He costs less than most realize
One of the main reasons people don’t want to sign Ish Smith next season is because he will apparently cost a lot of money. I don’t think that’s totally accurate. Yes, if the Sixers want to lock him up for next seasons and potentially even longer than that, they will have to shell out more than the minimum, but I don’t think we’re going to see Ish asking for $7-10 million dollars. Ish is worth more like $2-5 million, and I think he knows that.
If he doesn’t know that, he will find that out when he talks with other teams. Ish has done very well with the Sixers and Pelicans this season, there is no denying that. But what is easy to deny is the idea that Ish would be anything more than a solid bench player on a good team. Ish was able to get so much exposure, and he was able to play so well with the Sixers and Pels because there was no one in the backcourt that was more skilled than him at the time.
He shined on those teams because they were so bad. They both fell in the league’s worst six teams at the end of the season sorted by record.
It’s all about context. The context of the Sixers allowed Ish to flourish. The context of a more competitive team — even the Washington Wizards, who didn’t make the playoffs would be benching Smith — would leave Ish as the first or second man off the bench. He’s not a point guard that will lead a team to the playoffs, and he’s not worth as much as some fans seem to believe.
You don’t pay a guy like Ish a ton of money. No team in the NBA will, and the Sixers — although they will overpay for some players — will not either.
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