- Mavs guard Dennis Smith Jr. will miss at least the next two games with an ankle sprain, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. The team will play it safe with its star rookie but have no plans to shut him down. “He’s going to be out for a while, but it’s not serious,” coach Rick Carlisle said.
- Mavericks rookie Dennis Smith Jr. is wearing a walking boot after turning his left ankle in Saturday’s game, but he’s confident about playing again this season, writes Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said the team “dodged a bullet” because Smith’s injury wasn’t more serious, but he has already been ruled out for Tuesday’s game.
- Mavericks guard Yogi Ferrell passed the 2,000-minute threshold this week, pushing him into the starter criteria for free agency, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Ferrell, who will be a restricted free agent, will have his qualifying offer and cap hold rise from $1.7MM to $2.9MM. He is averaging 10.1 points per game in his first full season in Dallas.
Injuries have limited Nerlens Noel to just 24 games and six starts this season, leaving his impending unrestricted free agency as a major question mark. The former sixth overall pick will be able to sign with any team this upcoming offseason and he intends to approach the process in the best shape of his life, Isaac Harris of NBA.com writes.
“Once this summer ends I’ll be working harder than I’ve ever worked,” Noel said. “Just growing in this league and being older. Getting the priorities right and evolving. My mindset has only grown stronger in what I really want in life and want from this game. Right when the season ends I will strictly be working on my game and staying to myself and just letting things play out.”
Noel is still just 23 years old and his status as a former lottery pick with upside on defense and rebounding will likely attract a fair amount of suitors. Noel said he is open to a reunion with the Mavericks but will enter the summer with an “open mind” when it comes to signing his next deal.
Check out more Mavericks notes below:
- The Mavericks’ recent win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden was proof that head coach Rick Carlisle is still taking his job seriously, despite the team’s poor record, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. Carlisle is owed a sizeable $7MM annual salary and has job security through 2022 but he does not want to concede in any way. “Competing just takes on a different form in our situation,” Carlisle said. “I have chosen to be here. I have a long deal. I knew we were probably going to hit a lower point. It’s just part of the cycle of the NBA.”
- With Wesley Matthews out for the remainder of the season with a stress fracture, several Mavericks players stand to see increased minutes. Sefko writes that players such as Dorian Finney-Smith, Doug McDermott, and Jalen Jones will likely see the most increased minutes.
- After the Mavericks’ win over the Knicks, Harrison Barnes and Dirk Nowitzki addressed the topic of tanking in the NBA. Nowitzki said it’s clear which teams are purposely trying to lose and which ones are trying to win despite their record. “We keep playing hard,” Nowitzki said, per Sefko. “There obviously are some teams that are going for some losses now. We’re one of the teams that still wants to win and see where we end up in the draft.”
Mavericks forward Wesley Matthews has suffered a stress fracture in his right leg, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). According to Charania, Matthews will likely miss the rest of the 2017/18 season as he rests and rehabs that injury.
Matthews, in his third season in Dallas, averaged a modest 12.7 PPG in 63 games (33.8 MPG). While his scoring numbers with the Mavs haven’t matched the ones he put up in Portland before his Achilles tear, Matthews’ ’17/18 shooting numbers were an improvement over last year’s marks — he was a .406/.381/.822 shooter this season.
Technically, Matthews could become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but he’s a virtual lock to exercise his player option for 2018/19. That option is worth $18,622,514, a figure Matthews wouldn’t match on the open market. The veteran sharpshooter was the subject of a few trade rumors leading up to this season’s deadline, and his expiring contract should make him easier to move once the new league year begins, so there’s no guarantee he’ll spend next season in Dallas.
In Matthews’ absence, Doug McDermott and Kyle Collinsworth are among the Mavs who could see a bump in playing time.
- A right knee injury may sideline Mavericks swingman Wesley Matthews for at least the next handful of games. According to Dwain Price of Mavs.com, head coach Rick Carlisle said Matthews won’t travel with the club on its upcoming four-game road trip, though Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News suggests Matthews could join the team on the trip if a Monday MRI comes back clean.
MARCH 11, 1:06pm: The signing is official, the Mavericks announced in a press release.
MARCH 7, 3:16pm: The Mavericks will soon sign G League forward Jameel Warney to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).
Warney, 24, joined the Mavericks for training camp in 2016 after going undrafted out of Stony Brook. Cut by Dallas before the 2016/17 season got underway, he landed with the team’s G League affiliate, and has spent the last two seasons with the Texas Legends. This season, he has averaged 20.3 PPG, 9.6 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 37 G League games.
Warney has also represented USA Basketball during qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup. Playing for Team USA in last summer’s AmeriCup, the young forward was named MVP of the FIBA event en route to a gold medal. Warney averaged 12.8 PPG and 8.6 RPG to go along with a .649 FG% in AmeriCup play.
Before the Mavs officially sign Warney, they’ll need to open up the 15th slot on their roster. Scotty Hopson is currently holding that spot with a 10-day contract of his own, but that deal will expire overnight tonight, creating an opening for Warney. Unless the Mavs plan to waive someone with a guaranteed contract, that means Hopson won’t get a second 10-day deal — at least not right away.
As expected, the Mavericks opted not to offer a second 10-day contract to shooting guard Scotty Hopson, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Hopson appeared in just one game and played eight minutes during his time in Dallas.
The open roster spot will be used to extend a 10-day deal to Jameel Warney, possibly today. The 6’9″ power forward/center has been playing in the G League, averaging 19.8 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Texas Legends.
There’s more this morning from Dallas:
- Coach Rick Carlisle told reporters Saturday there’s a good chance that Dirk Nowitzki will return for a 21st season, Sefko relays in a separate story. Carlisle said he hasn’t talked to Nowitzki about the topic, but there are reasons to believe he will be back. “At this point, it looks promising that he’ll play another year,” Carlisle said. “But it’s his decision and he’s got to think of everything involved. I’m personally 100 percent supportive of it because you just don’t want to see a guy like this go away. So we’ll see. Time will tell.” Nowitzki, who said in December that he’s leaning toward another season, is averaging 12.4 points in 65 games.
- The Mavericks may face a tricky market for center Salah Mejri this summer, Sefko states in another piece. Mejri has shown he can be a valuable backup, but his effectiveness is limited to about 15 to 20 minutes per game. Some team may be willing to offer the $3.5MM bi-annual exception or even the $4.5MM room exception, which may be more than the Mavs want to pay. They like Dwight Powell more and may land a center in the draft, so Mejri’s return for next season seems iffy.
- Wesley Matthews is likely to be back for another season in Dallas, Sefko adds in the same story. He has a player option worth more than $18.6MM and doesn’t want to leave before helping turn the Mavericks around.
- The NBA may choose to use the NFL’s punishment of Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott as a model in sanctioning Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, writes Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. The sexual misconduct allegations against the team’s front office and Cuban’s alleged sexual abuse in Oregon could cause commissioner Adam Silver to send a message with a harsh sanction, Cowlishaw adds.
At this point in the NBA league year, most of the discussion about cap room focuses on how much teams will have in July. While 2018/19 cap space will be extremely valuable for teams looking to make a splash in free agency or on the trade market, there aren’t many reasons teams need ’17/18 cap room at this point — free agency is all but over, the trade deadline is behind us, and even the deadline for renegotiating contracts has passed.
Still, 2017/18 cap room isn’t entirely useless, even this late in the season. The current league year runs through June 30, so if a team wants to complete a trade before, during, or right after this year’s draft, having cap room available to accommodate a salary could come in handy.
Additionally, teams with cap room have fewer restrictions when it comes to signing free agents — if a club wants to take a flier on a prospect during the final few weeks of the ’17/18 regular season, it could use cap space to sign that player to a lightly-guaranteed contract that stretches across three or four seasons.
Here are the teams that still have cap space available for the 2017/18 season, along with their estimated total room:
- Dallas Mavericks: $14,240,776
- Chicago Bulls: $11,325,670
- Note: The Bulls are technically operating an over-the-cap team, but could use this cap room if they renounce their exceptions.
- Phoenix Suns: $6,749,365
- Indiana Pacers: $5,423,615
- Orlando Magic: $3,669,889
- Sacramento Kings: $3,465,472
- Brooklyn Nets: $3,128,440
- Note: The Nets are technically operating an over-the-cap team, but could use this cap room if they renounce their exceptions.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders, along with our own data, was used in the creation of this post.
- In a Q&A session, columnist Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News answered some questions on Mavericks‘ owner Mark Cuban and whether NBA commissioner Adam Silver would step in and force Cuban to sell the team a la current Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson or former Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
- Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Mavericks‘ swingman Dorian Finney-Smith is expected to return to action this weekend for the first time since injuring his left knee/quadriceps in early November.