Ron Baker was a Knick, and now is a Wizard!

[im4wsu]

Ron has an agent. Ron said in an interview that he let his agent take care of the negotiations and then took the advice of his agent on how he should proceed.

It would have been his agent who would have been made aware of other offers. His agent does not post on ShockerNet and has a lot of reasons to keep information of other offers confidential, so we don't know if Ron had other offers.

Bumping him from half a mill to 4-1/2 mill is a fairly strong indicator that there were other offers. The only knock on his play this year was his shooting. Scouts have been watching him shoot since he was a sophomore at WSU. A lot of NBA teams have scouting history of Ron's shooting, and those are good reports.

I thought the minimum for him this year would be about 1.5, give or take. This 2-year at 8.9 is not too far off, numberwise, from the initial 15 for 3 year deal that was rumored.

[Stickboy46]

I get it. I'm just saying they overpaid. I love Ron and watched a lot of bad Knick basketball last year waiting for him to get his chance. He shot 26% from 3, 38% from the field, and 65% from the line. He went undrafted. I don't see how what he did last season made teams everywhere decide they needed to pay $4+ to steal him from NY. NY has been terribly run for the last decade, and the hope was with Phil gone, the stupidity might stop. They way overpaid THJ and overpaid Ron. They need help, but now have no cap space left. Great for Ron, bad for Knicks and me having to watch more bad Knicks games just to watch Ron.

Eh .. They picked up a young PG in the lottery this year. They very well could just be looking for a steady player for him to go up against. Going against Ron in practice can only make you better.

[wheathead]

I hope his primary residence is in Wichita or Scott City because if it's New York he's going to get absolutely hammered with the income tax. Outside of that....I'm pumped!!

It also tells me I didn't need to buy him that Margarita at El Agave on north rock two years ago. Maybe he can return the favor now.

[im4wsu]

I hope his first residence is in Wichita or Scott City because if it's New York he's going to get absolutely hammered with the income tax. Outside of that....I'm pumped!!

It also tells me I didn't need to buy him that Margarita at El Agave on north rock two years ago. Maybe he can return the favor now.

Was that an illegal benefit or do you provide margaritas for all WSU students you encounter?

[wheathead]

Was that an illegal benefit or do you provide margaritas for all WSU students you encounter?

Wessel and a track dude were with him. I told'em, "I got your first round guys. I've enjoyed watching you play the last 4 years!"

It was after they were done playing their senior year. But now you got me thinking. I hope I didn't screw something up!

[im4wsu]

Wessel and a track dude were with him. I told'em, "I got your first round guys. I've enjoyed watching you play the last 4 years!"

It was after they were done playing their senior year. But now you got me thinking. I hope I didn't screw something up!

I was joking, but with the NCAA and WSU past relationship, one can't be too careful. Colorado got slapped for allowing a walk-on to eat two sandwiches provided for football team members. One never knows!

[ShockdaWorld]

I wonder if this makes him WSU's highest paid basketball player historically. I know X and all those guys got paid a lot in their day, but no clue how much contracts were back then.

[WuDrWu]

Hopefully Ron will "allocate" 5% of that contract to support initiatives at WSU. And Fred, too, when he signs.

They haven't done enough already?

[Dan]

I hope his primary residence is in Wichita or Scott City because if it's New York he's going to get absolutely hammered with the income tax. Outside of that....I'm pumped!!

Even if his residence is legally KS, he still has to pay taxes for every state he plays a game. TYhat's how they tax professional athletes.

[im4wsu]

They haven't done enough already?

Agree to disagree. Apparently Pelfrey and others don't think they'd done enough. Charles Koch has shown that his initial contribution was not enough. Yes, they've contributed immensely to the visibility of WSU basketball, but they were also rewarded for doing so. Now is the time in their careers to encourage them to give even more than their time as a student, just like all alumni are constantly asked to contribute.

[Mr. Obvious]

Hopefully Ron will "allocate" 5% of that contract to support initiatives at WSU. And Fred, too, when he signs.

Guarantee you the 1st 10% will go to the church. (And be deductible)

[wheathead]

Even if his residence is legally KS, he still has to pay taxes for every state he plays a game. TYhat's how they tax professional athletes.

Wow. I never knew that.

[1972Shocker]

Even if his residence is legally KS, he still has to pay taxes for every state he plays a game. TYhat's how they tax professional athletes.

It is nothing unique to professional athletes everyone who earns income in mulitple states is taxed that way. Typically, you report your entire income in your the state of residence. Which state that is will be based on the facts and circumstances and it's not always clear but it can make a big difference. You also report the income made in other states to each of those states as a nonresident. You then typicallly are alllowed a credit against your resident state income taxes for taxes paid to nonresident states. If you earn money in a higher rate state as a nonresident your credit is typicallly limited to what the tax would have been in your lower rate state of residence. However, if your home state has a higher rate you still only get credit for the taxes paid at the lower rate in the nonresident state.

Since half of Ron's games will be played in New York then he will get the privilege of paying those high NY rates on half of his income even if he is determined to be a Kansas resident. If he is determined to be a New York resident he will get the privilege of paying the high New York rate on all of his income although some of that will find it's way to the other states he has earnings in but New York will gets the amount attributate to the excess of their rates over the nonresdent's states rates.

Bottom line is Ron will be paying a lot of taxes and he will have a thick set of tax returns. On the other hand it's kind of a nice problem to have and he can afford to pay someone to take care of all that for him.

But you can see how that $9 million gets chipped away at pretty significantly with taxes, agent commisions, legal and accounting services, etc. Nevertheless, Ron isn't going to go hungry anytime soon and he should have no probelm keeping his Hyundai Sonata purring along.

[WuShock16]

Nevertheless, Ron isn't going to go hungry anytime soon and he should have no probelm keeping his Hyundai Sonata purring along.

"But now when they see my Hyundai Sonata roll in, they know who it is and that business is coming."

[ShockCrazy]

I will say his agent is a wizard. I can kinda get the money because once you are committed to using an exception to sign the player, the player pretty much has the leverage to push for the max. But the player option is truly astounding. Is there any universe where Ron doesn't a 2 year 8.9 w/o a player option? I can't imagine so. So it could only potentially cost the Knicks more money or they lose him to a better offer. Very strange move by the Knicks on that part.