In the Summer of 2015, DeAndre Jordan, a prized, free agent center, was given the opportunity to be the focal point of a rebuilding Dallas Mavericks team with a culture and pedigree for winning. Armed with a recruiting team of the Chandler Parsons, and Mark Cuban the Mavs received a verbal agreement from Jordan on a max, four-year deal.
Jordan had a change of heart and ended up re-signing with the Clips for more cash.
Fast forward three years later, Jordan is able to hit the free agent market again by opting out of the final year of a player option worth just over $24.1 million for the 2018-19 season.
So, is Jordan really coming to Dallas this time around? Here are five things we know:
Source indicates the Mavs are targeting Jordan
A source close to the Mavs tells Dallas Sports Fanatic the team will be gunning for Jordan. At 29 years-old, Jordan averaged 29 12.0 points and 15.2 rebounds per contest for the rebuilding LA Clippers, who are now without Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Blake Griffin and the rest of his loyal compadres from the 2015 offseason that convinced him to stay in LA.
The Mavs have cap space to sign Jordan
The Mavs essentially don’t have to give up much because they already have a team-friendly cap situation with the potential to fit in a “max” deal. On Wednesday, senior ESPN writer Zack Lowe reported the “Mavericks have withdrawn their qualifying offer to Doug McDermott, league sources say. They still have interest in retaining him, but this makes it easier to clear his – $10M cap hold.”
On Tuesday, the Mavs front office extended a qualifying offer to McDermott but took that off the table when news broke that the Los Angeles Clippers were trading for Washington center Marcin Gortat.
An NBA source indicated the Mavericks need the roughly $10 million salary-cap hold that McDermott would have required if he had OK’d the qualifying offer and become a restricted free agent.
In the meantime, the move according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, combined with not picking up Dirk Nowitzki’s team option at $5 million, renouncing Nerlens Noel, would open up about $25 million in salary for the Mavericks to use in free agency. Nowitzki, of course, would be re-signed at a different, perhaps slightly smaller, number.
That would certainly be in the ballpark that Jordan, who made $22.6 million last season and is expected to opt out of the final season of his contract at $24.1 million, is comfortable with.
A swap with Wes Matthews wouldn’t make sense because Matthews doesn’t fit the needs of the Clippers.
It also would be a clear sign that the Mavericks don’t hold a grudge anymore from 2015, when Jordan gave them a handshake agreement that he later reneged.
Mark Cuban is in LA
According to TMZ, Mavs Owner Mark Cuban was in Beverly Hills this weekend when a cameraman interviewed him about White House secretary Sarah Sanders. Mark might have been there for other business, or potentially position himself for Saturday, when the NBA’s free agency moratorium period opens.
Marc Stein says so
The New York Post’s Marc Stein reports the Mavericks are among the teams interested in Jordan, and Stein has long been an accurate source for all matters related to the Mavericks. The Mavs might also want to trade for him to avoid what happened last time. Jordan would have no choice to join the Mavs if they traded for him and could shed salary with outgoing players. One source told Stein, a Jordan-to-Dallas trade was seen as a “long shot,” but the fact that it’s even on the table is the strongest indication yet that the sides are willing to engage again after Jordan’s about-face in 2015 free agency when he committed to the Mavs and then went back to the Clippers.
Jordan is from Texas
Jordan is a Texan and will be closer to home. No income tax? Sure, maybe that’s a plus. But this time around things are different and the past is in the past. Now armed with Harrison Barnes, Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic and then Jordan, the Mavs would have a team that looks like less of a rebuild and more of a team that is ready to compete now.
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