National Basketball Association

Not all big-name free agents worth max

Published Jun. 28, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Some team will pay Johnson very well, but a reflexive max offer, following a whiff on someone like James or Wade, would be a big mistake.

Let's finish in Boston, where Paul Pierce, whose 33rd birthday is coming up, should be given max power only if he opts out and returns to a Celtics team that truly believes it's capable of contending for the next couple of years.

Hey, it's not our money.

As the witching hour approaches, we hope you enjoy the NBA free-agency show. We probably won't see anything like it again ... unless LeBron and his buddies sign three-year contracts next month.

They'll probably be names that several teams would love to touch, even if they lose their max power.