Once you take the lockout's chunk out of his 2011-12 paycheck, Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans is making just $3.35 million this season. Milwaukee Bucks point man Brandon Jennings is making even less, at around $2.1 million. Quite a hefty haul, for you and I, but that's pretty slim takings by NBA standards; Jennings even plays for less than half of the league's average salary. It's because they're on rookie-deal contracts, scaled out to them when they entered the NBA in 2009, put in place to counter the outrageous demands of players like Glenn Robinson and Jim Jackson when they entered the NBA (ready to feel old?) nearly 20 years ago. For their production, it's quite the bargain for Sacramento and Milwaukee. It's also why you don't see many young players (unless their name is "Charlie Villanueva") being dealt to other teams while they're still under their rookie deals. It's also why we have no idea why the Kings and Bucks are apparently shopping the youngsters in anticipation of this Thursday's trade deadline . Not because we're incredibly bullish on either player's game. Jennings has improved by a good margin in his third NBA season, but it's taken this long for him to average 40 percent shooting from the floor, and he's firing over six three-pointers a game despite shooting just 33.7 percent from long range. Evans enjoyed a nice milestone in his rookie season as he averaged 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game; but he's made some poor choices off the court, and he seems to be lost on the court at times if he's not allowed to completely dominate the ball as he did during that rookie season. Still, what are you going to get for them in return, at their limited price?
