Mavericks' prime free agent target just dropped a brutal hint fans will hate

The Dallas Mavericks have been as busy as ever over the last few days, as Daniel Gafford reached a three-year $54 million contract extension on Monday, Kyrie Irving signed an extension with Dallas on Tuesday, and the Mavericks will officially be selecting Cooper Flagg No. 1 overall tonight.

After selecting Flagg, the Mavericks will quickly shift to figuring out how to solve their stop-gap point guard issue next season, with Irving set to miss a solid chunk of games. With Irving signing for a team-friendly number on his new deal, the Mavericks can sign a guard with the Taxpayer's MLE, and Chris Paul is a prime candidate for Dallas to give that deal to as he has been linked to Dallas for weeks, and Shams Charania reiterated the Mavs' interest in Paul last night.

However, Paul sounded like that wouldn't necessarily be a possibility when he was on the Pat McAfee show a little under three weeks ago. Ironically, Paul was asked about what he thought about the Mavericks winning the draft lottery and getting Flagg, and while he praised Flagg and talked about working out with him, he talked about how he and his camp were excited watching the draft lottery because the San Antonio Spurs moved up to the No. 2 pick.

Chris Paul appears set on Spurs return despite growing Mavs interest

NBA insider Marc Stein has written about how Paul's free agency decision will factor into his family living back in Los Angeles, as well as his time with the Spurs last season. While Paul could certainly pivot from this line of thinking ahead of free agency, it seems like he's likely going to sign with one of the Los Angeles teams or go back to San Antonio, as he probably wants as least growing pains as possible in what could possibly be his last NBA season.

Mavericks fans pining for Paul are not out of pocket based on the season he had last year, but Paul certainly made it sound like he wanted to return to San Antonio based on his excitement about their draft lottery positioning on The Pat McAfee Show.

The Mavericks could bring in Paul on the Taxpayer's MLE as aforementioned, and they likely could only do it if they are somehow the highest bidder in the free agency market for his services, but he'd definitely be a serviceable backup point guard to run the show alongside Brandon Williams until Irving returns.

Paul miraculously started and played every single game for the Spurs last season, so while his age certainly puts him at increased injury risk, he was as durable as ever last season in route to averaging 8.8 points and 7.4 assists per game with shooting splits of 42.7/37.7/92.4.

Paul doesn't have the burst to be the dynamic three-level scorer he once was, but he can still command an offense with his playmaking and his extremely savvy with the ball in his hands, so he'd be the type of guard that would be great in Dallas on the TPMLE if the Mavericks could trade for another guard in the draft or something of the sort, but it unfortunately doesn't seem like the Mavericks will get a one-year rental of Paul in what could be his last season.

With the Mavericks chasing Paul and being able to offer him the starting point guard role and the chance to win a title, this could be appealing to Paul, and only time will tell if Dallas can secure the future Hall of Famer's services.