ESPN’s Bobby Marks would offer Coby White three years and $54 million, which seems like a bargain rate for a starting-caliber guard in the middle of his prime.
That projection reflects several market forces pushing White’s earning power downward, not the least of which being most teams’ inability to offer more than the midlevel exception, which starts at $15.1 million and can run for up to four years.
White, though, is hugely valuable to the Charlotte Hornets, who saw him hit the biggest shot of their season in the Play-In when he drilled a game-saving three from the left corner against the Miami Heat. Some might argue White is a luxury on a team that already has a ton of offensive firepower in LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, but White showed he was closer to a necessity after coming over at the trade deadline.
Lastly, Charlotte should keep White’s trade candidacy in mind. Signing him for closer to $20 million per year keeps an ideally sized salary on the books. If it turns out that the Hornets need more help at forward and center, they’ll be glad they have White’s hypothetically larger contract to balance out a trade.