- Chinese forward Abudushalamu Abudurexiti has already worked out for eight NBA teams this spring, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic, who identifies the Nets, Mavericks, Lakers, Bucks, Suns, and Jazz as clubs that have taken a look at the youngster. Scotto’s piece is worth checking out in full for a closer look at the under-the-radar prospect.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle issued a statement to the media denying that he’s a candidate for the head coaching vacancy in Milwaukee, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times.
“Rumors that I have interest in the Milwaukee Bucks’ job are completely inaccurate,” he wrote. “I work for Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks.”
Carlisle is responding to a report from Gery Woelfel this week suggesting that the Mavs coach might have interest in coaching the Bucks, Stein adds (Twitter link). Woelfel identified Mike Budenholzer and Monty Williams as the top two candidates for the job.
Carlisle just completed the first year of a five-year extension in Dallas that runs through the 2021/22 season. He has a 437-367 record in 10 seasons with the Mavericks.
- The Mavericks are ahead of schedule in their investigation into alleged workplace misconduct, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Chief executive officer Cynthia Marshall said most of the scheduled interviews have been completed and the process could wrap up by the end of the month. The coaching staff was the latest group to complete a 3 1/2-hour diversity training session. “I thought it was great,” said head coach Rick Carlisle. “There was a lot of good discussion about the world we live in. I think every company ought to have it.”
- The Mavericks‘ decision to sign Dwight Powell to a four-year, $37MM+ contract in the summer of 2016 looked a year ago like a misstep, but Powell enjoyed a career year for the team in 2017/18, as Dwain Price of Mavs.com observes. “That contract has been more than fulfilled, and it’s not just the player that you see evolving before your very eyes,” Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. “It’s the leadership in that locker room, and he is a very, very special young man that has taken the next step up.”
- While the Mavericks know they can’t “skip steps” and rush their rebuilding process, they also hope that rebuild isn’t still in its “early stages,” says head coach Rick Carlisle (link via Price at Mavs.com). According to Carlisle, Dallas will be looking to integrate its 2018 lottery pick into the rotation during his rookie year, as the team did with Dennis Smith Jr. this past season.
Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga is on the Hawks’ radar in their search for a head coach, Sam Amico of Amico Hoops reports. Larranaga has been an assistant with the Celtics since 2012 after being a head coach in the G League. The son of college coach Jim Larranaga has also coached in Ireland. The younger Larranaga is also on the long list of candidates for the Knicks’ coaching vacancy, Amico adds.
In other developments around the Southeast Division:
- Trading for disgruntled Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony wouldn’t make any sense for the Heat, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel argues. Miami already has a better defensive power forward in James Johnson and Anthony has already indicated he doesn’t want to come off the bench, Winderman continues. Anthony’s expiring contract wouldn’t give the Heat notable cap relief in 2019 because of the salary commitments they already have, Winderman adds.
- Those salary commitments are also why it’s unlikely the Heat will deal Hassan Whiteside for an expiring contract or two, Winderman writes in a separate blog. In essence, they’d simply be giving away their center for nothing if they chose that route, Winderman continues. Whiteside has two years and $52.5MM remaining on his $98MM deal. The Bucks, Trail Blazers and Mavericks are among the potential landing spots for Whiteside if a trade goes through, according to Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype.
- Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman will have final say in the head coaching hire, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports. Orlando is searching for a coach after firing Frank Vogel. “If you’re asking do I have autonomy to do this job, I can tell you simply that I would not have come here had I not,” Weltman told Robbins.
- The Hornets’ coaching search could get complicated if they chose to pursue former Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer notes. Reuniting Budenholzer with center Dwight Howard wouldn’t be a good idea, given how their relationship deteriorated in Atlanta, Bonnell adds.
Mavericks wing Wesley Matthews has officially exercised the player option on his contract for the 2018/19 season, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. The final year on Matthews’ four-year deal with Dallas will pay him a salary of $18,622,514.
The move doesn’t come as a surprise, as we heard just last week that Matthews intended to exercise his option. He would have had little chance of matching or exceeding that $18MM+ salary if he had opted out and tested the free agent market.
Matthews, 31, appeared in 63 games for the Mavs in 2017/18, averaging 12.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 2.7 APG with a .406/.381/.822 shooting line. His season was cut short by a fractured fibula — he sustained the injury on March 10 and didn’t return before season’s end. However, Matthews confirmed earlier this month that he has been medically cleared to resume full basketball activities, so he should be back to 100% for the start of training camp in the fall.
The Mavs reportedly explored the possibility of moving Matthews at February’s trade deadline, but their asking price was high — the club was said to be seeking a first-round pick, which was unrealistic given the veteran’s modest production and his looming $18MM option.
Still, while Matthews may never replicate the numbers he posted in Portland earlier in his career, he has been a solid three-point shooter and defender during his time with Dallas, and could become more appealing as a trade chip now that he’ll be on an expiring contract. It will be interesting to see if the rebuilding Mavs revisit the trade market for Matthews during the offseason.
Matthews is the second player to formally pick up a player option for 2018/19, joining Jeremy Lin, as our tracker shows.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- The Mavericks could be indirect beneficiaries of LeBron James‘ free agency, suggests Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. No matter where James ends up, a team will likely have to unload a significant salary, which Dallas is in position to absorb. The Mavericks could wind up with Clint Capela from the Rockets, Robert Covington from the Sixers or Julius Randle from the Lakers, or if James stays in Cleveland, Dallas could pursue Pelicans free agent DeMarcus Cousins.
The gamble the Heat took on Hassan Whiteside two years ago has backfired, writes Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post, and they are left with the choices of keeping him and his huge cap hit or trading him for virtually nothing. Whiteside still has two seasons remaining [including a $27.1MM player option for 2019/20] on the four-year deal he signed in the summer of 2016.
The Heat are open to dealing their starting center, but Bontemps warns they may not like the offers they get. He suggests the Mavericks might be interested if they can’t land a big-name free agent, with Dwight Powell going to Miami in return. Other possibilities Bontemps sees for Whiteside are heading to New York in exchange for Joakim Noah [owed roughly $37MM over the next two years] and the Bulls’ second-rounder or to Phoenix for Brandon Knight [$29MM over two years] and Tyson Chandler‘s expiring $13.6MM deal.
There’s more today out of Miami:
- The Heat are counting on Dion Waiters to solidify the shooting guard position once he returns from ankle surgery, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Waiters was limited to just 30 games before the January operation, and doctors aren’t sure if he will be ready for training camp or the start of the season. “I don’t think he’s felt right, physically, since when he first got here,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He got in great shape, but once he injured his ankle, then he was always dealing with that. This is going to be a really important summer for him. He’s going to be here and he’ll be working a ton behind the scenes just to get his legs right, then he’ll work on the next step of getting in world-class shape and then he’ll get into the next phase of really developing his basketball skills.”
- Veteran forward Udonis Haslem isn’t sure whether Dwyane Wade will return for another season, adding he “wouldn’t be surprised” no matter what Wade decides, Jackson relays in the same story. Haslem hasn’t made a decision on his own future, but said he would like to work in the Heat organization when he retires, although not as a coach. He added that he and Wade haven’t discussed a mutual decision. “We’ve both in situations where we have a lot of different opportunities ahead of us,” Haslem said. “Do we want to retire together? In a perfect world it would be great to finish it together. But things don’t always work out like that.”
- After playing just 16 postseason minutes, Rodney McGruder wants a larger role next year, Jackson adds. McGruder had surgery on his leg in October and appeared in 16 regular season games after he returned in February. “I want to play,” he said. “I am happy for my teammates. I love cheering them on. I want to be playing in the playoffs.”
As we recently detailed when we previewed this summer’s player option decisions, those options have been overwhelmingly declined over the last two offseasons.
Over the last two years, only eight of 53 veterans who held player options on their contracts have actually exercised those options. Half of those eight players (Tim Duncan, Caron Butler, Mo Williams, and Spencer Hawes) haven’t played a single NBA minute since picking up their options, having either retired or been waived. Another one of the eight (Chris Paul) only opted in because it cleared the way for him to be traded to his preferred destination.
However, those opt-outs came at a time when NBA free agent spending was at an all-time high, primarily due to the substantial salary-cap jump in the 2016 offseason. For most players with an opportunity to reach the open market, it made sense to test free agency rather than playing out a contract that had been negotiated when the cap was far lower.
That may not be the case this summer though. The increases in the salary cap have become more modest, with the cap for 2018/19 projected to only be about $2MM higher than this year’s figure. With fewer teams armed with cap room and less money available in free agency, many of the player options for 2018/19 don’t look too bad.
I expect more than five player options to be exercised this offseason, but here are five that look like virtual locks to be picked up:
Carmelo Anthony, Thunder ($27,928,140): Our list starts with a player option that’s technically not a player option. Anthony actually has an early termination option, which essentially gives him the same rights as a player option would — he’ll simply have to waive his ETO in order to opt in and finish out his current contract. Given Anthony’s underwhelming season in Oklahoma City, which saw him set new career lows in PPG (16.2) and FG% (.404), opting in looks like an easy call. If the Thunder lose in the first round and Paul George departs in free agency, it will be interesting to see how enthusiastic Anthony is about remaining in OKC. This situation reminds me a little of Dwyane Wade‘s in Chicago a year ago, when Wade exercised his $23MM player option, then surrendered a big chunk of it as part of a buyout agreement.- Wesley Matthews, Mavericks ($18,622,514): Matthews has already indicated he plans to opt in, so it’s probably cheating a little to include him here. Still, his case is an interesting one. Matthews is still capable of being a useful wing who can make three-point shots — that could make him more valuable to a contender than to the rebuilding team, and an $18MM+ expiring salary would also look appealing to a club looking to clear cap room for 2019. If and when Matthews officially picks up the option, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Mavs explore the trade market for him, likely expressing a willingness to take on longer-term money.
- Iman Shumpert, Kings ($11,011,234): Shumpert’s player option decision figures to hinge on money rather than destination. After an injury-plagued season in which he played in just 14 games, the veteran swingman won’t come close to matching his $11MM option salary, so it’s the right move to opt in and then see what happens. The rebuilding Kings, who held onto vets like Zach Randolph and Vince Carter for the entire 2017/18 season, could try the same approach with Shumpert next year, but I’d expect him to become a buyout candidate sooner or later — assuming he’s not traded first.
- Darrell Arthur, Nuggets ($7,464,912): In Denver, Wilson Chandler‘s player option decision will be a tougher one than Arthur’s, which looks like a mere formality. Ongoing knee issues – as well as a deep Nuggets roster – resulted in Arthur appearing in just 19 games and playing 141 total minutes in 2017/18. If he were to opt out, he’d almost certainly be looking at a minimum-salary offer, so picking up his option makes sense.
- Ron Baker, Knicks ($4,544,400): It’s hard to call a contract worth less than $10MM in total a disastrous signing, but the Knicks’ decision to commit their entire room exception to Baker last offseason on a two-year deal was immediately panned, and it doesn’t look any better now. Like other players on this list, Baker didn’t play a whole lot in 2017/18 due to injuries – and to not having a permanent spot in the rotation – which would limit his value significantly if he were to hit free agency. He’s recovering from shoulder surgery now, making his option decision an easy one.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
While rookie point guard Dennis Smith Jr. showed plenty of promise, the Mavericks’ rebuild didn’t take a meaningful step forward on the court in 2017/18, as the team slipped from 33 wins in 2016/17 to just 24 this season. Dallas will head into the 2018 offseason as one of the few teams armed with meaningful cap room, but it will probably take more than just a single free agent signing to make the club competitive again before Dirk Nowitzki calls it a career.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Mavericks financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2018:
Guaranteed Salary
- Harrison Barnes ($24,107,258)
- Dwight Powell ($9,631,250)
- Dennis Smith Jr. ($3,819,960)
- J.J. Barea ($3,710,850)
- Total: $41,269,318
Player Options
- Wesley Matthews ($18,622,514)
- Total: $18,622,514
Team Options
- Dirk Nowitzki ($5,000,000)
- Total: $5,000,000
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Dorian Finney-Smith ($1,544,951)1
- Kyle Collinsworth ($1,378,242)2
- Maxi Kleber ($1,378,242)3
- Total: $4,301,435
Restricted Free Agents
- Doug McDermott ($4,333,931 qualifying offer / $9,884,982 cap hold): Bird rights
- Yogi Ferrell ($2,919,204 qualifying offer / $2,919,204 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- Salah Mejri ($1,839,228 qualifying offer / $1,839,228 cap hold): Bird rights
- Aaron Harrison ($1,753,640 qualifying offer / $1,753,640 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $16,397,054
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Nerlens Noel ($7,956,438): Bird rights
- No. 3 overall pick ($6,504,619)4
- Seth Curry ($3,936,933): Early Bird rights
- Total: $18,397,990
Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000
Projected Cap Room: $29,615,683
- Our projection for the Mavericks includes the four players with guaranteed contracts, the tentative cap hold for their first-round pick, and Matthews’ player option, since he’s expected to pick it up. Throw in six cap charges for empty roster spots and the team’s projected salary is $71,384,298, leaving nearly $30MM to work with.
- There are a few wild cards to consider here. The cap hold for that first-round pick could fluctuate by nearly $2MM either way depending on the Mavs’ lottery luck. I’m also not including Nowitzki’s $5MM team option — if Dallas wants to maximize its cap room, it could decline that option and ultimately bring back Dirk on a minimum-salary deal, if he’s open to that.
- Creating the most possible cap room would also mean waiving non-guaranteed players like Finney-Smith and renouncing all the Mavs’ free agents, including McDermott, Curry, Ferrell, and Mejri. So in actuality, the Mavs could have far less space to work with, though it still should be enough to aggressively pursue a top restricted free agent.
Footnotes:
- Finney-Smith’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 5.
- Collinsworth’s exact contract details, including guarantee dates, aren’t yet known.
- Kleber’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 15.
- The Mavericks are third in the draft lottery standings. They could end up picking anywhere from No. 1 ($8,095,595) to No. 6 ($4,823,489).
Note: Rookie scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.