MAVS NEWS:

[F Gump]

The cap is projected to increase by nearly $50M over the next three seasons. $9M will be slightly above half of the mid-level exception. If you don´t think Hardy is worth that you are basically saying he´s not an NBA player.

"$9M will be slightly above half of the mid-level exception"

Not correct. MLE at most will be 14.1M next summer. 

But those are ridiculous numbers to put in the convo anyhow. Hardy's play has been nowhere near that value, or even half of it. You get a player like DJJ for that sort of salary. So far Hardy is a poor man's THJ, at best.

FWIW -- I was curious and took a peek at next summer cap and limits. As is, they enter the summer with 10 players, about 170M payroll, and 5 slots to fill.

Expiring - to replace or re-sign = Grimes, Hardy, Exum, Dinwiddie, Morris

I expect their planned limit will be Apron 1. That gives them room on paper for those 5 players to be 1 full MLE, 2025 1stR draft pick, and 3 minimums. With a Luka mega-contract looming, this is probably the last summer they'll have an MLE to add talent, so they need to land a good one from somewhere.

So I suspect "the caliber of player the MLE can buy" will be the alternative the Mavs weigh, with any returning players who might want more than a minimum.

They are not screwed if they have 2 good players returning and worth more than MLE together. In that event, they can toss the MLE away, which moves their limit up another 10-12M to Apron 2, and should be enough payroll room to sign both.

But imo that's who Grimes and Hardy will be competing with as they play for a new contract -- are they worth throwing away the MLE?