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Mavericks Notes: Kemba, Wright, Green

July 10th, 2019 at 4:12pm CST by Luke Adams

In the weeks leading up to free agency, the Mavericks were identified as one of the most likely suitors for free agent point guard Kemba Walker. Dallas didn’t end up landing Walker, but in an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, owner Mark Cuban confirmed that the All-NBA guard was very much on the club’s radar (transcript via Dallas Morning News).

“We were interested in Kemba. That was the one name associated with (us) we were interested (in),” Cuban said. “We didn’t expect Al Horford to opt out. Who knew that would happen? So when (Walker) decided to stay closer to home and go to Boston, well, we had to adjust.”

As Cuban explains, Horford’s opt-out decision, along with Kyrie Irving‘s departure, helped clear the way for the Celtics to open up the cap room necessary to land Walker. Once Kemba was off the board, Dallas shifted its focus to another free point guard.

“When Kemba wasn’t really going to be available at the start of free agency, our first call literally was Delon Wright, because we wanted somebody that could defend next to Luka (Doncic) and most of our guys, particularly our ones (and) twos were walk-it-up guys,” Cuban said. “Delon’s a downhill guy who can defend multiple positions. We’ll work with him some on his shot, but he’s a great finisher, he can get to the rim, he’ll make the play, he helps make his teammates better, and that’s what we were looking for. Because trying to get Luka to guard point guards is not going to work.”

Let’s round up a few more Mavs-related notes, including one or two more on Wright…

Discussing the Mavericks’ acquisition of Wright, head coach Rick Carlisle said that he believes the former Raptors and Grizzlies point guard is capable of being a starter, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. “I don’t know that we’ll have a full-time starting team. But we wouldn’t have made this move if we didn’t think he was a starting-caliber player,” Carlisle said. “But the way to win now is to have starting-caliber players top-to-bottom. We’re trying to get as many as we can.”
RealGM’s traded draft pick tracker has been updated to reflect the draft picks traded by the Mavericks to the Grizzlies in the Wright deal. Per RealGM, Memphis acquired Portland’s 2021 second-round pick, plus either Dallas’ or Miami’s 2023 second-round pick (whichever is less favorable).
In the latest episode of his Inside the Green Room podcast, Danny Green explained that he chose the Lakers over the Mavericks because he feels as if L.A. is closer to contention (link via Dallas Morning News). “As much as I wanted to be (in Dallas), I knew that was going to be a building type of deal there and it was going to take two or three years before they started getting into the contention or to contender category, I felt,” Green said. “It all depended on how KP (Kristaps Porzingis) health-wise was, Luka’s coming up. A lot of things come into factor when it came to that.”

Mavs Re-Sign Maxi Kleber To Four-Year Deal

July 10th, 2019 at 12:48pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 10: The Mavericks have officially re-signed Kleber, per a team release.

The fact that Dallas has made this deal official signals that the club plans to function as an over-the-cap team, forfeiting potential cap room. That will allow Dallas to keep a trade exception worth about $12MM for a possible move down the road, as we detailed in a story earlier today.

JULY 1: The Mavericks have agreed to terms with restricted free agent forward Maxi Kleber, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times, who reports (via Twitter) that Kleber will sign a four-year, $35MM deal.

Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (Twitter links) pegs the value at $33MM, but says it can be worth up to $35.9MM via incentives. The fourth year of Kleber’s new contract will be a team option, according to Stein (via Twitter).

Kleber, 27, has spent the last two seasons with the Mavericks after playing for teams in his home country of Germany for most of his professional career. In 2018/19, the 6’11” power forward was a regular part of Dallas’ rotation, averaging 6.8 PPG and 4.6 RPG with a .453/.353/.784 shooting line in 71 games (21.2 MPG).

Kleber’s raise won’t impact the Mavs’ ability to continue building their roster. Because he has a very modest cap hold of about $1.82MM, Dallas can keep that hold on its books to maximize its cap flexibility before going over the cap to sign him using his Early Bird rights.

This is the second four-year contract agreement of the day for the Mavs, who struck a similar deal with free agent guard Seth Curry.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mavericks Sign Seth Curry To Four-Year Contract

July 10th, 2019 at 12:02pm CST by JD Shaw

JULY 10: The Mavericks have officially signed Curry, the club announced today in a press release.

As we detailed earlier today, Dallas could use either cap room or the mid-level exception for over-the-cap teams to sign Curry.

JULY 1: Free agent guard Seth Curry has agreed to a contract with the Mavericks, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The agreement between the sides is a four-year deal worth $32MM, Marc Stein of the New York Times reports. Curry can officially sign his contract once the moratorium period ends on July 6.

Curry is coming off an impressive season with Portland, averaging 7.9 points in 18.9 minutes per game. He has been one of the NBA’s best three-point shooters in recent years, making 45.0% of his outside shots in 2018/19 to increase his career rate to 43.9%.

The terms of Curry’s deal will allow the Mavericks to remain flexible. If the team decides to make use of its cap room, Curry’s signing can be completed using space. If Dallas opts to stay over the cap and make use of its $21MM trade exception, Curry’s deal could fit into the mid-level exception.

The Mavericks remain interested in free agent Danny Green, Stein adds in a separate tweet, but Green is determined to wait on Kawhi Leonard‘s decision before making a choice on where to sign.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Few NBA Teams Still Have Meaningful Cap Space

July 10th, 2019 at 10:38am CST by Luke Adams

After a flurry of activity during the first 10 days of an especially active 2019 free agent period, only a small handful of teams around the NBA still have any meaningful cap room available.

According to Jeff Siegel’s data at Early Bird Rights and Bobby Marks’ numbers at ESPN, the Knicks, Mavericks, Hawks, Pacers, and Clippers are the only clubs that project to have more than $2MM in leftover cap space.

Here’s a look at those five teams that still project to have a bit more room remaining:

New York Knicks

The Knicks had seemingly exhausted nearly all their cap room based on their reported agreements with free agents. However, one of those deals – Reggie Bullock‘s two-year, $21MM pact – is no longer in place after an issue arose with Bullock’s physical. It sounds like the two sides still plan to work something out, but for now, the team has regained enough flexibility to reportedly offer Marcus Morris $15MM for one year.

The Knicks’ precise cap room projection will depend on how they structured all the deals they finalized earlier this week, but Marks lists them at $15.5MM for now. That space would go away if Morris reneges on his deal with the Spurs and heads to New York. If not, the Knicks will have more cap flexibility than any other team, at least until they reach a new deal with Bullock.

Dallas Mavericks

According to Siegel’s numbers (and my own math), the Mavericks can get up as high as about $14.61MM in cap room. However, there’s no guarantee that Dallas even intends to function as an over-the-cap team this offseason.

So far, the Mavs have acquired Delon Wright via sign-and-trade, agreed to deals with free agents Seth Curry and Boban Marjanovic, and come to terms on new contracts for three of their own players (Kristaps Porzingis, Maxi Kleber, and Dorian Finney-Smith). Only the Wright acquisition is official.

If the Mavs wanted to, they could use cap room to acquire Wright and sign Curry, retain the cap holds for their own free agents, and hold off on the Marjanovic signing — that would create $14.61MM in cap room. Once that room is used, Dallas could go over the cap to lock up Porzingis, Kleber, and Finney-Smith, and then sign Boban using the room exception.

However, Dallas has another potential path — stay over the cap by taking Wright’s contract into a preexisting $21MM+ trade exception created in February’s Harrison Barnes deal, sign Curry using the mid-level exception, sign Marjanovic using the bi-annual exception, and re-sign their own free agents using their Bird or Early Bird rights.

In that scenario, the Mavs would forfeit any potential cap room, but would retain about $12MM of that Barnes trade exception, which could be used at anytime up until February 7, 2020.

Trade exceptions aren’t as versatile as cap room, since they can’t be used to sign free agents outright. However, the trade exception’s shelf life would be longer. If Dallas doesn’t find a way to use cap room now, the team would lose it once it makes its agreements with Porzingis, Kleber, and Finney-Smith official. Those players’ cap holds only account for just over $20MM for now, but their combined first-year salaries are expected to total closer to $40MM.

My best guess is that the Mavs used the Barnes trade exception to acquire Wright, and are now actively exploring the free agent and trade markets to assess whether it makes more sense to dip below the cap or to remain above it.

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks‘ situation is pretty simple. Once the signing of Jabari Parker is official, Atlanta will have a team salary in the $103-104MM range, giving the club between $5-6MM in cap room to work with. That figure come in at about $5.8MM if Parker’s deal has a standard 5% raise from year one to year two, per Siegel.

The Hawks could create up to $7.2MM in space if they waive Jaylen Adams‘ non-guaranteed contract. It’s not clear yet what their plans are for that remaining space though.

Indiana Pacers

The Pacers‘ projection will hinge on how they intend to sign T.J. McConnell. McConnell’s two-year, $7MM deal, which isn’t yet official, could be completed using the room exception. That would leave the Pacers with about $4.82MM in cap room available right now, which would need to be used before the team finalizes its agreements with McConnell and Edmond Sumner.

If the club simply finalizes those McConnell and Sumner contracts and eats up its remaining cap room, it would still have the full $4.77MM room exception at its disposal.

Los Angeles Clippers

Like the Mavericks, the Clippers have agreed to a series of deals that they’ve yet to make official. That’s probably because they’re trying to determine if they can do anything with their remaining space (up to approximately $3.59MM).

That projection accounts for cap holds for Patrick Beverley, Ivica Zubac, and Rodney McGruder, all of whom will be re-signed. It also takes into account Kawhi Leonard‘s maximum-salary contract, and Danilo Gallinari‘s and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s cap hits, since trading them for Paul George figures to be one of the last moves the Clippers make.

Our Clippers’ projection was at about $4.49MM before the team officially signed second-round pick Terance Mann on Tuesday, adding his cap hit to the books — we’re assuming that contract will start at the rookie minimum, but L.A. had the room to give him more.

Once the Clippers determine what they’ll do with their remaining cap space and officially use it up, they’ll be able to move forward on all those deals, including signing JaMychal Green using the room exception.

Raptors Rumors: Kawhi, Lowry, Gasol, Ibaka, Green

July 10th, 2019 at 9:52am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors were confident entering free agency about their chances to re-sign NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, but that confidence began to waver after they met with Leonard and his uncle Dennis Robertson in Toronto last Wednesday, sources tell Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.

According to Lewenberg, Leonard and his camp asked for a lot from the Raptors during that meeting — “things players don’t generally ask for in standard contract negotiations,” writes Lewenberg. One of Lewenberg’s sources describes those requests as “unreasonable,” suggesting that Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri wouldn’t have been able to meet them all even if he’d wanted to.

The requests caused the Raptors to question whether Leonard was seriously considering them at all, according to Lewenberg. A belief that Kawhi was eyeing the Clippers all along prompted the Raptors to not get too invested in potential trade discussions with the Thunder. Lewenberg suggests that those preliminary talks included Paul George, but not Russell Westbrook, and didn’t even reach the team’s highest-ranking executives.

Within his own look at the Leonard situation, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca conveys many of the same sentiments that Lewenberg did. According to Grange, as Leonard’s requests became more difficult to meet and communication became less constant, it became more clear that the Raptors weren’t his top priority, as one person close to the talks described it.

Grange adds that the Raptors’ contact with the Thunder in the hours leading up to Leonard’s announcement “may have been somewhat exaggerated.” Toronto tapped out fairly early once it was evident OKC was using talks with the Raptors as leverage.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

One Clippers official who spoke to Grange was relieved that his team was still able to land Kawhi after the success he enjoyed in Toronto in 2018/19: “The Raptors did everything right. We saw the parade, saw those pictures and figured that was it. We were done.”
Speaking to reporters, including Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun, Ujiri suggested on Tuesday that he’s not exactly reeling from losing Leonard: “I think we got a great deal out of this. We won a championship, so we’re happy. And, honestly, it’s on to the next. This is the NBA and this is how it works. You can’t hide under the table and cry. Honestly, I’ve lost no sleep, I’m not disappointed. It’s on to what’s next. I’m telling Raptors fans and everybody, don’t lose one day of sleep, one second of sleep. We’re going to be just fine. We’re going to be alright.”
Don’t expect the next steps for the Raptors to involve an immediate tear-down. Sources tell Lewenberg that the team has no intention of moving veterans on expiring contracts – such as Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, and Serge Ibaka – before the season. Of course, it’s possible that stance could change by the trade deadline if the Raps don’t have a great first half.
While there was a belief that Danny Green would lean toward re-signing with the Raptors and trying to defend their title if Leonard returned, that may not have been the case after all. According to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (via Twitter), Green told the Mavericks that he wouldn’t be returning to Toronto, and his choice came down to the Lakers vs. the Mavs.

Terrence Ross Says He Received Interest From Mavs

July 9th, 2019 at 1:26pm CST by Luke Adams

As John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com details, Ross said he received either serious interest or a contract offer from the Lakers, Jazz, Mavericks, Pacers, and Kings while he was a free agent. Like teammate Nikola Vucevic though, Ross preferred to stick with the Magic.

Grizzlies Sign-And-Trade Delon Wright To Mavericks

July 8th, 2019 at 7:17pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 8, 7:17pm: The deal is official, according to a Dallas press release. The Mavs sent the draft rights to 2015 second-rounder Satnam Singh to the Grizzlies in addition to two second-round picks. A Memphis press release confirms the deal.

JULY 7, 3:47pm: The Mavericks, Grizzlies, and restricted free agent guard Delon Wright have reached an agreement on a sign-and-trade deal that will send Wright to Dallas, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Memphis will receive two second-round picks from the Mavs in the deal, according to Wojnarowski.

Agent Greg Lawrence tells Woj (Twitter link) that Wright will be receiving a three-year, $29MM contract from the Mavericks.

We’d heard since Thursday that Dallas, one of the only teams that still had cap flexibility, was planning an offer sheet for Wright. As Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News tweets, the Grizzlies didn’t want to lose him for nothing but also weren’t committed to matching an offer sheet at any cost. The Mavs, on the other hand, were likely wary of having Memphis match their offer — or of having to overpay Wright to avoid that scenario.

The sign-and-trade agreement represents a compromise for the Southwest rivals, and is the latest example of what has become a summer-wide trend around the NBA — no restricted free agent has signed an offer sheet, but six RFAs have reached deals to join new teams via sign-and-trade.

The 20th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Wright spent the first three and a half seasons of his NBA career with the Raptors before being dealt to Memphis in the Marc Gasol trade at this year’s deadline. After never averaging more than 20.8 minutes per game in Toronto, the 27-year-old saw that number bumped to 30.8 MPG in 26 games with the Grizzlies and responded by averaging 12.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.3 APG, and 1.6 SPG.

In Dallas, Wright figures to share ball-handling duties with the likes of Jalen Brunson, J.J. Barea (when he’s healthy), and – of course – Luka Doncic.

After accounting for Wright’s contract, the Mavs project to have no more than $14.6MM in cap room, tweets cap expert Albert Nahmad. Dallas’ contract agreements with Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, and Kristaps Porzingis would eat up that room once they become official since their new salaries are much higher than their cap holds.

If the Mavs don’t have any other deals on tap, it’s possible they’ll remain an over-the-cap team, taking Wright into their $21.3MM trade exception and using the mid-level exception to sign Seth Curry. That would leave the team with the rest of that big trade exception to use during the season.

As for the Grizzlies, they’ll move forward with No. 2 pick Ja Morant handling point guard duties, but we’ll see if they look to add more depth after losing Wright. De’Anthony Melton is the other point guard on the roster. Memphis has about $115MM in projected team salary on its books and will create a trade exception worth half of Wright’s 2019/20 salary in this sign-and-trade, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Missing On Danny Green May Spell End Of Free Agency

July 7th, 2019 at 4:01pm CST by clarkcrum

The Mavericks have since agreed to acquire Wright via S&T.
Should they change their mind about free agency, the Mavericks no longer need to worry about the cap hold for Petteri Koponen after the league office permitted Dallas to remove the hold amount for the 2019/20 season (per RealGM transactions log).

Latest On Russell Westbrook

July 7th, 2019 at 10:38am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat and Pistons are expected to be the top contenders to land Russell Westbrook if the Thunder decide to trade him, according to Sam Amick and Brett Dawson of The Athletic.

Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti will meet this week with Westbrook and his agent, Thad Foucher, to plot out the future for the former MVP. All three were blindsided by Paul George‘s trade request, which was the result of Kawhi Leonard‘s successful lobbying effort to join him on the Clippers.

The Thunder are motivated to move Westbrook, not only because he’s the lone star left in OKC and will make $171MM over the next four years, but also because he plays the same position as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the centerpiece of their return in the George deal.

Miami would like to pair Westbrook with Jimmy Butler and could offer a package built around Goran Dragic, who has one year left on his contract at $19.2MM, and Dion Waiters, who is owed a combined $24.7MM over the next two seasons. Detroit’s offer might include Andre Drummond ($27MM in 2019/20 with a $28.75MM player option the following season), Reggie Jackson (one year left at $18MM) and Tony Snell ($11.39MM next season followed by a $12.18MM player option).

Some executives believe the Rockets could get involved as well, given GM Daryl Morey’s penchant for star chasing. However, pairing Westbrook with James Harden and Chris Paul, two other guards who like to control the ball, may prove awkward, and matching salary wouldn’t be easy. Houston would almost certainly have to part with Clint Capela ($14.9MM next season), Eric Gordon ($14MM), and P.J. Tucker ($8.35MM) in any deal if Paul isn’t included.

Sources with knowledge of Houston’s thinking confirmed to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com that the Rockets have interest in Westbrook. However, one team source described a potential deal as a “long shot,” says MacMahon.

There’s more today on the Westbrook front:

The Knicks have been mentioned as a possible suitor for Westbrook, but will have to wait until December to make a move, notes Marc Berman of The New York Post. New York no longer has the cap room to absorb Westbrook’s $37.5MM salary for next season after reaching deals with six free agents, and those new players can’t be traded before December 15. If the opportunity is still there, Elfrid Payton, Reggie Bullock, Bobby Portis, Wayne Ellington and Taj Gibson will all have expiring contracts that could interest the Thunder as they try to reduce a league-high tax bill. The Knicks can also offer the 2021 and 2023 first-rounders they acquired from Dallas in the Kristaps Porzingis deal, Berman adds.
Michael Shapiro of Sports Illustrated mentions the Timberwolves, Celtics and Magic as other possibilities. A swap with Minnesota would be easy if OKC would accept Andrew Wiggins in return, he states, while the Celtics could offer Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown or wait a year and trade newly acquired Kemba Walker. Orlando has been seeking a point guard for years and has a lot of wings and big men to offer.
The Bulls, Mavericks, Nuggets, Bucks, Spurs and Raptors all have the assets to get involved as well, according to Zack Rosenblatt of NJ.com.

Mavericks Preparing Offer Sheet For Delon Wright

July 6th, 2019 at 10:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Mavericks are targeting Grizzlies restricted free agent Delon Wright and could have his signature on an offer sheet by the end of the night, a league source tells Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Memphis will have 48 hours to decide whether to match the offer once it’s submitted to the league office.

The 27-year-old point guard took advantage of increased playing time after he was shipped from the Raptors to the Grizzlies in February as part of the Marc Gasol trade. In 26 games with Memphis, Wright posted career highs with 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists.

Earlier in the night, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told Townsend that the team was virtually done in free agency outside of an “opportunistic” situation, which turned out to be Wright (Twitter link). ESPN’s Tim MacMahon tweeted that the Mavs are waiting to finalize their deals from the past week while they search the trade market for ways to utilize their cap space, which goes away when all the transactions become official. That doesn’t include the Seth Curry signing, which is being done with cap room, and the extension for Dwight Powell, which doesn’t take effect until next season.

The Grizzlies have been making an effort to clear salary to better position themselves to keep Wright without going into tax territory. Their latest move came earlier today when they waived Avery Bradley.