Wesley Matthews expects to get full medical clearance when he undergoes an MRI tomorrow, relays Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. Matthews is recovering from a stress fracture in his right fibula that forced him to miss the final 16 games of the season. Except for a torn Achilles in 2014/15, this is the only time Matthews has missed an extended stretch because of injury.
“By the end of the week, I should be good to go,” he said.
Matthews has to decide soon whether to exercise an $18.6MM player option for next season. He offered a clue today when asked about participating in community events over the summer, saying, “Yeah, I mean, I’m going to be here, so I’d love to.”
There’s more today out of Dallas:
- The Mavericks should aggressively target Lakers forward Julius Randle in free agency, writes NBC5’s Newy Scruggs in The Dallas Morning News. Randle, who grew up in Texas, is coming off his best NBA season, averaging 16.1 points and 8.0 rebounds in 82 games. Dallas will have at least $20MM in cap room, and possibly much more depending on what happens with Matthews and several non-guaranteed contracts. Randle is a restricted free agent, but the Lakers will be seeking bigger names, so he could be available if the Mavericks strike quickly.
- Expect Rick Carlisle to remain the coach in Dallas for at least another three to four seasons, Scruggs adds in the same piece. Many Mavericks fans have turned on Carlisle as the losses piled up, Scruggs notes, but GMs still consider him one of the best coaches in the league.
- Don’t bet on the Mavericks trading their first-round pick, Sefko states in a separate story. Dallas goes into next month’s lottery with the third-best odds at the No. 1 choice after winning a tiebreaker with Atlanta. The Mavs seem committed to taking their time in rebuilding, Sefko adds, and are seeking another cornerstone player to go with last year’s top pick, Dennis Smith Jr.
They were in talks to acquire him at the deadline I believe. He would make sense, bc it pushes Barnes to the 3 and allows them to draft a big like Bagley versus Michael Porter Jr.
I think if you can get Randle, they look at someone like Bomba to be a defensive anchor as opposed to Bagley. Bagley seems to be more of an offensive four. Randle can score well but we need a defensive anchor.
Would love to see Randle in a Mavs uniform. Another young player with upside. I also agree that Carlisle isn’t the issue with this team. Wish Matthews would elect to be a FA, but no way will he walk away from $18M.
I don’t see much more “upside” with Randle. I think what you have now which is pretty good, is the best he will be and hopefully he’ll be this good for the next five years.
The only position they don’t need is PG and Barnes can play 3 or 4, so they could really go BPA. Draft is a few weeks before FA begins too so they can’t bank on landing Randle who is an RFA. They could get lucky and land Ayton.
Not Bamba. Too much of a project. Not worth a top-10 pick in my opinion.
If they have a chance to take Bagley and don’t they are crazy. He will be solid nba ready guy.