Ersan Ilyasova and the Milwaukee Bucks announced their agreement on a long-term contract earlier in the week, but they did not release the total value of the deal at that time, per team policy. Nearly everyone started with the assumption that the two sides had agreed to a five-year, $45 million deal, but now we finally have a more complete breakdown of the details and some encouraging reductions in the total guaranteed money.
Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com, a highly recommended site to get the details on player salaries around the NBA, reported on Monday that Ilyasova and the Bucks actually agreed to a five-year, $40 million deal with a team option in the fifth year. Therefore, only four years and $32 million of the contract comes guaranteed.
Ersan Ilyasova got 5 years and $40 million, with only 4 years and $32 million guaranteed. $7.9 mil flat, then $400k of $8.4 mil in 2016-17.
— Mark Deeks (@MarkDeeksNBA) July 16, 2012
All of this is good news, as the value of the deal and the amount of guaranteed money has dipped down from the initial estimates floating around on the internet, but fundamentally it still means the Bucks are counting on Ilyasova to produce like an above-average starter in the NBA. That's ultimately how the deal will be defined. The extra savings are unequivocally advantageous going forward, but the tenor of the signing ultimately remains the same.
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