{"id":26660,"date":"2025-06-30T08:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T08:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26660\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T08:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T08:33:08","slug":"mavericks-eye-point-guard-with-tax-mle-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26660\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks Eye Point Guard With Tax MLE in Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Kyrie Irving<\/a> expected to miss extended time recovering from a torn ACL, the Dallas Mavericks are widely expected to pursue a veteran point guard in free agency using the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception, sources tell DallasHoopsJournal.com<\/a>. The three-year, $119 million contract agreement<\/a> that Irving reached occurred at a price point that enabled Dallas to maintain that spending mechanism.<\/p>\n

Multiple agents with point guards in this year\u2019s free agent class told DallasHoopsJournal.com<\/a> that the Mavericks represent a strong opportunity to build value, pointing to the available minutes and a team built to win now. D\u2019Angelo Russell<\/a> is among top names to monitor, per sources.<\/p>\n

Russell is coming off a challenging season split between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets. Across 58 games played, he averaged 12.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 25.5 minutes, shooting 39.0% from the field and just 31.4% from beyond the arc. His efficiency dip marked one of the least productive campaigns of his career. Russell\u2019s time with the Lakers gave him experience as a teammate with current Mavericks players Anthony Davis<\/a> and Max Christie<\/a>. <\/p>\n

When Russell made his lone All-Star appearance in 2018\u201319 with the Nets\u2014averaging 21.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 7.0 assists\u2014current Mavericks assistant general manager Matt Riccardi was part of the Nets organization. While current needs drive Dallas\u2019 interest, that connection adds another insight for the Mavericks as they evaluate potential fits.<\/p>\n

As league sources have told DallasHoopsJournal.com<\/a>, Chris Paul<\/a> is not considered a viable option for the Mavericks. The expectation continues to be that he will seek a return to the West Coast to be near Los Angeles for his family. Additionally, Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/a> and Malcolm Brogdon<\/a> are other point guards being monitored by teams in the market, especially the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n

A previous maneuver costing Dallas now includes extending Jaden Hardy<\/a> on a three-year, $18 million deal in October. To contextualize the value of that deal now, Hardy\u2019s $6 million salary for 2025-26 exceeds the taxpayer mid-level exception. He has yet to fully emerge as a consistent rotation player, averaging 8.7 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists last season.<\/p>\n

Further worsening the Mavericks\u2019 financial outlook included a midseason trade sending Quentin Grimes<\/a> and what became the No. 35 overall pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Caleb Martin<\/a>, who will earn just under $9.6 million this season. <\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg<\/a>, eligible to sign a four-year contract worth over $62.7 million, will push Dallas above the Second Apron. With Klay Thompson<\/a>, P.J. Washington<\/a>, Naji Marshall<\/a>, Christie, and Martin already on the wing, along with Flagg, Dallas has a lot of spending on that part of the roster.<\/p>\n

If Dallas signs Russell, the Mavericks will have 15 players under contract for 2025-26, without impending free agent guards Spencer Dinwiddie<\/a> and Dant\u00e9 Exum<\/a> among them. A trade would be needed to open up an additional roster spot to re-sign either. Exum is considered more likely to re-sign at this time. <\/p>\n

Brandon Williams<\/a>, who had his two-way contract converted to a standard deal before the end of the season, is under contract for 2025\u201326 at just under $2.3 million. His salary comes with structured guarantee thresholds: $200,000 becomes guaranteed on July 7, $850,000 becomes guaranteed on opening night, and the remainder becomes fully guaranteed if he remains on the roster through January 10. <\/p>\n

The Mavericks have Ryan Nembhard on a two-way contract, who joins the roster as an additional developmental option but similarly isn\u2019t expected to factor into immediate rotation plans.<\/p>\n

Teams have been allowed to talk with their own free agents since the day after the NBA Finals ended. Negotiations with all free agents can begin Monday, June 30 at 5 p.m. CT.<\/p>\n

More Dallas Mavericks Articles<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Kyrie Irving expected to miss extended time recovering from a torn ACL, the Dallas Mavericks are widely…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,23294,23295,10446,2494,23296,1596,3139,23297,23298,11018,23299,1260,20198,17376,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-26660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brandon-williams","10":"tag-caleb-martin","11":"tag-chris-paul","12":"tag-cooper-flagg","13":"tag-dangelo-russell","14":"tag-dallas","15":"tag-dallas-mavericks","16":"tag-dennis-schroder","17":"tag-jaden-hardy","18":"tag-kyrie-irving","19":"tag-malcolm-brogdon","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-nba-free-agency","22":"tag-ryan-nembhard","23":"tag-texas","24":"tag-tx","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114771394863799017","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}