Dirk Nowitzki to LeBron James: Come to Dallas, have keys to the city

The Dallas Mavericks come into the offseason with a bunch of salary cap space once again. The Mavericks have approximately $26.5 million in salary cap space before re-signing franchise star Dirk Nowitzki.

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That cap space has the Mavericks looking to add a “big fish” in free agency once again, a plan they’ve tried unsuccessfully for the past couple of seasons. Ideally, either LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony. That is right, the Mavericks could be interested in chasing after LeBron James, the man they beat in the 2011 NBA Finals for their lone Larry O’Brien trophy.

“C’mon, you can have the keys to the City (of Dallas),” is Nowitzki’s sales pitch LeBron.

The Mavericks are being aggressive towards free agency this time, trading Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Samuel Dalembert and two second round picks in Thursday nights NBA Draft for New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler and guard Raymond Felton.

ESPN Dallas’ Tim MacMahon wrote that Nowitzki “has long been committed to taking a major pay cut to allow the Mavs to add talent around him.”

MacMahon also said Tyson’s arrival in Dallas boosts their odds of landing a big fish.

"“It makes us real players for LeBron [or] Carmelo,” a team source told ESPNDallas.com after completing the trade that brought center Tyson Chandler back to Dallas."

This could be the summer that Dallas finally lands a big fish. They have Dirk, Monta Ellis and cap space to make something happen, Mark Cuban has spent the past two offseason refining his pitch as well.