Gortat appears* bound for a team not named the Dallas Mavericks

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by dirno2000

I think he means Gortat could have played another year and become unrestricted thus controlling his own destiny. Is that not the case because that's the impression I'm under also.

Yes, but 34Mio against Shaun Livingston...

And honestly, no one expected the Magic to match and pay so much for the guy behind Dwight.

[dirno2000]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Yes, but 34Mio against Shaun Livingston...

And honestly, no one expected the Magic to match and pay so much for the guy behind Dwight.

There's always an injury risk when you sign a qualifying offer but young players do it every year. Not saying that he shouldn't have taken the money but I don't think anyone should feel sorry for him. Like dude said he sold his chance to control his destiny for security.

While most people didn't expect Orlando to pay him that much, at the start of the free agency period Otis Smith said flat out that he planned to match any offer to Gortat (granted he later backed off that statement). And as far as I know he never told Gortat that he wouldn't match. He signed the offer sheet knowing there was a chance he'd be back in Orlando and, at the time, seemed to be ok with that.