Still, their teams found them productive enough to bank on them at eight-figure salaries for a few more years. Kobe Bryant, Zach Randolph and Andrew Bogut signed their veteran extensions likely knowing they’d entered the back stretch of their respective careers and would be unable to command max contracts in free agency.

There’s little motivation for players who aren’t on rookie scale contracts to extend their deals rather than hit free agency, since the NBA places limits on the dollars and years allowed in an extension that aren’t there when a veteran hits the open market. Only four players have signed veteran extensions since the existing collective bargaining agreement took effect after the 2011 lockout.