8:30pm: Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report believes there’s a “strong chance” the Blazers will match the offer sheet (Twitter link).
8:20pm: Thybulle will sign the offer sheet on Thursday, Haynes reports (via Twitter). Sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic that it will be a three-year, $33MM deal (Twitter link). Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports was first to report that the Mavs would likely pay the 26-year-old slightly below the full mid-level exception.
With the Mavs poised to land Grant Williams in a sign-and-trade deal involving Reggie Bullock, team salary projects to be above the $172.3MM hard cap based on the salary figures reported for Thybulle and Williams, notes Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Either some of Dallas’ signings will come in lower than reported or the team would have to shed some salary if it lands Thybulle.
11:18am: Restricted free agent forward Matisse Thybulle intends to sign an offer sheet with the Mavericks, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT (Twitter link). The Trail Blazers will have the right the match the offer to retain Thybulle.
One of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders, Thybulle has earned two All-Defensive nods during his first four years in the league. However, he has struggled to make an impact on the other side of the ball.
In 245 games with the Sixers during his first three-and-a-half seasons in the league, Thybulle averaged just 4.4 points per game on .448/.325/.667 shooting. He bumped those numbers to 7.4 PPG on .438/.388/.625 shooting in 22 contests with the Blazers following a February trade that sent him to Portland.
The Mavericks don’t have any cap room available, but they haven’t used any of their $12.4MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, so their offer sheet for Thybulle will presumably come out of that figure. While the terms of the offer aren’t yet known, it will have to cover at least two seasons.
Marc Stein, who previously reported Dallas’ interest in Thybulle, said at the time that Portland has sent “behind-the-scenes signals” that it will match any reasonable offer sheet on the restricted free agent wing. It appears the Mavs are prepared to test the Blazers’ commitment to the 26-year-old, perhaps hoping that the uncertainty surrounding Damian Lillard‘s future will cause the team to waver on locking in Thybulle.
The two teams could theoretically still negotiate a sign-and-trade agreement, but that won’t be possible once Thybulle officially signs his offer sheet. At that time, the Blazers would simply have to decide whether to match it or whether to let him go to Dallas.
If Thybulle formally signs an offer sheet and Portland receives it before the July moratorium ends on Thursday at 12:00 pm Eastern time, the Blazers will have until 11:59 pm on Friday to make their decision. Players can sign offer sheets during the moratorium, but the clock on the matching team doesn’t start ticking until the moratorium is over.
Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams have one full day to match an offer sheet received before noon and two full days to match an offer sheet that comes in after noon. For example, if the Blazers were to receive Thybulle’s signed offer sheet at 3:00 pm ET on Thursday, they’d have until 11:59 pm on Saturday to make their decision.
The Mavericks were also said to have interest in restricted free agent forward Grant Williams.
Good for him. If he magically learned to shoot in his first 3.5 years he would still be a Sixer. Not sure what changed in Portland.
Joel nor Brett Brown gave him any confidence to shoot… in fact, took away his confidence in shooting.
And, comparing the PHI/POR numbers, there is no (significant) bump.
Confidence comes from within. Just ask MJ.
He sucks
Comparison
Luguentz Dort signed a 5 year / $82,500,000 contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
I’d give Thybulle 3-year $33mm contract
Lakers sign Vince 3-year $33M contract
Having a real coach definitely helps, though I do agree with the sample size comment.
It was a 22-game sample size in Portland. Numbers will return to the mean.
Still, even a bit of that improvement sticking would be big for him. But who knows if it will.
Happy to see an offer sheet for a RFA off a RSC. That’s two in two years. It’s compromised by the fact that its coming from the MLE, but its still an offer sheet. Who knows, maybe POR won’t match and a RFA will actually change teams.
I think it’s a smart gamble by Dallas, because Portland would get poison pilled by matching the offer. (If his QO is $5-6MM, they would pay that amount year one, and then his salary would spike in years 2 and 3 … or years 2, 3 and 4 depending on the contract.) Do they really want to pay Thybulle $15-$17MM a year after year one?
That’s not how it’ll be structured. The Mavs’ offer can’t have raises over 5% from year to year.
Luke, if I understand correctly, the Mavs offer has to essentially be flat (like $12MM per for 3 or 4 years), BUT …. if Portland matches, by rule, they can only pay the QO amount in year 1, and that offset salary would get added on in subsequent seasons of his deal.
It sounds like you’re sort of describing an aspect of the Arenas Provision rule, but that wouldn’t apply to Thybulle. The Mavs’ offer will be structured normally (annual increases or decreases up to 5%) and would look the same whether it ends up on Dallas’ books or Portland’s.
If Thybulle gets the full $12MM exception, I’d be curious if Portland would want a sign-and-trade in an effort to get off Nurkic’s 3 yr contract. Mavs could do Hardaway and Holmes for Thybulle and Nurkic (maybe throw in a 2nd round pick to send them JaVale as well).
That is an interesting idea. Nurkic would be a good fit for the Mavs; good rebounder, pick and roll finisher, can shoot, can pass a bit, gives them a real paint presence. The issue is that unless Portland is okay with moving off salary and nothing else, they don’t really get anything in that trade.
Yeah, the timing of making an offer early when he can’t sign it yet and will have to wait 48 hours from the point he actually signs it makes me think this is really the Mavs signaling serious intent in an effort to get Portland to come to the table on a S&T.
I’d never purport to know what’s on Joe Cronin’s mind, but just based on what’s been reported, I think POR would be very welcome to at least the Nurkic for THJ part. POR is insisting that MIA take Nurkic, and I’m sure MIA would prefer THJ. Well, not sure, but if only based on history, I think so.
This might have implications on the Lillard trade. Portland will match the 12 mil on Thybulle and they’ll be closer to the tax line so they have to be careful with the salaries in return and that may force them to include Nurkic as a must in any negotiation
I haven’t slammed the door on Thybulle’s future, he could improve, but I don’t see the point in matching when Keon Johnson, and Sharpe are still on the roster for Portland.
If he wasn’t going to play the season on a qualifying offer I was hoping someone would take a flier on him, and break up the SG log jam in Portland.
Dallas could be a good place for him. He and Josh Green provide similar skill sets though. Dallas needs frontline help, so I’m not sure why they would use their MLE on Thybulle? If the 3 gets added to the D then its worth it, but its a risk
Keon is hot garbage.
I hope Portland lets Thybulle and Keon go
That 2019 draft was horrible. A handful of good players, but lots of guys already on multiple teams.
for people who don’t follow Mavs basketball, this guy is only being signed for his defensive prowess. he’s not going to be expected to do anything else but play defense for a team that doesn’t know what the word defence means.
True and mavs want to use their mid on someone left like him or Williams. Not much left mavs can do but they have done well.
It’ll soon come down to snt under new cba m. Going to be tight like 110 now versus 125
Yikes
True, but will be expected to hit a couple 3’s a game on a decent conversion rate.
If he doesn’t his defense alone is not gonna have him playing significant minutes, and Green will play a lot more.
Is Thybulle gonna play in front of Bullock, or Hardaway? Probably not…
This is a curious way for Dallas to spend their MLE without knowing what they are planning on the trade Market, etc.
They are thin up front
Dallas is clueless. They won one title with Dirk. Cuban is suppose to be a business expert but he has not figured out the NBA. He traded Steve Nash! Kyrie Irving is going to be a greater curse!
Mark from Cuba lucked into his money…
Like so many of the uber rich… It was never about their talent…
A smart business mind would of hired the right people to do the job instead of constantly meddling like he has…
Luka needs to ask for a trade asap before he wastes his prime on a team going nowhere…
Dallas is having a really good off-season. If not for David Stern and horrible/one sided officiating they would have won 2 which during that era with the Lakers Spurs dominance as well as Suns Jazz Grizzlies Blazers Thunder etc all having solid squads they had an incredible run while Dirk was there. 50 wins 11 years in a row is impressive he just had the bad luck of playing in the same conference at the same time as two guys named Timmy and Kobe. Cuban is one of the best owners in the league. Cuban never traded Steve Nash what planet are you living on with that lie? Kyrie’s contract is actually a good deal for the Mavs. So basically everything you said was either a lie or just ignorant. It’s funny because you sounded so confident like you weren’t completely clueless.
The Mavs are trying to trade Hardaway for a starting center. Thybulle would probably start over Bullock. Mavs need his defense, along with Green, in the starting lineup. Doncic is basically the 4 on defense so you can start Irving, Green, and Thybulle with him.
He is a foul machine.
Wait a minute. Presumably they have a sign and trade to acquire Grant Williams using the mid-level exception. They’re generating a TPE from trading Bullock, but that cannot be used for Thybulle’s offer sheet as far as I know, unless they can pull off a second sign and trade.
S&T doesn’t use the MLE. You use the MLE to acquire free agents, not players you trade for. The benefit of the S&T is that the former team is re-signing a player using the rules governing that transaction and then immediately trading the player to a new team. That means the possibility of 5 year contracts, higher salary increases, etc.
Ok, but with an S&T, are you hard-capped at the first tax apron?
Yes, but the Mavs were already going to be hard capped by using MLE and Bi-annual
Lol Portland going to match that overpay?
Blazers have to match. Or lose him for nothing. Now the question is will they trade him.
They will have to wait to do that, and won’t be to the Mavs, he signed the sheet. Will anyone else want him on that deal tho?
33 million for a guy who can’t score?!
4.4 points per game?!
Man, money being throwm around like that?!