Everyone read [this excellent article](https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2023/9/1/23855066/how-does-javale-mcgee-signing-with-the-kings-effect-the-mavericks-cap-sheet) by @CBAMavs for an explanation on how Javale McGee signing with the Kings should positively impact the Mavs cap sheet.
He provides a nice breakdown, but the gist of it, according to my understanding of the article, is that McGee’s minimum salary as a 10+ year veteran will offset or reduce the amount of dead cap the Mavs have on their books this year and potentially the year after if McGee signs another minimum contract somewhere. The cap hit can only be offset during the seasons that were originally under contract. So while the cap hit could potentially be reduced to **$1,650,990** in ’23-’24 and **$1,581,257** in ’24-’25, it will remain at the previously reported **$2,348,324** in ’26, ’27, and ’28.
Now, for some context, according to [this article](https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/minimum_scale), the league minimum salary in ’23-’24 for a player with no NBA experience should be about $1,119,563. Thus, our roughly $1.6 million in dead cap this year will only amount to about $500k more than a minimum salary player.
If we expect the salary cap to increase by an average of 10% each year for the next few years as is widely projected, then the amount of dead cap we carry each year until 2028 will likely end up being even less than what will be the league minimum salary in each of those years all the way through 2028.
In that context, you could say that the dead money we’ll carry as a result of stretch waiving McGee shouldn’t really have *all that* much of an impact on our flexibility going forward.
Whether you think we’re better off stretching McGee’s salary in this way, or that we should have just kept him on the roster to use as potential salary filler in a trade next offseason, or that if we absolutely had to waive him, then just do a regular waiver and eat the 6 million for two seasons so you don’t have any dead money at all after that, that’s up to you to decide. I just thought I’d try to provide some context with the help of CBAMavs.
by SterlingMallory
