Mavericks turn eyes to free agency in quick NBA offseason: ‘We’re not done yet’

It was near midnight when Mavericks president Donnie Nelson, after a long evening of rather prolific talent gathering, pulled up in front of a camera for a Zoom session with reporters to assess the Dallas night draft.

Four acquired players, three by draft and one by trade. A revealing start: Seth Curry.

Nelson spent a few minutes describing the benefits of draft picks Josh Green, Tyrell Terry, Tyler Bey, and commercial acquisition Josh Richardson, but quickly turned to early Friday at 5 p.m. free agency period. of the NBA.

“We’re not done yet,” Nelson said. “We want to improve this team on both sides of the ball.”

Both sides of the ball. These words indicate that the Mavericks plan to either add a very good player who improves the team’s attack and defense, or multiple players.

If there was any doubt about the magnitude of the Mavericks’ ambitions, coach Rick Carlisle, appearing Thursday afternoon on KRLD 105.3-FM, surpassed Nelson’s remark.

“I don’t think we’re nearly done,” he said.

Carlisle is not prone to hyperbole. He also wouldn’t make a statement to that effect without a high degree of confidence that what’s left of the Mavericks’ off-season plan will back it up.

What could these plans be? After Wednesday night’s additions and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s decision on Thursday (which was expected) to exercise his option to play for $ 19 million this season, what are the most critical and achievable training needs of Dallas?

That’s clear: Mavericks need inner size and muscle, preferably the ornamental kind. In other words, the forward / central version of what newcomer Richardson will be in defense of the Dallas perimeter.

What was already a dire need has been magnified by recent developments. This week, the Mavericks acknowledged that Kristaps Porzingis, after meniscus surgery, will return to basketball activities in early January at the earliest, more than a week after the season opened on December 22.

The Porzingis player replaced at the starting center in the middle of last season, Dwight Powell, returns from Achilles rupture surgery in January, and although he has resumed his full basketball activities, he will start slowly when the training camp will begin in early December, gradually working on matches.

And on Thursday, as expected, third-team center Willie Cauley-Stein declined to exercise his option to play this season at $ 2.3 million. That doesn’t mean he won’t come back, but it makes it much less likely, as he enters unrestricted free agency on Friday.

The Mavericks are above the salary cap, so they only have a mid-level exception of $ 9.3 million to spend on free agents. And some of that money might have to be split between second-round picks Terry and Bey – the latter of whom Carlisle said on 105.3 FM will be one of Dallas’ two-way contract players; the other is Houston undrafted guard Nate Hinton.

The Mavericks will need to get creative, as will most teams, because according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the only franchises as of Thursday with significant cap space are Atlanta ($ 44 million), New York ($ 40 million). of dollars), Charlotte ($ 19 million) and Detroit ($ 9 million).

Among the big men potentially available are the enticingly talented 25-year-old Christian Wood, 31-year-old Serge Ibaka, 35-year-old Paul Millsap, 33-year-old Aron Baynes and 31-year-old Maverick former free agent Hassan. White side.

All but Baynes will likely order more than the mid-level exception, which means Dallas would have to acquire them through signing and trading. And it’s extremely doubtful that Millsap’s current team, Denver, will want to make upgrades easier for Dallas.

And what about the offensive improvement that Nelson talks about? Potential targets available include former Maverick Jae Crowder, Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Gordon Hayward.

Hayward turned down his $ 34 million option for 2020-21 on Thursday and will be a free agent on Friday, but most indications are that he will sign with the Knicks.

After the trading window opened on Monday, news broke that night that Bogdanovic in the making a restricted free agent had been traded from Sacramento to Milwaukee, but this trade was deemed illegal and the New York Times reported Thursday that the NBA was investigating the circumstances leading up to it.

Again, the Mavericks’ only ability to acquire any of the attackers listed above is through signing and trading. But as Dallas showed with the acquisition of Richardson, he has the motivation and creativity to make a deal.

Remember three weeks ago, when The news reported that several league sources said that Dallas had informed each team that all the Mavericks except Luka and Doncic Porzingis were available?

Of all the potential to treat Mavericks, Curry was apparently well down the list of possibilities.

So don’t be surprised by any moves Dallas will make in the coming hours or days, although given their shortage of great men, it would seem doubtful that Powell or Maxi Kleber or Boban Marjanovic would be part of a trade.

One Maverick who perhaps believes he’s about to come out, or maybe he’s unhappy with the developments on draft night, is guard Delon Wright.

As first noted Thursday night by the All Things Mavs fan page on Twitter, someone erased all traces of “Dallas” and “Mavericks” from Wright’s personal Instagram page.

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Find more reporting from Mavericks in The Dallas Morning News here.