Dallas Mavericks: 3 Possible Reasons Why Nerlens Noel is Still a Free Agent

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LAS VEGAS, NV – JULY 08: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban (L) and head coach Rick Carlisle joke around as they watch the Mavericks take on the Chicago Bulls during a 2017 Summer League game at the Thomas /

2. Cuban wants to show the direction of the team

Just this last week, we saw Nerlens Noel and Mark Cuban together in Las Vegas watching the Dallas Mavericks Summer League team. For a guy who has yet to sign with an NBA team, it is obvious that Noel knows where he is going to end up. He seems perfectly content with that.

That definitely would be the case if Noel has been watching the Mavericks new point guard, Dennis Smith Jr. This kid is no joke and is going to not only elevate the point guard play in Dallas, it is going to help Noel’s game as well. The rest of the young guys on the summer league teams are just an added bonus.

My theory for this one is that Cuban wants Noel to see that Dallas is putting together a team around him. Since other teams have not come to a number that Noel is happy with, Cuban and Donnie are ready to show him that the money Dallas wants to offer is really only part of the deal.

Now that Nerlens has seen that the new rookie is the real deal, it may not seem like such a bad thing to take a small discount on what he may think he’s worth. Obviously he wants every dollar he can get, but knowing that the Dallas rebuild is already heading in the right direction should help a little bit with keeping him happy while here.