3 reasons the Dallas Mavericks aced Josh Green's contract extension

There have been rumors of a contract extension for Josh Green to stay in Dallas dating back to the end of the summer.

Nico Harrison, Mark Cuban, and the rest of the Mavs’ upper brass finally came to terms with Green and his agency yesterday on a reported three-year, $41 million contract extension ahead of the October 23, 5:00 p.m. CT deadline that was set for the Mavericks and Green to get a deal done.

The deal is obviously a massive relief for Mavs fans as they’ve been wondering when the team was finally going to come to terms with Green on a contract extension after botched negotiations on a similar proposed rookie-scale contract extension with Jalen Brunson led to his departure in free agency the following summer.

3 reasons the Dallas Mavericks aced Josh Green's contract extension

The Brunson situation was somewhat of an anomaly given some of the stipulations in his contract that were atypical of a rookie deal, but there was definitely still a little bit of worry amongst some Mavs fans that a deal wouldn’t get done between Green and the organization as the deal was announced just mere hours before the deadline.

Luckily, Dallas capitalized at the last minute and signed Green to an extension, keeping themselves away for the time being from some of their past woes that had to do with the mismanagement of young assets.

Here are three reasons why Dallas aced the Josh Green contract extension.

3. Extremely team-friendly deal

If you scope across the NBA at other rookie-scale contracts that were signed from the 2020 NBA Draft class ahead of the October 23 extension deadline, you'll find that the Dallas Mavericks 100 percent aced the dollar amount on Josh Green's deal. The Mavericks were able to get Green at just a hedge over $13 million per season, though his contract is structured to increase marginally each year in ascending order.

If we can even be critical about anything regarding the negotiations between Green's camp and Dallas, it's that Dallas wasn't able to squeak an extra year out of Green's extension like some other extension candidates who were on the market.

However, Green still has a year left on his current deal, and there's no player option at the end of his deal, so it's extremely nit-picky to even make that argument given Green's potential to make a fool out of this current extension.

Dallas has Josh Green tied up for the next four seasons if they don't trade him, and his extension sets the stage for the Mavericks' long-term plan of building a young core around Luka Doncic whilst simultaneously trying to compete with Kyrie Irving still in his prime.

Green has the opportunity to build up some great continuity with the Mavericks' current young core and Luka Doncic in the coming year, so fans should be excited that Nico Harrison and company were able to get Green on a deal of a very similar figure to other 2020 NBA Draft class players of arguably less caliber than Green. Aaron Nesmith and Deni Avdija both signed for very similar figures compared to Green, and Green is arguably better than both of those players and likely has more potential.

Green's team-friendly deal in Dallas is a huge plus and luxury to have, as Green will soon enter his early prime in the coming years and still doesn't turn 23 for another month. But it could pay dividends in other areas for Dallas if a different direction presents itself.

2. Mavericks have lots of flexibility with Green's contract

One of the more sought-after commodities in the modern NBA is role players on good mid-level salary deals. NBA talking heads have operated under the notion that the "middle class" is suffering in the league right now, and they aren't wrong. According to Kristian Whitfield of the New York Daily News, NBA teams are allocating about two-thirds of their salary to their top three players on average.

Josh Green probably isn't the third-best player on most NBA rosters, but he has more than enough potential to turn into that for Dallas this season if he plays as well as some of his Australian National Team teammates have said he can this season after he impressed during FIBA World Cup Play for Australia.

Nonetheless, the Mavericks put themselves in an extremely favorable scenario with Green's contract because of the $13.67 million average per season (Not an exact figure for every year of Green's deal).

Green's contract should be easy to mix and match with different trades because of how valuable good role players on fair market value deals are in today's game.

Idealistically, Green ends up working out in Dallas to a premium, forcing the Mavericks' hand to extend him to another contract once he's 26 years old as he's entering his eighth season in the league. If this takes place, then that will be a sign that Green severely outplayed his new contract extension.

Whatever happens though, the Mavericks have put themselves in a position to not lose value on this deal given how much promise Green showed last season. If he somehow peaked in production last season, then Dallas still doesn't necessarily have a negative asset on their hands. While they are rightfully invested in Green in the immediate future, they won't have to worry about losing value on a potential Josh Green trade down the line, barring something absurd like a career-altering injury to Green.

Dallas has put themselves in a great position with the way they handled Green's extension as far as future implications go, but our next reason on the list shows why they could've just made one of the better bargain deals in the NBA.

1. Josh Green is poised for a breakout season

Josh Green catapulted himself into a routine starter last season for Dallas after seeing very spotty minutes in his first two seasons with the squad. Green became a much more consistent threat from the outside and developed his ball-handling ability enough to become a secondary playmaker and initiator for Dallas early on last year.

An elbow injury derailed Green's season to a degree, but after some inconsistencies upon returning from injury, Green caught his stride late in the season for Dallas and posted multiple 25+ point scoring performances with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving out of the lineup.

Green improved vastly last season and he's only looked more comfortable handling the ball in open space and more polished with his jump-shot mechanics compared to just last season since preseason has started.

Minutes have been sporadic for everyone in Dallas early on since the Mavericks are still trying to figure out which rotations work and Dallas obviously doesn't want to get anyone hurt by handing out too many minutes in preseason contests, but Green has looked like he's going to be an integral role player to the Mavericks' success this season at the very least.

Josh Green will be a dynamic point-of-attack defender and reliable 3-and-D wing for the Mavericks next season at the very worst, but if he continues to improve leaps and bounds in his games and becomes more multi-faceted on offense, then Green may be able to turn into an All-Star caliber player down the line for Dallas.

The Mavericks made a low-risk move with Josh Green's contract extension at the rate they extended him. Green has proved that he has much more potential than Mavs' fans expected last season and the Mavericks may have one of the biggest rewards by having one of the most elite young role players in the league if Green continues to improve at a steady rate.

For more on Josh Green and the Dallas Mavericks ahead of their 2023-24 regular season debut versus the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama on October 25, stay plugged in with us as we'll have you covered through it all.