Dallas Mavericks: How the Mavs got on the outside of free agency

The Dallas Mavericks were one of the hottest teams talked about once the season ended with rumors about interest from nearly every major free agent. Now, they seem to be the odd man out for the big names. What happened?

When the Dallas Mavericks traded for Kristaps Porzingis in January, everyone immediately recognized how much better the Mavs got. They went from a bottom feeder team to a squad that could do some damage with just one new player. People also immediately felt that Dallas was going to be a new top destination for free agents.

That part doesn’t look to be true just yet.

For some reason, the big name free agents still appear to be looking in every direction but towards Dallas. We knew the chances at Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard were very slim, but those were never the guys that people expected the Mavs to be focusing on.

Instead, the Mavs immediately hit rumors about players like Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton, Nikola Vucevic and others. These guys are stars in their own right, just a little lower on the totem pole than the big namers.

Now, Kemba looks like he is either staying in Charlotte or headed to the Lakers, Middleton is all but certainly staying in Milwaukee and Vucevic is supposedly not a serious target for the Mavs. All of this happened within weeks and now no one really knows what the Mavs plan is going forward. How did we get to this point.

Well, for starters, this is the same point of the year when Mavericks fans lose hope on free agency almost every year. Dallas is generally a player in most rumors each year because we play the salary cap game well, but they almost never end up with a big name guy. That has been the nature of the Mavs for as long as I can remember.

For one reason or another, guys don’t seem that interested to play with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis at this point. That could very well change once they see them together on the court, but as of now, they do not seem to be the teammates these guys are looking for. They are very wrong about that, but it is hard to tell them that to their faces.

The most important thing to remember for those Mavs fans out there who are really worried right now is that there are still a few weeks until free agency actually starts. A lot of things can change between now and then and a lot of things well. I trust Donnie Nelson and the rest of the guys in the Mavs front office to take the necessary steps and make the necessary moves to make this team the best it can be next year.

Dallas has the resources and the situation to make a lot of noise this summer, but it will have to take an agreement from an available player. I think this will still be a successful free agency period for Dallas no matter what happens.