Report: Kristaps Porzingis To Be Offered 5-Year, $158 Million Mavs Offer

As the NBA’s free agent bonanza sets itself up for next week, the first big monetary number has been released to the public and for the Dallas Mavericks, they can only hope it is enough to deter their newly-acquired 7’3 dynamo of a center in Kristaps Porzingis from seeking other destinations this offseason.

Per a report from Yahoo’s Shams Charania, the Mavs are likely to offer their restricted free agent (RFA) a five-year max contract worth over $158 Million. Charania reported that both Porzingis’s camp and the Mavericks brass will meet when free agency opens up this Sunday.

Porzingis was shipped from New York to the Mavericks via a trade with the Knicks back in early February. Porzingis, who was taking off the 2018-19 season to rehab a torn ACL suffered a season ago, grew disgruntled with the Knicks organization and requested a trade due to the team’s downward future as a losing franchise. The Knicks ended up fulfilling his request to be out of the Big Apple by trading him, Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee and Trey Burke to the Mavs while getting the prospective second-year guard Dennis Smith Jr. and tenured big man DeAndre Jordan.

Granted, if the Knicks denied Porzingis’s request, he would have been able to either accept a one-year qualifying offer for $4.5 million for 2019-20 with zero guaranteed money after the season or sign a five-year extension worth $158 million. Now, it is becoming apparent that the All-Star center will get those $158 Million — but in Dallas instead of New York.

Keep in mind: the Mavericks have little to no shortage of cap space to use up, and reports are quickly spreading that the franchise could make a run at unrestricted free agent Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets. Porzingis’ cap hold is significantly less than the first year of a new deal would be, so the Mavericks can keep an additional $10 million of cap free if they hold off on inking a new deal until after they pursue other additions.

Looking at the roster for the Mavericks, it is hard to ignore how talented they can become. Recently announced as the 2019 Kia Rookie of the Year, Luka Doncic is ready and welcome to share the hardwood with another European franchise corner piece. Supposedly, if you were to ask the Mavs on how to build a championship roster around an international talent, Mark Cuban can give you a clear-cut answer on the schematics.

2011 was the first time in over five years that the Mavs visited a championship series, and if Porzingis looks to be a fixture in Texas for the rest of his career, the chances are very high for 2011 to not be the last.