Mavericks believe they’ll miss out on LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony

The Dallas Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban gave landing a “big fish” in NBA free agency in 2014 a shot, and it looks like this summer has gone the same way of the last few off-seasons. The Mavericks had a face-to-face meeting with New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony in Dallas and then reportedly a meeting with LeBron James‘ agent in Cleveland.

While no official decision has been made, it looks like the Mavericks are moving on from James and Anthony and moving onto “Plan B.”

From Chris Broussard of ESPN:

"Dallas, believing it will likely lose out on both LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, will attempt to sign Chandler Parsons away from the Houston Rockets. The Mavericks also have Luol Deng and Trevor Ariza in their sights, sources said.But Stephenson has also recently emerged as a target of the Mavericks. A month ago, or even a few weeks ago, Stephenson was not on Dallas’ radar, but over the past few days the Mavericks have registered their interest, according to sources."

The Mavericks will have a large amount of cap space next season and will make another run at landing a big fish. But every year that they strike out is another year older that Dirk Nowitzki is, and theoretically makes the Mavericks less appealing.

None of the players mentioned as the Mavericks “Plan B” is a bad option. It was a Mavericks team without a superstar outside of Nowitzki that got them to the 2011 NBA Finals when they won their lone championship. Either of those players could also help make the Mavericks appealing next summer.