The Mavericks are targeting soon-to-be free agent Danny Green in the wake of Monta Ellis‘ decision to opt out, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. Green has expressed interest in re-signing with the Spurs, and that’s a strong desire of his, Charania confirms, and while San Antonio would like to make that happen, the Spurs would appear to have more pressing priorities as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili linger over their decisions about whether or not to play next season.
San Antonio would reportedly like to pursue a marquee free agent before circling back and re-signing Kawhi Leonard to a five-year max deal, a maneuver that would allow the team to temporarily keep Leonard’s relatively cheap cap hold on the books, rather than a max figure. The Spurs are apparently targeting LaMarcus Aldridge and Marc Gasol, among others, though they face competition from the Mavs, among others, for Aldridge, and Dallas appears to be Aldridge’s top choice outside of Portland. Clearing the cap space necessary to sign one of those star targets could require San Antonio to renounce Green’s cap hold of nearly $7.648MM, erasing the team’s ability to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him without the use of an exception or extra cap room.
Green may well be out of San Antonio’s price range in that scenario. An executive who spoke to Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops this season said he wouldn’t mind paying $6MM a year for Green, and Charania speculates that the three-and-D swingman could command $10-12MM annual salaries. The full mid-level exception is just $5.434MM.
Dallas has only about $32MM on the books for next season, leaving enough room against a projected $67.1MM cap to target Aldridge or DeAndre Jordan and sign another free agent to an eight-figure deal. The Mavs would like to re-sign Tyson Chandler if they miss out on Jordan, though a three-and-D wing is just what they’d be looking for in the event they land Jordan, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com recently wrote.
Hoping the Heat find some way to bring him in. Need to move chalmers, birdman, McRoberts, etc to clear some room and re-sign wade and dragic afterward. Obviously the tax is an issue, but you pretty much end up around the same penalty, but with a better, more cost effective bench
I said three options for the mavericks to chase at the shooting position if monta opts out and they are:
Dwyane Wade
Danny Green
Jimmy Butler
Those three