Chandler Parsons will not participate in the Dallas Mavericks’ 2016 postseason push as he recovers from right knee surgery.
He is, however, hoping to partake in their next one.
The 27-year-old Parsons holds a player option for next season, which he is expected to decline in order to reach free agency and capitalize on the impending salary cap eruption. In a star-starved market, he will have plenty of suitors, with a few of them, perhaps, dangling max money.
When all is said and done, though, he hopes to remain in Dallas, as has been his party line for a while, per The Dallas Morning News:
On if he wants to return to Dallas for next season:
I do. I love it here. My focus right now is to be healthy. The city has been great. I can see myself staying here and playing for a long time.
Chandler Parsons will more likely than not get his wish. The Mavericks should be able to finagle max or near-max cap space in addition to keeping him, so he won’t impede their ability to add more talent.
But the prospect of handing him stacks of cash, knowing he hasn’t been fully healthy for roughly a year, is at least slightly unsettling. Dirk Nowitzki is already old, and the Mavericks are tied to Wesley Matthews, who just isn’t the same following his Achilles injury last season, for another three years as well.
Re-signing Parsons at the very least shouldn’t be a no-brainer for the Mavericks, unless they’re absolutely certain his knee injury won’t compromise his future. He is their most or second-most talented scorer when fully healthy, but they’ve been waiting for him to have a breakout since he joined the cause in 2014.
Then again, Chandler Parsons does earn his money off the court, where he is known as an expert recruiter. He almost helped Dallas land DeAndre Jordan last summer, a move that would have completely changed the team’s future. If he can help them poach another impact player or two this offseason, he’ll be worthy every penny the Mavericks end up giving him, health be (mostly) damned.
