Many NBA observers were surprised to see the Mavericks pursue DeAndre Jordan again, three years after he spurned them in free agency by backing out a verbal agreement with Dallas to rejoin the Clippers. However, team owner Mark Cuban said it only took him and Jordan a matter of seconds to smooth things over, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com details.
“There’s like four guys I hold grudges with, and three of them are from grade school, maybe even before,” Cuban told MacMahon. “I just want to win. Look, only Dirk [Nowitzki] and J.J. [Barea] were there from that period anyway. All of our guys were like, ‘Go get him! Go get him!
“I talked to him on the phone and he’s like, ‘Everything behind us?’ I’m like, ‘Let’s go win.’ He goes, ‘Let’s go to war.’ Done.”
According to Cuban, the team and Jordan mutually agreed that a one-year deal was the best route to take, with both sides planning to use the 2018/19 season to assess the potential for a long-term fit. Cuban also noted that the Mavericks explored the possibility of adding DeMarcus Cousins, but felt like Jordan gave the club a better chance to “win now” than a player coming off an Achilles tear.
“You don’t want to put somebody in a position where they have to rush back, and the Warriors obviously don’t have to deal with that,” Cuban said. “I was happy for him. A lot of people talk trash about [Cousins], but we thought he would have been great. But I wanted to win now, and that’s what I told his guys.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- Cuban also spoke to MacMahon about No. 3 overall pick Luka Doncic, whom the Mavericks owner called “the top player on our board.” Cuban added that “it wasn’t even close.”
- Speaking of Doncic, the Mavericks have agreed to terms with Real Madrid on his buyout agreement, tweets international basketball reporter David Pick. Doncic should be on track to finalize his rookie contract and officially join the Mavs soon.
- Mavericks executive Michael Finley received a promotion in the front office this week, according to Dwain Price of Mavs.com (Twitter link). Formerly Dallas’ assistant vice president of basketball operations, Finley was named the Mavs’ VP of basketball operations.
- In a move that has been a formality for the last several years, the Mavericks removed Petteri Koponen‘s cap hold from their books this week, per RealGM’s official transactions log. Dallas still has the NBA rights to Koponen, a 2007 first-round pick, so in order to remove his cap hold each season, the team and player have to agree to that he won’t be signing with the Mavs for the current league year.
I thought that Ayton was the “overall #1 pick”? Typo?
My bad, was thinking of Cuban saying he would’ve been Dallas’ No. 1 pick when I wrote that. Fixed now, thanks.
I do like Dennis Smith, Doncic,Barnes, Nowitzki, and Jordan. They will be competitive. I remember people getting on the Knicks for drafting Porzingas so high. Doncic could be as good.
If the Mavs were able to dump Matthews and his salary on someone else, they’d be an attractive destination next year for some FA’s.
As for KP/Doncic – KP is a unicorn who can move well for a 4/5. Doncic can go 1-3, but he’s slow for those positions. Now that he’s going to be playing against better athletes, some of his game is going to be exposed. I think he’s a talent, just not at the level many have written about.
Matthew’s contract is up after this year.
Even better. Time fly’s. Thanks.
He will also be around better trainers that can help him get his body in better shape. His athleticism will improve
Most of the people who didn’t like the Porzingas drafting were “Knick fans” who never heard of him before so they assumed he was bad. Now they love him. Even going into the draft, KP had top 5-7 potential since he was a 7-footer that could shoot from outside just as the league was placing higher values on bigs who could stretch the floor.
Nobody knew he could pick and roll defend the way he showed up in summer league. It wasnt just that either. He was always in the right spot defensively from Day 1. We knew he could block shots before the draft, but he was supposed to be a big work in progress in other areas defensively, and that wasnt the case.
It’s true, myself included. Reality though is that he fell and was drafted by default – I don’t believe it was their desire to draft him, hoping one of the other three fell. Jackson felt inclined to pick him, and I’m glad it worked out that way. Injuries aside, he’s a modern day Dirk with the ability to block shots (though I don’t think he’ll be the prolific scorer that Dirk was).
With that said, I wonder how the Sixers feel when reflecting on their picks (Okafor over KP, Fultz over Tatum). Imagine what that team would look like today…
All said & done I just hope we haven’t seen the best of KP6 already, a guy of his size I am not sure he can comeback from the ACL injury & be the player he was… Hopefully he will.
You see is very easy to play GM after the draft, but I don’t think not just Philly but no one would have picked KP6 before Jahlil, & cannot imagine any team with the #1 last year picking Tatum over Fultz. Fultz & Ball were clear 1-2, I think even many people would have put Josh Jackson ahead of Tatum, so now is easy to point out, but is harder before the draft, that is why I hate revisiting drafts, is a lottery & you get what you get & gotta be happy with it.