UNC Alumni in the NBA: Looking at a few Tar Heel free agents

Ed Davis 

2018-19 Stats (81 GP): 5.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg on .616/.000/.617

Let’s get this out of the way: 30-year-old Ed Davis, a nine-year vet and widely-praised presence in the locker room, is likely going to be underpaid this summer, yet again.

After playing out a three-year, $20 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers, he surprisingly opted to ink a cheap one-year, $4.4 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets despite possessing enough value to earn far more than that after boasting strong numbers as a backup big man in the Pacific Northwest.

The 6-foot-9 center is not a shot blocker, nor is he a floor-spacer given the fact that he’s yet to can a single three-pointer across 640 games (only four attempts). He’s not an overly bouncy athlete, nor is he someone that boasts a large role on the offensive end (career 6.5 PPG). So why is he valuable?

Because, floor-spacing and shot-blocking be damned, he’s still an incredibly valuable defender and rebounder whose on-court impact isn’t accurately measured with traditional counting stats. Although he only played 17.9 minutes per game, each and every minute was played with purposeful energy, with his per-36 production of 11.8 points and 17.3 rebounds (!) showing that he wasn’t wasting a single minute out on the floor.

Better yet, his defensive impact behind a rather inexperienced Jarrett Allen was genuinely game-changing: His defensive real plus-minus (DRPM) of +4.2 ranked second in the league, with his player impact plus-minus (DPIPM) of +3.2 ranking sixth overall, too. Those rankings aren’t among power forwards, or centers — it’s among the entire NBA, across all positions. His impact as a defender was unquestionable, with his strength and intelligence shining as a key cog for the Nets, which was especially evident as he was far more effective than Allen at defending Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid in the first round of the playoffs.

He’s worth far more than the $4.4 million room exception that he was signed to, but it’s possible that he could settle for another such deal this summer, depending on what he values. A return to the Nets is likely out of the picture given their lofty pursuit of the likes of Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and superstar super-friend DeAndre Jordan who mans the 5-spot and is said to be a target of Brooklyn’s in order to secure the superstar duo. Davis will instead be looking elsewhere, and although the center position is relatively flat in regards to value, he stands as one of the better options.

Realistically, Ed Davis could sign from anywhere as cheap as the room exception (~$4.7 million), to somewhere in the range of the mid-level exception (~$9 million), to as high as the $10+ million range depending on whether he wants to take less to sign with a contender or get the pay raise he deserves by going to a center-needy squad.

So, what is Ed Davis’ first priority? According to The Athletic’s Michael Scotto:

The money.

"“Hopefully I get a pay raise,” Davis said. “Don’t we all want a pay raise? I’ve been talking to my agent, and we’ll see what’s going to happen in July. Hopefully, I’m back in Brooklyn. But if not, I definitely enjoyed my time there, and I appreciate every minute that I had in Brooklyn. I’m still working out there every day right now. We’ll see what happens. It’s a business. You know how it goes.”"

We’ll see if he ends up with a pay raise or not in a matter of days, as he’ll have plenty of suitors to choose from. The likes of Boston, Philadelphia, Utah, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Minnesota and Brooklyn could all be in the market for a defensive-minded big man, and those are just a few of his potential options. His agent will certainly be busy once the circus begins.