Nerlens Noel’s return to the Dallas Mavericks remains a formality, but negotiations on his new contract are not without their wrinkles.
Or pitfalls.
Per Tim Cato of SB Nation noted, the two sides remain far apart in talks as the second week of NBA free agency nears conclusion:
Nerlens Noel and the Mavericks are "not close" to a deal, several league sources tell me.
— tim cato (@tim_cato) July 12, 2017
the Mavericks still have the rights to match any deal that Noel signs. there are also only a few teams left that have max cap room.
— tim cato (@tim_cato) July 12, 2017
This is fine…for now. And just to prove how fine, here’s a note about Noel yucking it up with Mavericks staffers, including owner Mark Cuban:
Nerlens Noel is here in Vegas and getting a lot of love from Mavericks staff, including Mark Cuban.
— tim cato (@tim_cato) July 12, 2017
The current delay has more to do with Noel’s market than relationship with the franchise. The demand for centers who don’t shoot threes isn’t high—not even when these skyscrapers, like Noel, are able to switch almost seamlessly on defense.
Those potential max and near-max offer sheets some thought he was going to get aren’t coming (unless the Brooklyn Nets are feeling spunky following Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s decision to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers). And by waiting for the market to set Noel’s sticker price, the Mavericks are proving a point—and creating a reality check.
Once Nerlens Noel realizes most of the money around the league has dried up, and that there aren’t teams willing to pay him deep into the eight figures per year, things should move quickly.
Is it possible a suitor like the Nets or Phoenix Suns or Chicago Bulls comes out of the woodwork just in time to raise his market value? Possibly. But right now, given the way free agency has thus far unfolded, neither Noel nor anyone else should count too strongly on it.
