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2022 Free Agents - Luke Kornet

Summary
After shooting 37% from three over the first two seasons of his career, Kornet has only hit 27% from downtown over the last three seasons. As someone whose primary role is as a stretch big, that's a problem. He also only hit 29% from three over the course of 11 G-League games in '21-'22, so I was a little bit surprised that the Celtics signed him for the rest of the season.
 
As a skinny, slow-footed big, his defensive limitations are another problem. Kornet hasn't played a ton of minutes over the last three seasons either, and it seems like he's replacement-level at best. He is already 26 years old, so most teams would probably prefer to take a flyer on a younger prospect with one of their final roster spots.
 
Cap Considerations
Kornet will be an unrestricted free agent with a $1.8 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Celtics could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $2.5 million. This should be enough to retain Kornet, since he settled for the minimum to come to Boston, and had fallen out of the league. Alternatively, the Celtics could use their Mid-Level Exception to re-sign Kornet if he demands more than $2.5 million.

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

Potential Teams: Celtics, Trailblazers, Jazz, Nets, Thunder

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.1 million (non-guaranteed) with the Celtics

Actual Contract: 2-year, $4.9 million (first year partially-guaranteed, 2nd year non-guaranteed), with the Celtics

As expected, Kornet did not get a fully-guaranteed contract, and may not make the final 15-man roster for the Celtics.

Last updated: 7/13/2022

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