The Dallas Mavericks plan to offer a full five-year max contract worth $158 million to forward Kristaps Porzingis, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. The two sides will meet when free agency opens on June 30, and the Mavs will hope to have a deal done shortly thereafter. Porzingis is set to be a restricted free agent this summer.
Porzingis, who was traded to the Mavericks from the New York Knicks in February, has not appeared in an NBA game since tearing his ACL in February of 2018. He was the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft by the Knicks and has averaged 17.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.3 assists per game over the course of his career. He was named to the All-Star Game in 2018 before suffering the ACL injury.
Though the Latvian big man will certainly have other suitors, the Mavericks can offer him the most money, and he has “forged a strong connection with [Mavs Rookie of the Year] Luka Doncic in his short time in Dallas and has enjoyed his experience with [team owner] Mark Cuban,” according to Sports Illustrated‘s Chris Mannix.
The fact that the Mavs plan to make a big offer to Porzingis isn’t especially surprising, as the team likely wouldn’t have traded for him otherwise. Plus, Cuban has previously stated that he wants to keep Porzingis and Doncic paired together for the foreseeable future.
“Our goal is to keep them together for the next 20 years,” Cuban said at Porzingis’ introductory press conference with the team.
Once the offer is on the table, it will simply be a matter of Porzingis accepting it, or not. If, for some reason, Porzingis isn’t interested in staying in Dallas long-term, he could turn down the max deal and instead opt to sign his $4.4 million qualifying offer for the upcoming season and then become an unrestricted free agent next season. That seems rather unlikely, however, especially considering the fact that he is coming off a concerning injury issue. It is much more likely that Porzingis will accept the Mavs offer and move forward with his return to action in Dallas.
