The Dallas Mavericks Are Only Getting Better: 2024 Free Agency/Offseason Series – Ep 18

The Dallas Mavericks Are Only Getting Better: 2024 Free Agency/Offseason Series – Ep 18

welcome back everyone I’m Yos golin NBA salary cap expert and in this video I’m excited to get into the Dallas Mavericks a team who I think should have a pretty straightforward offseason in which they bring back all their guys and their biggest decision is what to do with Derrik Jones Jr because he played him played himself into a huge contract this summer and so I’m going to get into his contract options with the Mavericks and how they can bring him back and also go over some Wing options uh in case he doesn’t return uh but before I get into it please like And subscribe if you haven’t already so let’s take a quick look at the Mavericks payroll so far heading into the offseason and see what their situation is like so they are they already have a pretty high payroll and they are projected to be slightly above the luxury tax line uh they could easily get below it with a salary dump maybe involving Tim Hardway Jr but if the roster is strong enough I’m sure they’ll be open to paying the tax especially based on last season’s result uh now the other thing to keep in mind is that they are very close to that $178.7 million first apron amount so two things to keep in mind one as of now based on this build they are projected to only have the tax pmid level exception at $5.2 million as their highest means of spending at for a free agent the other thing is that as long as they’re pretty close to that amount they might want to avoid taking in more salary in a trade than they’re sending out because if they do they wouldn’t be able to exceed the $178.7 million amount for any reason for the rest of the season and maybe around the trade deadline you want that flexibility to exceed in case a trade opportunity comes along that requires you to do so and the other thing to keep in mind as far as potential Mavericks trades is that they can trade up the two first round picks one in 2025 and 2031 so let’s talk about Derrick Jones Junior and how the Mavs can keep them so as I mentioned earlier that $5.2 million tax pment level exception is the highest means for spending that they can use to resign them under their current payroll structure there has been a train of thought that mainly in the early rounds of the playoffs that maybe he would accept it be then become a free agent the following summer and then he could resign with the Mavericks for market value because he would accumulate early bird rights and then he can resign with the Mavericks for four years project at roughly 62 million and that would allow him to basically earn around $66 million over the next five seasons this is essentially what Bobby poris did with the Bucks and Nick Batum did with the Clippers they took these short-term one-year deals and once they got these rights they signed for much bigger contracts however I find it extremely unlikely at this point just based on how well Derek Jones Jr has played and how far the maps have progressed in the playoffs that he’s probably not going to want to do this he’s earned less than $30 million in his entire career so far and I think that he probably wants to get as much money as he can possible this summer the majority of offers for Derrik Jones Jr from other teams will probably be in the non- tax pyramid level exception range so it’ll start at just under 13 million it can go up to four years and that would top out at roughly $55 million which is nearly double Derrick Jones Jr’s entire career earning so far some teams I could see making him this level of offer include the the Pacers the Cavs the Kings they are all expected to have the full exception available to them maybe teams like Philadelphia or Oklahoma City they’ll have significant caps space can offer even more than that however I think his best fit is remaining in Dallas and continuing to play with Luca so the maps can open up this exception to keep them they would have to uh reduce a significant amount of payroll first so the easiest way for the Mavs to unlock the exception to resign Derrik Jones Jr with would be by salary dumping Tim Hardaway Jr who is expiring and fell out of the MS rotation so I think they’re going to be looking to trade him anyways so I cleared his $16.2 million salary and they open up enough room below the $178.7 million first apron to use the entire amount to resign derck Jones Jr now they cannot exceed that $178.7 million amount for the rest of the season but that’s fine they’re able to feel the rest of the roster and stay below it and they still have some extra space in case they need to make some other moves later now in case Derrick Jones Jr doesn’t return they could also use that acception to try to pursue another replacement Wing uh maybe someone like Caleb mtin or Royce O’Neal just to name a few so let’s say Derrick Jones Jr doesn’t return either because the cap space team have B the rest of the league for him or the match just don’t want to pay him that much and decid to pursue a wing upgrade elsewhere so they decide to trade Tim Hardway Jr for someone making between 15 to $22 million a year some candidates could include Bruce Brown Dylan Brooks DeAndre Hunter Kellin Johnson just a couple guys that the maps don’t have to spend a ton of draft assets on I think that because they only have two first round picks left to trade ideally they’d want to spend the least amount of draft Equity possible one possibility I really like however is bringing back old MAV Dorian finy Smith who has a $15 million salary which isn’t that much more than the mid-level exception that they could potentially use to resign Derrick Jones Jr with and since they’re decreasing salary by swapping Tim Hardway Jr for Dorian finny Smith they’re not triggering the $178.7 million first apron allowing them to exceed it later in the season if needed and that will come in handy if maybe by the trade deadline a trade opportunity comes along that requires him to go over that amount now let’s say the Mavs want to be more aggressive and acquire more expensive Wing maybe someone like Andrew Wiggins who makes $26 million or someone like Jeremy Grant who makes even more so I’m going to talk about Grant he makes just under $30 million and he is really one of the more expensive players that the masss can potentially go for so they would need to give up another significant salary along with Tim Hardaway jors but not only to match salaries for uh Jeremy Graham but to exceed his $29.8 million amount that’s because like with the other scenario they’re going to need to be able to exceed the first apron to field the rest of the roster so I sent out Tim Hardway Jr Josh green and AJ Lawson to just exceed Jeremy salary and they probably need to include a first round pick as well to Sweden the offer and now they can’t exceed the $19.5 million second apron because they aggregated all these salaries to match for Grant but they still have plenty flexibility below it to feel the rest of the roster and they could even use the $5.2 million tax pyamid level exception if they’d like the only downside of being over the first apron however and they’re just barely over it that $178.7 million amount is that uh come around January February when uh the trade deadline ends and buyout season begins they wouldn’t be able to sign players who had a pre- waver salary of the non- taxer level exception that $12.8 million amount or more but they could easily get below the first apron uh with a small salary dumper or to later on in the year so overall I think the mass should have a pretty relatively simple offseason either keep Derrick Jones Jr or if that’s not possible they should have plenty of trade options for another Wing that isn’t super coveted around the league and they should be able to afford

What a run. I was very critical of their trade deadline. I thought they gave up too many assets in the past year for what seemed like floor-raising moves at best. But after seeing them have one of the best post-trade deadline records, I had a feeling that they could have a deep run if the seeding breaks right for them. I felt the only team that could stand in their way were the Denver Nuggets, and thankfully they didn’t have to face them. For all we know, this might be the furthest this Mavs team goes for the next few years, but they should still be really good going forward. Their offseason should be relatively simple: re-sign Derrick Jones Jr. I go into how they could open up flexibility to re-sign him, who they could pursue if he doesn’t return, and how.

0:00 Intro
0:30 Mavericks 2024-25 Payroll
1:44 Derrick Jones Jr.
2:56 Non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception
3:44 How they could unlock the exception to re-sign Jones Jr.
4:29 Scenario where the Mavs pursue an affordable wing if Jones Jr. leaves
5:32 Scenario where the Mavs pursue a more expensive wing like Jerami Grant

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