Dallas Mavericks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Mavericks Withdraw QO For Doug McDermott

June 27th, 2018 at 1:15pm CST by Luke Adams

Doug McDermott won’t become a restricted free agent on Sunday after all, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.com, who reports (via Twitter) that the Mavericks have withdrawn their qualifying offer to the four-year veteran.

It’s a quick turnaround for the Mavs, after we heard on Tuesday that the team had extended a qualifying offer to McDermott. According to Lowe, Dallas still has interest in retaining McDermott, but this decision will make the sharpshooter an unrestricted free agent. It will also clear extra cap room for the Mavs, since McDermott’s cap hold as a restricted free agent would have been worth nearly $9.9MM.

McDermott, 26, recorded 9.0 PPG on .478/.494/.857 shooting in 26 games with the Mavericks last season after coming over from New York in a deadline deal. While the former 11th overall pick has never averaged double-digit points in a season, he has been a reliable three-point threat since entering the league, making 40.3% of his outside attempts.

The Mavericks, who added Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson in last week’s draft, have been linked to a number of big men in free agency, including DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Jordan, Julius Randle, and Clint Capela. If they decline Dirk Nowitzki‘s $5MM team option, as suggested by Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link), the Mavs could get up to approximately $26MM in cap space, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Marks (Twitter link).

If Dallas requires all its available cap room to make a play for one of those bigs, it could offer the $4.4MM room exception to Nowitzki or McDermott. However, since the Mavs will no longer have the right of first refusal, the team won’t be able to stop McDermott from signing outright with another suitor.

Mavericks Extend Qualifying Offers To McDermott, Mejri

June 26th, 2018 at 9:44pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Mavericks have extended qualifying offers to Doug McDermott and Salah Mejri, Eddie Sefko of SportsDayDFW tweets. Both players will become restricted free agents.

McDermott’s qualifying is worth approximately $4.3MM. It would have been slightly over $4.5MM had he met the “starter criteria,” but since he did not, he’ll settle for the lower figure.

A player meets the criteria if he plays 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency. A player can also reach this distinction by averaging either of those marks in over the two seasons prior to hitting free agency.

McDermott only started 13 games in his entire career and he came up 232 minutes short of the 2,000 mark during the 2017/18 campaign. Teammate Yogi Ferrell, who also received a qualifying offer from the Mavs, met the starter criteria.

Mejri, whose offer is worth slightly over $1.8MM, did not meet the criteria after playing just 729 minutes this past season.

Mavs Still A Lottery Team?

June 26th, 2018 at 7:14pm CST by clarkcrum

Despite perhaps winning the 2018 NBA Draft with the selection of some pundits’ top-ranked player, Luka Doncic, Mac Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram doesn’t see the Mavericks making the playoffs next season, writing that Dallas will likely end up picking in the NBA Draft Lottery for a second straight summer in 2019.

Despite the hype surrounding Doncic and his experience playing with professionals overseas, he will still be an NBA rookie next season, and as Mavericks’ president Donnie Nelson puts it, that means “he’s going to get his rear end handed to him.” Add in the fact that Smith Jr. is also still only 20 years old, and you’re left with one of the youngest – albeit most talented – backcourts in the NBA, which is probably not enough in the deep Western Conference.

Yogi Ferrell Receives Qualifying Offer From Mavericks

June 26th, 2018 at 5:36pm CST by clarkcrum

The Mavericks have tendered a qualifying offer to guard Yogi Ferrell, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Ferrell now becomes a restricted free agent on July 1.

Ferrell’s qualifying offer is worth $2.92MM as a result of reaching starter criteria this year, which can be reached by starting at least 41 games or playing at least 2,000 minutes during the regular season. Ferrell played 2,282 minutes for Dallas this season.

As we’ve noted before, players eligible for restricted free agency don’t become restricted free agents by default. Rather, their team must extend a qualifying offer, which functions as a one-year contract offer. If Ferrell were to sign the $2.92MM qualifying offer, he’d put himself in line for unrestricted free agency next summer.

Ferrell has stated publicly that he’d like to remain with the Mavericks, so it’s probable that he will either sign his qualifying offer or ink a long-term deal with Dallas barring a substantial offer from another team.

Ferrell, 25, played all 82 contests and averaged 10.2 points and 2.5 assists per game in 2017/18, with a shooting line of .477/.373/.796. His per game numbers were likely somewhat reduced from the 2016/17 campaign due to the addition of rookie first-round pick Dennis Smith Jr.

DeAndre Jordan Mulling Opt-In To Facilitate Trade?

June 26th, 2018 at 11:31am CST by Luke Adams

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, one of several players who has yet to decide on his 2018/19 option, is weighing a number of options in advance of Friday’s deadline, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times (via Twitter). According to Stein, one option Jordan is considering involves exercising his option in order to facilitate a trade to another team.

Opting in to accommodate a trade is what Jordan’s former teammate Chris Paul did a year ago, when the Rockets lacked the cap room to sign CP3 outright. If Jordan is interested in joining an over-the-cap team, he could negotiate an agreement with the Clippers that would see him traded to that new team. However, as was the case last year with the Clippers, Rockets, and Paul, all three parties would have to be on board with the arrangement.

The Mavericks are among the teams with potential trade interest in Jordan, according to Stein, though he adds (via Twitter) that one source describes a Jordan-to-Dallas trade as a “long shot.” As we heard earlier this week, the Mavs appear ready to let bygones be bygones in regard to Jordan’s 2015 free agency debacle. A free agent that summer, Jordan committed to Dallas, then backed out of the agreement to re-sign with the Clippers.

Jordan’s player option for 2018/19 is worth $24,119,025, so if he opts in, that figure would need to be taken into account in trade negotiations — a trade partner would have to either match salaries or have the cap room to accommodate that amount.

If Jordan decides to opt out, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Bulls, Suns, Pacers Among Potential Marcus Smart Suitors?

June 25th, 2018 at 1:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Marcus Smart is less than a week from reaching restricted free agency, and potential suitors for the four-year veteran are beginning to emerge. According to Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), the Bulls, Suns, Pacers, and Mavericks are among the teams that could challenge the Celtics for Smart’s services.

The Mavericks were identified as a possible suitor for Smart last week, but the draft results may have altered their free agency plans. Having selected Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson on Thursday, Dallas appears more likely to target big men in free agency — Schultz suggests the Mavs’ interest in Smart “depends on [the] price.”

As for the other teams mentioned by Schultz, they’d all make some sense as potential landing spots. The Pacers are closer to contending than Phoenix or Chicago, but at age 24, Smart is capable of either contributing right away to a playoff team or being a long-term building block for a club that’s still a year or two away.

The Suns’ point guard outlook remains somewhat unclear, with Brandon Knight coming off a torn ACL and Elie Okobo probably not ready for a major role. The Bulls have Kris Dunn at the point, while the Pacers figure to retain Darren Collison and Cory Joseph. However, both of those teams should have cap space, and could use Smart to create intriguing combinations in their respective backcourts.

Smart, who missed time with a thumb injury in 2017/18, averaged 10.2 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 3.5 RPG for the season. While his numbers – particularly his .367/.301/.729 shooting line – were modest, the 24-year-old is considered one of the NBA’s most talented perimeter defenders, and has been a culture-setter in Boston.

There’s mutual interest between Smart and the Celtics for a new deal, but the club has several other expensive long-term commitments to consider, so it’s not clear how high the front office will be willing to go to retain the hard-nosed guard.

Mavericks Notes: Free Agency, Centers, Doncic

June 24th, 2018 at 8:11pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks were one of the NBA’s worst rebounding teams in 2017/18, and this year’s draft class featured plenty of quality big men — especially at the top. However, Dallas used its top-five pick on a play-making guard/forward (Luka Doncic, and selected a point guard (Jalen Brunson) with its second-rounder.

As such, it was no surprised that president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson agreed on draft night that the Mavs’ priority in free agency will be finding a center (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com). Head coach Rick Carlisle echoed that assessment.

“July 1 is right around the corner,” Carlisle said this week, per Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. “We’ll address it. There will be options. This organization with Mark (Cuban) at the helm is always going to be opportunistic and be in a mode to make things happens, when they’re the right kinds of things.

Here’s more on the Mavs:

As Sefko relays, Carlisle is ready to pencil in Doncic as part of the Mavericks’ starting lineup right away, adding that he thinks the No. 3 pick and last year’s lottery choice Dennis Smith Jr. “will complement each other extremely well.”
In a separate article for The Dallas Morning News, Sefko explores which big men might be targets for the Mavericks in the coming days or weeks.
One name on Sefko’s list is DeAndre Jordan, who committed to the Mavs the last time he reached free agency in 2015, only to back out of that agreement and re-sign with the Clippers. Jordan can become a free agent again next weekend, and while it seems unlikely that he’d end up in Dallas, Mike Fisher of 247Sports.com hears from a source that the Mavs wouldn’t avoid the veteran center out of principle.
Dwain Price of Mavs.com takes an extended look at the Mavs’ decision to move up in the draft and nab Doncic, the player the club targeted throughout the pre-draft process. “At one point we thought that there might be a slight chance he could fall to us,” Carlisle said of the Real Madrid star. “But then a couple of days ago it was pretty clear that there was no way that that was going to happen. He’s just too good, and so we made this deal — we moved up.”

Mavs Trade No. 54 Pick To Sixers For Nos. 56, 60

June 21st, 2018 at 10:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks and Sixers are swapping late second-round selections, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, who reports (via Twitter) that Dallas is getting the 56th and 60th overall picks from Philadelphia in exchange for No. 54.

The 76ers initially owned six picks in the 2018 draft, but have been active on the trade market. The club sent the 38th overall pick to Detroit and the 39th overall pick to the Lakers, and will now complete a two-for-one deal with the Mavs.

With their newly-acquired 54th pick, the Sixers are drafting SMU guard Shake Milton, tweets Charania. Melton scored 18.0 points per game as a junior and shot 43% from 3-point range.

The Mavericks grabbed Louisville’s Ray Spalding at No. 56 and completed the draft by taking Dayton’s Kostas Antetokounmpo, the brother of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, at No. 60. Spalding, a power forward, completed an impressive junior season for the Cardinals, averaging 12.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per night. Kostas Antetokounmpo spent one season with the Flyers, averaging 5.2 points per game.

Mavericks To Search For Center In Free Agency

June 21st, 2018 at 10:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

After trading for Luka Doncic, the Mavericks plan to address their need at center through free agency, tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “July 1 is right around the corner, bro,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ll address it. There will be options.”

Chief among those options is expected to be DeMarcus Cousins of the Pelicans, who is still recovering from a torn Achilles he suffered in January. The Mavericks could also make a play for the Rockets‘ Clint Capela, who will be a restricted free agent, or the Clippers‘ DeAndre Jordan if he decides to opt out of his current deal. Another possibility is Dwight Howard, who is expected to reach a buyout agreement with the Nets once a trade from the Hornets is complete. Dallas has expressed interest in Howard before, and he is likely to be more affordable than ever.

The Pelicans might be worth watching in the pursuit of Howard, according to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Like the Mavericks, they have tried to acquire him before and he could be a low-cost replacement if they can’t re-sign Cousins.
The Mavericks, Nuggets and Spurs were all among the winners in tonight’s draft, according to Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz of ESPN. Dallas was able to trade up to get Doncic, Denver saw Michael Porter Jr. fall to No. 14 and San Antonio picked up Lonnie Walker at 18. Other teams that had a good night, according to the authors, were the Pacers, Sixers and Celtics.

Mavs Acquire No. 3 Pick, Draft Luka Doncic

June 21st, 2018 at 9:21pm CST by Luke Adams

9:21pm: Marc Stein of The New York Times has the protection details on the 2019 first-round pick going to Atlanta in the deal. According to Stein (via Twitter), it will be top-five protected in 2019 and 2020, top-three protected in 2021 and 2022, and fully unprotected in 2023.

6:47pm: The Mavericks and Hawks agreed to a blockbuster trade involving the No. 3 pick that allowed Dallas to draft Luka Doncic.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the Hawks will acquire a 2019 first-round pick in the trade, while Atlanta took Trae Young at No. 5. No veteran players are involved in the deal, Woj adds (via Twitter).

Previous versions of the trade had Kent Bazemore going to Dallas and Wesley Matthews to Atlanta, but the Hawks were reluctant to add Matthews to a young, rebuilding team. They opted for a simple swap of picks, with some light protections on the future first-rounder. Atlanta had been hoping to free up some cap room by finding a taker for Bazemore, who is owed more than $18MM next season and has a player option worth nearly $19.3MM in 2019/20.

The teams were close to a trade around 5:00pm ET, tweets ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, but fell apart until the Mavs agree to include the future pick. The pick is scheduled to transfer next season, tweets Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports and will be top-five protected (Twitter link).

A source from the Mavericks, who described the protections as minimal to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, said, “We hope it conveys next year.” (Twitter link).

Arthur Hill contributed to this post.