Five Out Offense: Chandler Parsons to be Restricted Free Agent

1. ROCKETS DECLINE TEAM OPTION FOR PARSONS: For once, I wasn't on Twitter past mid-afternoon yesterday so I found out about this Woj Bomb this morning, with Houston declining Parsons' team option so they can have his restricted free agency rights. Our good folks at the mother ship examine the pros and cons in brief to letting Parsons test the market. If anything the Rockets are in the exact opposite place the Mavericks are: they have a young team and a number of assets, but they are nearly tapped out cap-wise. Houston will have to thread the needle just so in order to come through solid winners this summer. Though I don't think Dallas will, he's the type of player I think they should offer $9-10 million for three years just to see what Houston does.

2. CUBAN SAYS PLAYERS COULD GET STERLING TREATMENT?: I've said before that I appreciate Cuban's willingness to keep discussing what is a dicey issue in race relations. Now, he's heading back into the realm of privacy and the slippery slope argument. I know many folks don't buy his argument from an ownership point of view, but his thoughts resonate. Of course, the main difference between any future NBA player who does something offensive versus Donald Sterling is that Sterling had a long history of being terrible.

3. THE MOUNTAIN THAT DUNKS. If any of you follow me on Twitter, then you saw my freak out at this picture yesterday.

It's two actors from Game of Thrones. I won't spoil anything, but the massive guy on the right played a big part in the most recent episode. When this picture came across my twitter feed I started going some research on the actor Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. He is 6'9" and 420 pounds in real life and HE USED TO PLAY BASKETBALL. He apparently had a devastating knee injury which forced him out of playing and when he played he looked much more like a normal human. But still, when I found all this out I demanded the Mavericks sign him immediately. Imagine his willingness to crush the competition, if you will.

4. MAVS BRINGING IN AN AUSSIE FOR SUMMER LEAGUE: Usually we don't see summer league rosters shape up until after the draft, but Dallas is getting the jump by signing 6-foot-4 Chris Goulding.

5. THE SEASON IS NEARING AN END: And with that in mind, here's Dirk singing Boyz II Men's classic "End of the Road"