Mavs Plan to Sign Kyle Lowry: How Close Were They?

The Lowry hook wasn’t money or Cuban’s charms or Texas’ lack of state taxes.The hook was friendship.

The Dallas Mavericks NBA free agency “bridesmaids” stories have, to many MFFLs, grown tiresome. But if we choose to make lemonade here …

They can also be instructive.

So it is, I’ll argue, with the news that in the recent Kyle Lowry Sweepstakes, your Mavs finished … second.

Apparently, Lowry's runner-up option was the Mavericks, per a report from the Miami Herald's respected writer Barry Jackson.

"We're told,” Jackson writes, “Dallas finished second behind the Heat for Lowry; he was intrigued by the Mavericks, who were willing to meet his price tag, but he preferred playing with (Jimmy) Butler in Miami. New Orleans was willing to go to $90 million over three years or more, according to a source, but Lowry never leaned toward going there, according to the source. Lowry took three years and $85 million from Miami."

Let’s break this down:

*The Mavs, who led by owner Mark Cuban pretty much announced their desire for a “star” who would also help as a “secondary ball-handler” alongside young superstar Luka Doncic, were true to their word in terms of a target.

*The Mavs might have been able to lure Lowry for less than the Pels we’re offering. That’s nice.

*And the large and looming one: The Dallas wish for a “big fish” (GM Donnie Nelson is gone but his terminology lives on!) lacked the right-sized hook.

But the hook wasn’t money or Cuban’s charms or Texas’ lack of state taxes.

The hook was friendship.

There is everything right about wanting to pair up with Butler, just as we believe there is every reason to want to do the same with Luka.

But relationships. As often as not, NBA seems to boil down to relationships.

Much as we love where we live, we can’t make DFW a “destination city.” What we can make is friends.

That’s still how Goran Dragic (ironically, the guy Miami sign-and-traded to Toronto to facilitate the Lowry move) can still be a buddy-buddy get for fellow Slovenian Doncic.

But for Dallas to get better, the “gets” must get bigger. And Lowry-to-Miami has reminded us of a path

So get out there, new GM Nico Harrison, new coach Jason Kidd and new star Luka Doncic …

And make some damn friends.