Nerlens Noel’s situation with the Dallas Mavericks continues to rank among the NBA’s most wild roller coaster rides in recent memory.
First he excelled after being shipped to Big D from the Philadelphia 76ers—particularly when slotted alongside Dirk Nowitzki, according to NBA.com. Then, in restricted free agency, the Mavericks offered him life-changing money: roughly $70 million over four years.
Nerlens Noel turned it down.
Then he fired his agent.
And then he signed a one-year, $4.2 million qualifying offer.
And then, inevitably, he fell out of the Mavericks’ rotation.
And now he’s sidelined for the next four to six weeks after electing to have surgery on a torn ligament in his left thumb.
After all this, knowing what he knows now, you might think Noel regrets his decision to forego that $70 million offer. You might think he’s worried about this upcoming July, when he’ll enter the open market again, presumably with a resume that’s worse for wear. You might think he’s frustrated and confused, maybe even a little fearful. But he’s not. As he told Bleacher Report’s Yaron Weitzman, he doesn’t regret anything that’s happened to this point:
“I most definitely don’t regret anything. I’m not nervous because I know my abilities,” he told Bleacher Report. “I know what I’m capable of. I know what I can get on the court any time, day or night, and do. It’s simply getting the opportunity to show it.”
