Ratliff Misses Chance to Opt Out of contract

RealGm.com Atlanta Hawks affiliate Jason Walker reports: Whoops.

Theo Ratliff is under contract with the Hawks for the next three seasons.

Theo Ratliff doesn’t realize that yet.

From the contract the Hawks inherited from the 76ers in the 2001 Dikembe Mutombo trade, Ratliff had an opt out clause that could make him a free agent at the end of the 2002-2003 season.

The catch was that Ratliff had to notify the Hawks about opting out this summer, and now that deadline has passed.

Ratliff told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jeffrey Denberg last week that wasn’t the case, and he could decide as late as next summer whether to opt out.

Hawks GM Pete Babcock said that isn’t accurate.

“It was a contract that came with Theo from Philadelphia, and stated that he had until earlier this month to notify us whether or not he was going to opt out of the last two years of his deal, but that deadline has now passed and Theo is now under contract for the next three seasons.”

When told that Ratliff may not be aware of the unusual clause of his option, Babcock stated that “his agent did.”

It should be interesting next summer if Ratliff believes he can indeed still opt out of the last two seasons of his contract.

Ratliff is due to receive 21 million over the last two years of the contract, and it was questionable whether or not Ratliff would have waived that much money with the shrinking free agent market, even if he could have been a free agent at 29 years old instead of 31 when his contract runs out.

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Atlanta Meets Dan Dickau

Dan Dickau met the Atlanta media for the first time since the draft day trade brought the #28 pick to the Hawks.

Real GM was there and talked to the point guard about coming to the Hawks, his perceived lack of defense, and just how many dirty tricks he has learned from his workout partner, John Stockton.

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Atlanta Hawks

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Babcock Fools Us All

In the days prior to Wednesday’s NBA Draft, it was extremely tough to pin down the thought process of Pete Babcock as it pertained to the point guard position for the Hawks.

He went back and forth throughout the process, on one hand saying that it would take a Top 4 or 5 point guard to move JT over to SG, and then on the other hand saying that just getting a bigger guard could move JT over.

We wondered if Pete was being straight with us, or just trying to distract a national media away from the fact that Babcock was coveting a PG in this draft, one year after passing on drafting Tony Parker.

Via Hawks RealGM Affiliate

Atlanta Hawks

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