The Dallas Mavericks and Klay Thompson split ways a week ago, and the move gave the 36-year-old a fast track to free agency a year early. Thompson walked away from $9.8 million he was still owed, then signed with the Miami Heat, a landing spot that gives him a far better shot at chasing a postseason run.
For Dallas, the clean break made more sense than forcing a trade that never really came together. The Mavericks were said to prefer moving Thompson, and Miami had long been viewed as the likely destination, but the two sides never found a deal.
The sticking point was Heat forward Nikola Jovic. A salary match existed, but Dallas had no interest in taking him on.
As Jake Fischer said on a recent Bleacher Report stream, "The Heat weren't able to furnish Dallas with the additional assets that the Mavericks would've wanted in order to take on Nikola Jovic's deal... That, I think, is generally viewed around the league as a negative asset at this juncture for Jovic."
That view tracks with the numbers. Jovic is about to start the first season of a four-year, $62 million contract, and he’s coming off a year in which he averaged just 7.3 PPG in 47 games. For the Mavericks, that’s a heavy price tag for a player who hasn’t stayed on the floor and hasn’t produced much when he has.
Roster math complicated things too. Dallas already had too many spots to manage, and waiving Thompson got them down to 15 standard contracts. Bringing Jovic back in a deal would have pushed them to 16.
A more elaborate trade could have sent Jovic to a third team, but that would have required even more assets, and neither Dallas nor Miami had much to work with there.
In the end, the Mavericks’ desire to trade Thompson ran into the reality of the market. For a 36-year-old, the return was never likely to be strong, and buying him out gave both sides a fresh start.
Dallas still needs more assets, and there are other paths to find them, including possible moves involving Kyrie Irving or Daniel Gafford at the trade deadline. Thompson, though, was never going to bring back much value.
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Last season offered the blueprint for why Dallas sees him as more than a simple floor stretcher. Aldama took a varied shot diet, got into the paint with real purpose, and showed enough feel as a playmaker to make defenses pay when they overreacted. The broader question now is how quickly that blend of size, touch and decision-making translates into the kind of lineup wrinkle the Mavericks can actually lean on. [Read more 🡒]