What to do w/ Dwight Powell and his $33M?

[Fuerza1]

Many of us believed MBT bid against themselves last summer and overpaid Powell with an extension worth $33M over 3 years. 

There was doubt he'd live up to that contract with his already limited skill set. Now subtract one less good Achilles heel, I think it's safe to say he won't come close. It's not an albatross but it's dead weight. 

Next season, there should already be an able replacement for his role in either Kleber, WCS, etc. I have a hard time seeing Powell regain his starting role. That being the case, he's an expensive bench player. 

I believe you can get someone younger like WCS for cheaper and similar production. Hell, it's what many of us wanted to do last summer but I digress . . .

Do you trade Powell? Can you find a suitor for his remaining $33M? Or do you prefer to keep the heart and soul of this team, making him a Maverick for life?

[Scott41theMavs]

I consider this a moot question because the Mavs would never trade him. I just hope they aren't woefully stupid enough to believe he's actually going to play (i.e., holding a rotation spot for him in their plans as opposed to a Bobi/JJB/RFA role) next year. The only real hope to freeing up what is for all intents and purposes dead money is that he do the Mavs the solid of retiring in 2021 or so. Or perhaps he could be traded at some point with the understanding that the other team would cut him and he would come back as an assistant coach. If he has one thing, it's BBIQ. Man went to Stanford, after all.

[jesusshuttlesworth82]

There's nothing to do.  No one will want him.  If on the off chance he can come back close to 100%, he's apparently more valuable to the Mavs than any other team.

[Fuerza1]

I consider this a moot question because the Mavs would never trade him. I just hope they aren't woefully stupid enough to believe he's actually going to play (i.e., holding a rotation spot for him in their plans as opposed to a Bobi/JJB/RFA role) next year. The only real hope to freeing up what is for all intents and purposes dead money is that he do the Mavs the solid of retiring in 2021 or so. Or perhaps he could be traded at some point with the understanding that the other team would cut him and he would come back as an assistant coach. If he has one thing, it's BBIQ. Man went to Stanford, after all.

I thought MBT would never trade Harrison Barnes or Wesley Matthews. I didn't think they had the balls to trade DSJ as early as they did. They're more than capable of twisting the knife into their dearly beloved than we imagine. 

It would be unwise to hold a rotation spot for him, which is why I believe dumping his salary asap is paramount. He isn't Nurkic from POR, and even then POR still went out to obtain Whiteside.

His contract has essentially become the Courtney Lee TPE but instead it's for 3 years instead of 1. Are you willing to attach assets to clear his salary?

There's nothing to do.  No one will want him.  If on the off chance he can come back close to 100%, he's apparently more valuable to the Mavs than any other team.

Even though he is a MBT favorite, I have to believe they have a boiling point when it comes to price/production.


Yes, no team wants him, so what does it take to dump him? 

Delon/Powell/Jackson + 2020 1st rounder for OPJ/Hutchison + 2nd rounder? Is this reasonable?

[BigDirk41]

I consider this a moot question because the Mavs would never trade him. I just hope they aren't woefully stupid enough to believe he's actually going to play (i.e., holding a rotation spot for him in their plans as opposed to a Bobi/JJB/RFA role) next year. The only real hope to freeing up what is for all intents and purposes dead money is that he do the Mavs the solid of retiring in 2021 or so. Or perhaps he could be traded at some point with the understanding that the other team would cut him and he would come back as an assistant coach. If he has one thing, it's BBIQ. Man went to Stanford, after all.

I thought MBT would never trade Harrison Barnes or Wesley Matthews. I didn't think they had the balls to trade DSJ as early as they did. They're more than capable of twisting the knife into their dearly beloved than we imagine. 

It would be unwise to hold a rotation spot for him, which is why I believe dumping his salary asap is paramount. He isn't Nurkic from POR, and even then POR still went out to obtain Whiteside.

His contract has essentially become the Courtney Lee TPE but instead it's for 3 years instead of 1. Are you willing to attach assets to clear his salary?

There's nothing to do.  No one will want him.  If on the off chance he can come back close to 100%, he's apparently more valuable to the Mavs than any other team.

Even though he is a MBT favorite, I have to believe they have a boiling point when it comes to price/production.


Yes, no team wants him, so what does it take to dump him? 

Delon/Powell/Jackson + 2020 1st rounder for OPJ/Hutchison + 2nd rounder? Is this reasonable?

2 things:

1)Mavs would NEVER trade Powell

2) NOBODY would trade for him

[Jannemann2]

Let's give the man time to recover ...

[fifteenth]

Let's give the man time to recover ...

This is the only choice I think

[MFFLJunpei]

it happen time to time that Mavs developed mediocre player into a good rotation player, then start believing no one else on the market can play better than that guy, and Mavs become so reluctant to trade away that player for upgrade.

[fifteenth]

it happen time to time that Mavs developed mediocre player into a good rotation player, then start believing no one else on the market can play better than that guy, and Mavs become so reluctant to trade away that player for upgrade.

 

true, like

Brandan Wright and
Devin Harris

[Benskix2]

At this point any GM is probably going to be as pessimistic about DPs recovery as the OP, so we might as well just wait and see if he can come back and be productive instead of giving away assets to get rid of his contract.  You can always do that later, we aren't going to miss out on any trades because some team just really wanted an injured Dwight Powell and we refused to include him.

[DrMav]

Yeah Idk what there is to do with him at this point except wait it out.  Even if this injury is basically career ending for him, we're not at the point where we have enough assets to afford dumping them just to get off his contract.

Now if we reach the point where you have to move his salary to get something of value (e.g. cap space to sign a 3rd star) then no doubt you attach assets to dump him or stretch waive him.  

Doubt this is the summer they would target that cap space anyway, so almost 100% chance he's on the roster to start next season, IMO.

[cow]

Feels bad that we are all writing him off. He's not dead.

[StepBackJay]

The tough thing with Powell is that his game is built on athleticism of which he took a huge hit. I actually think we are probably over estimating that hit to some extent. He will probably still be able to roll to the basket, dunk a basketball and move his feet. We have seen 35 yr old JJB still doing JJB things so it's not impossible that he can be effective.

The guy I might compare him to post-injury would be a slightly more athletic Zaza Pachulia. Zaza was a feet on the ground center that played defense with his feet and was very crafty around the rim. Mavs and GSW used him as the roll guy effectively despite the fact he wasn't catching alley-oops.

Zaza was not a 40 mil dollar player but effective on both the Mavs and GSW teams. My point is that it's possible and probably even likely that Powell will be an effective member of the rotation. Is his 10 mil-ish a year the best use of those funds? Probably not but it could be worse.

---

it happen time to time that Mavs developed mediocre player into a good rotation player, then start believing no one else on the market can play better than that guy, and Mavs become so reluctant to trade away that player for upgrade.

 

true, like

Brandan Wright and
Devin Harris

btw Mavs traded both guys and traded Harris twice lol

[fifteenth]

btw Mavs traded both guys and traded Harris twice lol

dude

[ThisIStheYear]

The Mavs haven’t been the same since he went down, including tonight, so his value and the signing has been vindicated to some extent. Unfortunately, his injury is such that I doubt he can come back until maybe the season after next, if at all. It’s just bad luck really. No way to predict that injury. Going forward, it will be up to the Bank of Cuban to eat this one. The Mavs can’t afford to sit around and moan about lost salary space They’re just going to have to figure out some circumvention strategies. Otherwise, bye bye Luka. The Golden Egg will leave. He only stays long term if the Mavs build a roster that gives him the best shot at a title.

[Lucky Luciano]

Powell was the second most important person on the court for the Mavs this year so far. He was playing way above his contract value in our system while healthy.

He was in the 100th percentile as a roll man only to be challenged by Gobert every so often. His effect gave Luka the opportunity to get 1 or 2 large steps closer to the basket thus his success as one of the best to finish at the basket in the league this year. When he doesn't have the respect of the defense on the switch they get in front of Luka and he tends to take more step back 3s. Obviously you do not watch the games or you'd be able to see Powell's value.

JJ came back strong after his injury last year and he's way out of his athletic prime and the same was said about him last year. I'm sure Powell will come back even stronger than he was this year and return to our regular basketball activities.

We're not trading Powell. Op is filled with Powell hatred lmao. Silly post.

[Magickian]

Powell was the second most important person on the court for the Mavs this year so far. He was playing way above his contract value in our system while healthy.

He was in the 100th percentile as a roll man only to be challenged by Gobert every so often. His effect gave Luka the opportunity to get 1 or 2 large steps closer to the basket thus his success as one of the best to finish at the basket in the league this year. When he doesn't have the respect of the defense on the switch they get in front of Luka and he tends to take more step back 3s. Obviously you do not watch the games or you'd be able to see Powell's value.

JJ came back strong after his injury last year and he's way out of his athletic prime and the same was said about him last year. I'm sure Powell will come back even stronger than he was this year and return to our regular basketball activities.

We're not trading Powell. Op is filled with Powell hatred lmao. Silly post.

I usually am one to be on your side about these things with our guys. I tend to take up for them more, and express the value of patience and seeing all angles of their value to the team. 


Powell I get is great for the locker room, I also get some of the points you bring up, and can see some of the validity of this argument ringing true. I will concede there is some truth in there...

I just think that his negatives on the court outweigh the positives you mention. Maybe outweigh isn't the best word... but rather... his negatives are just enough, that it makes his positives less valuable, and therefore he has never been worth the money he got, and I have always been against his first and then second contract.

[JamesConway]

Never been worth the contract, it was always smarter to just go with some random minimum-Center instead. That would have been a better use of caproom like I and many others preached over and over again last summer. The Center position is as team-friendly as it gets yet we still signed him to that contract for whatever unprofessional reason.

The injury is unfortunate but just adds to how much of a bad decision that extension was. His extension hasn't even kicked in, so not only we completely outbid ourselves without any reason we also did it prematurely and it now has bitten us in the butt.

Terrible move by the organization. We can only hope that he recovers over the next years. With his style of play he's as dependent on his athleticism as few other players are though.

[Jym]

Never been worth the contract, it was always smarter to just go with some random minimum-Center instead. That would have been a better use of caproom like I and many others preached over and over again last summer. The Center position is as team-friendly as it gets yet we still signed him to that contract for whatever unprofessional reason.

The injury is unfortunate but just adds to how much of a bad decision that extension was. His extension hasn't even kicked in, so not only we completely outbid ourselves without any reason we also did it prematurely and it now has bitten us in the butt.

Terrible move by the organization. We can only hope that he recovers over the next years. With his style of play he's as dependent on his athleticism as few other players are though.

I like the idea of adding on years to a player's deal before it expires. I kinda hope it doesn't scare them away  from that in the future. 
Just weird how they decided that player would be Powell. Reminds me of when we jumped on that Haywood deal and gave him a fairly large 6 year/$55 mil deal. Kinda crazy for a 30 year old. Imagine the world where we signed Chandler to that extension instead. He probably would have taken it in the summer of 2010

[Lukasmom]

Powell game is built on his athleticism. Expect his game to fall off ala Wes Matthews when he comes back late next year. Basically the only reason to keep him around is for his expiring contact AFTER next season.

Dude is getting 33 million to be a two year role player.