 million deal with the Phoenix Suns, and Darrell Arthur got a three-year, $23 million contract from the Denver Nuggets.
All this is to say, essentially, it probably isn’t wise to pay Ersan Ilyasova $30-ish million for three-ish years, but some team might well do it anyway.