Dallas Mavericks: Friendly Contracts Could Benefit Team

With the salary cap increase going into this season, the Dallas Mavericks have changed perception on previously questionable contracts that are now highly beneficial to the team.

The Dallas Mavericks have made some moves over the past few years that people have either praised or questioned. Different players have come and gone through the Mavericks organization, with reactions ranging from ecstatic to see them gone, excited to see them come, or sad to see them go.

Nowadays, it seems that the Mavericks are often times more interested in the next season as opposed to the one coming up. With one year contracts and veteran minimums being passed out like candy in Dallas, the Mavericks finally look primed to put together a team for the future.

Despite all that, the Mavs still made some great moves from past years as well. What once were highly questioned contracts like the $4 million a year for J.J. Barea and the max deal for Wesley Matthews, are now chump change in the NBA as a whole.

These contracts definitely helped the Mavs set the tone and go big after their big targets of Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut while still having some financial flexibility. It is always nice having quality players under budget for a few years and really helps open up the Mavs possibilities.

One of those possibilities comes from the fact that these aren’t just bargain deals for Dallas, they would be bargains for any NBA squad. Aside from the bigger deals that we have reached with Dirk Nowitzki ($25 mil/year), Harrison Barnes ($22 mil/year), and Andrew Bogut ($11 mil/year) and the short term Deron Williams deal ($9 mil), the Mavericks have team friendly contracts across the board.

More from The Smoking Cuban

• Dallas Mavericks not expecting to trade into the 2021 NBA Draft
• NBA Draft 2021: Start time, live stream, TV info, and more
• Dallas Mavericks: Why fans should still watch the 2021 NBA Draft
• Dallas Mavericks: Luka Doncic controls Slovenia’s Olympic win over Japan
• Dallas Mavericks: Why Igor Kokoskov will play a key role in Dallas

Most people will not be interested in the rookie level players that aren’t going to be NBA ready yet, but players like Devin Harris, J.J. Barea, Salah Mejri, and even Wes Matthews could all turn some heads around the NBA.

Don’t expect the Mavs to just field any offer though. Although this piece is all speculative and doesn’t hold much weight right now, the Mavs as a team are one big question mark currently. We could be very playoff relevant when the trade deadline comes around, or we could be bottom feeders.

Here are three scenarios I see where Dallas may be able to swing a trade using these players.

1.) The Mavs get more out of their young players than expected.

The Mavericks have a lot of youth on the team this year and it could be a really good thing for us. Justin Anderson, Seth Curry, Jonathan Gibson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Kyle Collinsworth, and Nicolas Brussino are all under contract and available to Dallas this season.

Although it is pretty unlikely considering the inexperience, the Mavericks could have found a gem and are ready to utilize them as much as possible. In this case, Wes Matthews, J.J., or Devin could all be considered as trade bait to get a future pick and bring our young players into the rotation.

2.) The Mavericks are out of the playoff race and decide to tank.

This one is really unlikely because I just can’t see a scenario where Dallas is that bad going into the trade deadline but you never know what is going to happen this early before the season. If somehow it does happen though, Dallas could look to trade away someone like Wesley Matthews or Harris to start building for next season.

If that were to happen, Dallas would want to take advantage of the upcoming draft and stash some picks from teams that are trying to contend and need some depth. They could also trade away a promising player like Mejri to get some future youth that may have more potential.

3.) The Mavs are doing well and want to make a final push for contention.

This one may be even less likely than the previous one for most people, but it is always a possibility that a good team turns great at the right time. In this case, that time would need to be early in the season so that the trade deadline is our friend.

Like the previous one, if something like this were to happen, we would be interested in trading away players to better fit our needs. Currently we are a guard heavy team with not much depth in the frontcourt. If we decide to make trades, it may be to shore up every position across the board.

Next: J.J. Barea's Contract is Looking Really Good

No matter what the case, it is still cool to see that the Mavericks contracts that previously looked crazy to people are now considered bargain deals. And even though we may not want to lose these players, it may be more beneficial for the team in the long run.