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Summary
Despite not having great offensive skills or great athleticism, Lopez has been able to stay in the league as a solid backup center. Despite not putting up great rebounding numbers, Lopez's teams have almost always rebounded better with him on the court than when he sits. This is due to Lopez's willingness to box out his man and let his teammates gather up the rebounds.

While he doesn't have the shooting ability that his brother possesses, Lopez has also started to shoot more threes in recent years, and hit a respectable 34% in'19-'20 in Milwaukee, albeit on a small number of attempts. However, Lopez took fewer threes this season and overall just doesn't look like he'll ever be a threat from outside. He can be effective inside using his sweeping hook shot.

On defense, Lopez looks to be moving a little bit slower as he ages into his mid-30's, and his days as an effective rotational player may be numbered. He's still a big body who can affect shots at the rim and generally knows where to be, but his lack of mobility might make him unplayable soon.
 
Cap Considerations
Lopez will be an unrestricted free agent with a $8.4 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. Using his Non-Bird rights, the most the Wizards offer him is a starting salary of $8.4 million, which would likely be more than enough to retain him. If necessary, they could also use their full MLE of $9.5 million to re-sign Lopez. Re-signing Lopez could stop the Wizards form using their full MLE, as they could be close to the hard cap depending on Lopez's salary and what happens with their other free agents.

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Lopez as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, Room Mid-Level Exceptions, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. There's also a chance that Lopez ends up settling for the minimum.

Potential Teams: Wizards, Raptors, Suns, Hornets, Lakers

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $5 million with the Wizards.

Actual Contract: 1-year, $5 million with the Magic.

Lopez signed for the contract I expected, but was surprised that he signed with Orlando, who already have two young centers that they want to give minutes to.

Last updated: 8/18/2021

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