Grading Jaden Hardy's contract extension: Mavericks get new level of flexibility

With only two days until the regular season kicks off for the Dallas Mavericks, the deadline to sign players to contract extensions that have deals expiring after this season was on Monday, October 21. While the Mavericks had already finalized their full 18-man roster, this was still an essential task for Dallas' front office to hone in on, as the Mavericks had multiple young players showcase in preseason that they may be improved enough to make a leap this season.

One of those players was Quentin Grimes, as Grimes had a 20-point performance on 7-11 shooting from the field when Dallas played the LA Clippers. Grimes was rumored to get a deal done with the Mavericks by the end of yesterday after a strong preseason outing, but the two sides were unable to come to an agreement, which will set Grimes up to be a restricted free agent at the end of this season.

However, the Mavericks were able to tie up young guard Jaden Hardy to a three-year $18 million contract with a team option in the last season of the deal yesterday. A potential Hardy contract extension wasn't something that was rumored in Mavericks media circles for the most part, so while the deal was surprising to many, it's without a doubt that the Mavericks got an ultimate team-friendly deal in this instance.

Hardy's contract is at the perfect number for the Mavericks

After multiple strong outings in last year's playoffs such as Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals and Game 1 of the NBA Finals, it was becoming apparent that Hardy had another gear he could reach as a ball handler and shot creator off the bench. A lot of players take their biggest leap in year three of their NBA career, and the reading has been in the tea leaves for this to become the case with Hardy.

While Hardy is far from a proven sixth-man or anything of the sort, he had a very strong preseason as aforementioned, and has a unique opportunity to take a firm grasp of the main backup ball handler role for this Mavericks squad with Dante Exum's injury and Spencer Dinwiddie's preseason struggles.

In four preseason contests, Hardy averaged 15 points and 4.3 assists per game on 40.8/40.7/75 shooting splits. Hardy was often a primary ball handler in the preseason for Dallas due to Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic missing the vast majority of preseason for rest and minor injuries, and while he struggled with his pick-and-roll decisions at times as well as beating traps, he shot the ball efficiently from outside and looked more dynamic as a playmaker.

Hardy put on size over the past two summers, and while it's just preseason, he is starting to look like an improved one-on-one defender as well. Dallas was smart to get a Hardy extension done at the number that they did, as there's a decent chance Hardy would cost plenty more millions of dollars if Dallas waited to try and re-sign him next offseason.

Because Hardy's playing time has been relatively limited in big-time games throughout the past two seasons, he hasn't had enough on-court production to warrant the craziest contract in the world, but only $6 million per season for Hardy on this deal still feels like a steal from Dallas' perspective. Hardy projects to be an integral part of this Dallas rotation for the next handful of seasons, and the Mavericks now have him wrapped up on a contract he could easily out-perform.

Even if things don't work out for Hardy in Dallas with this crowded backcourt, Hardy's new salary will be far easier to combine in aggregate with another salary to make a trade or even if the Mavericks want to swap him one-for-one with somebody else, so this deal gives the Mavericks a newfound level of flexibility while still being extremely team-friendly.