I didn’t even realize that Tyreke “Reke of Putrefaction” Evans was on a one-year, 3.3 million dollar deal this year. I was just sort of assuming that he was one of those players who got a big payday for no reason other than teams had hella money to spend, but nope, that’s Chandler Parsons. Anyway, Tyreke’s spectacular and unexpected (for me, anyway) resurgence can now be more easily explained: it’s a contract year for him!
Contract years are a real thing that players really know about. Really. Just ask Trevor Ariza. Tyreke is well aware of the fact that if he plays well this year (which he really is, it’s almost mind-blowing), some team will give him a big contract that will last until he’s 33 years old and his body is slowing down. Maybe the Lakers will give it to him after they strike out on all the big free agents. Maybe it will be the Grizzlies, signing a fan-favorite to put butts in the seats and points on the board as they rebuild. Maybe it will be some other team. But the one sure thing is that Tyreke is gonna get a way bigger, way better contract than the dumpy little one he’s got right now.
Editor’s note: Tyreke went 10-of-24 from the field so don’t come away from watching this video thinking he had an efficient scoring night. He didn’t.