NBA Expansion Draft hides a $20 million loophole the Mavericks never knew they needed

With the NBA trending toward expansion in Seattle and Las Vegas in the coming seasons, there will be ripple effects for owners and teams across the league, but the introduction of an NBA Expansion Draft is what would affect the Dallas Mavericks and other teams across the league the most. If this expansion draft were to work like similar ones in past years, the Dallas Mavericks could shed the salary of someone like Daniel Gafford by not protecting him in the draft.

All signs are pointing toward expansion being introduced in the 2028-29 season, which would be the last year of Gafford's three-year $54 million contract extension he signed last summer. Gafford will be in his age-30 season in that year, and is set to take home nearly $19 million in the 2028-29 season.

Being a physical center who relies a lot on athleticism, Gafford's prime will likely span over the next few seasons. Still, it will be interesting to see how long he can retain his current level of prowess on both sides of the ball once he's on the wrong side of 30. Given his lack of an outside shot, this could cause him to decline quickly once his prime is over, especially if he continues having injury-riddled seasons like this past season.

How Dallas could dump Gafford's contract in an expansion draft

This isn't to say Gafford is doomed and can't carve out a long career, as he's an excellent role player and starting-caliber center. However, Dallas would hope that Dereck Lively II is far more dominant and healthy by the time 2028 rolls around, and they may even have another young big man on the roster who is pining for minutes at that point, such as Moussa Cisse or someone else.

If the expansion draft were to work similarly to the 2004 expansion draft, where teams were able to select eight players to protect, then Dallas could shed nearly $20 million by letting go of Gafford's deal if he's still around by then. This would be huge if Gafford is showing signs of decline at that point, and it could possibly even create a trade exception for Dallas in the amount of Gafford's contract if the rules of the expansion play out similarly to when the Charlotte Bobcats were introduced in 2004.

There's still a lot up in the air ahead of expansion

Of course, all this talk is theoretical, as Gafford may not even be on the Mavericks by the time expansion rolls around, or he could still be playing so well that Dallas wants to protect him in the expansion draft, but being able to shed a bigger salary like Gafford's could prove to be a huge win for the Mavericks in this future scenario.

Even if it isn't Gafford, the expansion draft will give the Mavericks and the other 29 non-new franchises the opportunity to get some cap relief once expansion happens. All in all, it will be extremely interesting to see the exact stipulations of the expansion draft, as it could be different from past years, considering two teams will likely be added at once, and there is far more money involved in the league compared to the last time expansion went down.