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On Tuesday, June 26th, the Mavericks extended qualifying offers to Yogi Ferrell, Doug McDermott, and Salah Mejri. Today, ESPN’s Zach Lowe and The Dallas Morning News’ Eddie Sefko reported the Mavs rescinded their qualifying offer to McDermott.
In a quick turnaround, the Mavericks have withdrawn their qualifying offer to Doug McDermott, league sources say. They still have interest in retaining him, but this makes it easier to clear his ~$10M cap hold. Also makes him an unrestricted free agent, broadening his market.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 27, 2018
Out of context, this news is a head-scratcher but it’s a logical decision. The Mavericks want to clear up cap space for a potential trade.
Yesterday, The New York Times’ Marc Stein tweeted that DeAndre Jordan is considering picking up his player option with the Los Angeles Clippers, worth $24.1 million, so they can trade him before Friday’s midnight deadline. Dallas is one of the teams potentially interested in Jordan’s services. The biggest hurdle to that trade scenario—described as “unlikely”—is the Mavericks’ ability to overlook the debacle of Jordan’s lock-in party of 2015 in which he reneged on his agreement to sign with Dallas and re-signed with L.A.
Names like DeMarcus Cousins, Clint Capela, and Julius Randle have also been linked to the Mavericks as free agency approaches. Saving $10 million in cap space can go a long way towards nabbing either a big name or some complimentary pieces in free agency.
Jordan Brodess wrote about how Doug McDermott could be a long term building block for the Mavs, and he still might be. However, this update certainly makes that possibility a little bit murkier.