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2024 Free Agents - Dario Saric

Summary
After tearing his ACL in the 2021 NBA Finals, Saric missed the entire '21-'22 season, and was essentially traded in a salary dump to Oklahoma City after a slow start in '22-'23. He is healthy again and got a decent amount of playing time for the Warriors in '23-'24.

Saric does not have an elite NBA skill, but he is an intelligent player that can affect the game in multiple ways. He has size and passing ability that can be very useful as a big. Saric has the ability to methodically get to the rim using his size in a manner similar to late-career Boris Diaw. He has historically shot below-average at the rim, but has shot a very good 72% at the rim over the past two seasons, albeit on a somewhat small sample size.

His ability to stretch the floor allows him to play inside or outside, and play next to paint-clogging centers if necessary. He hit 38% from three in '23-'24, and he is a career 36% 3-point shooter.

While Saric will likely never be an above-average defender due to his athletic limitations, he has been solid enough at that end to survive. He isn't a rim protector, but has enough size to at least contest some shots. You don't want him defending on the perimeter or in space too often, but that's the case with a lot of bigs, and Saric isn't a complete turnstyle like some others are. However, age and injuries might make Saric a really weak link on defense going forward.

Saric will be 30 years old as a free agent in 2024. With his recent injuries and lack of production, there's a chance that he may only be looking at very modest offers, despite providing some value as a stretch big option.
 
Cap Considerations
Saric will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.1 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Warriors could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $3.6 million. This should be enough to retain Saric, since he settled for the minimum of $2.7 million to come to Golden State. Alternatively, the Warriors could use their Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (if available) to re-sign Saric if he demands more than $3.6 million. 

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Saric as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that Saric only gets minimum offers, and may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.

Potential Teams: Warriors, Celtics, Clippers, Knicks, Nuggets

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $3 million ($2.1 million cap hit) with the Warriors

Actual Contract: 2-year, $10.6 million (2nd year player option) with the Nuggets

Saric got the full Taxpayer MLE from the Nuggets, with a player option.

Last updated: 7/14/2024

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