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In their continued quest to become the Knicks South, the Dallas Mavericks are expected to sign Frank Ntilikina in the coming days, per Marc Stein.
Dallas is expected to sign Ntilikina in coming days, league sources say, after the Mavericks were widely expected to draft him in 2017. Ntilikina went No. 8 overall to the Knicks; Dallas selected Dennis Smith Jr. at No. 9.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 15, 2021
More NBA from me: https://t.co/A6ycVmnrjq
If you haven’t signed up for his Substack, stop what you’re doing and do so immediately.
Frank Ntilikina was drafted by the Knicks in 2017, after the Mavericks were considered the odds-on favorites to draft him. They selected Dennis Smith Jr. instead and Smith ended up a Knick as part of the trade for Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. in 2019.
Ntilikina’s played the past four seasons with Knicks. His first three seasons he averaged around 20 minutes a game while averaging about six points, two rebounds, and just under two assists a game. Last season he played less than half the games and saw his minutes cut in half as well.
It’s unclear at the moment what sort of deal he’s going to sign with the Mavericks, as they have a full roster as of this writing.
UPDATED Mavericks Cap Sheet 2021-22
— MavsCBA (@CBAMavs) August 10, 2021
Takeaways:
1) Using Boban's early bird rights and making THJ's contract descending puts the Mavs OVER the cap by 5.9 million.
2) Still potential to use the $10,865,952 TPE (expires July 30th 2022) pic.twitter.com/pLq2gqDbNc
Of course, the jokes were flying already on Twitter:
The Olympic Elimination Free Agency Elevator Pitch worked! pic.twitter.com/2DMRxmiiEk
— Nick Angstadt (@NickVanExit) September 15, 2021
We really weren’t joking about Knicks south, either:
Full knicks lineup
— Michael Scott Burner (@TheMSBurner) September 15, 2021
KP
Bullock
Trey Burke
Frank
THJ
Caught that eye contact lol https://t.co/gjUjfbCgct
— Panda Hank (Nate Hinton Fan Account) (@pandahank41) September 15, 2021
We’re sure to learn more about the specifics of Frank’s deal in the coming days.