Saturday night, it seemed all but certain that former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani was headed to the Kings. Then, like a much more inconsequential version of DeAndre Jordan’s change of heart with Dallas, the Nets came in out of nowhere to steal him away. The team officially announced the signing on Thursday:
#Nets have reached an agreement in principle with free agent F/C Andrea Bargnani, GM Billy King announced today.
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) July 12, 2015
The New York Post‘s Tim Bontemps reports that Bargnani’s deal is a one-year contract for the minimum, plus a player option for 2016-17:
Andrea Bargnani has signed a one year deal for the veteran's minimum with the Nets with a player option for a 2nd year, per league sources.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) July 12, 2015
And ESPN.com’s Marc Stein has the most incredible deal of all — Bargnani actually turned down more money from the Kings to take the Nets’ offer.
ESPN sources say Bargnani, in fact, took less money from Nets because he preferred fit in Brooklyn. Kings pitched two-year deal
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 12, 2015
This is incredible on a number of levels. First, there was a bidding war for Andrea Bargnani in 2015. Second, he’s now added to the list of players who have turned down bigger offers from the Kings this summer to play for less money elsewhere, joining Monta Ellis and Wesley Matthews. This time, they dodged a bullet.