THE CRUCIFIX: Cato: Wood isn't thrilled w/ his role...Will depart in the summer

[F Gump]

Wood is playing well so far. Small sample size. But obviously quite promising.

But if you're antsy for a Wood extension, there's nothing to be done right now. It's not even worth asking his agent, because the limit that could be offered is so relatively tiny (they could only tack on another 2 years, 30.8M total, yr 1 about 15M).

That changes near the eoy. So the Mavs have no choice, and a nice window of forced waiting, to get a fuller look-see on how it continues, and then make an offer at the eoy if it makes sense (at which time they could add on as much as 3 years, 56M total, yr 1 about 17.2M).

Those latter numbers would put him into the pay range of SD and beyond THJ (the latter is obviously quite overpaid, but slotting Wood up near the SD range feels right, based on perceived importance derived from a limited sample size).