Wesley Matthews, JJ Barea Owe DeAndre Jordan a Big Thanks

DeAndre Jordan helps Matthews, Barea cash in

Frankly, I’m sick of talking about DeAndre Jordan. No, I’m sick of thinking about DeAndre Jordan and what his indecision in free agency has done to the Dallas Mavericks.

But can I stop reliving it in my head, even though the season still hasn’t started and the Mavericks aren’t officially terrible quite yet? No, because DeAndre Jordan – with some mismanagement from the Maverick front office sprinkled in – continues to haunt the team.

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Wesley Matthews agreed to a deal with the Mavericks before Jordan changed his mind and stayed with the Clippers, but after the fiasco in Houston renegotiated and got himself a hefty raise.

JJ Barea did the same, renegotiating from a two-year $5.7 million deal to a four-year $16 million contract.

ESPN’s Tim MacMahon outlines the financial impact:

To sum it up further, a shooting guard coming off of a ruptured achilles tendon got himself a max-deal and a 31-year old point guard will be sticking around for twice as long for nearly three-times as much moolah in the aftermath of DeAndre Jordan’s choice to stay with the Clippers.

Now, I get that these raises won’t mean quite as much next summer when the salary cap expands even further, and that the Mavericks didn’t exactly have a long list of impact players dying to take that money anyways, but I’m still not thrilled about how things turned out.

We’ve seen enough careers negatively impacted by an achilles tear to know that an extra $13 million for a player recovering from one is not ideal. And Barea on his original deal isn’t horrible, but he’s probably overpaid with his new, real one.

This offseason just keeps getting worse.

More from The Smoking Cuban

• Mavericks: How to maximize Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis pairing
• Dallas Mavericks: Did they do enough this offseason to jump into title contention?
• Mavericks: What to watch for as Dallas faces Utah Jazz in summer league
• Dallas Mavericks rumors: Bulls want first round pick for Lauri Markkanen
• Mavericks: Teammates look to collect debts after Luka Doncic’s extension