Mavs & Tobias Harris - And How 'Change' Tells A Story

On The Mavs And Tobias Harris - And How A 'Change' Of Priorities Tells A Story About Dallas' Plans

DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks have been connected via the NBA rumor mill to forward Tobias Harris ... a dead-on story if this was the 2019-20 offseason Shopping Season.

A year, ago, two NBA sources told DallasBasketball.com that the Mavs were interested in Harris "at a rate below his max.'' Additionally, the sources said then that his present employer, the Philadelphia Sixers, were confident they would retain the much-traveled Harris, who was coming off a season during which he averaged 20 points and 7.9 boards in the regular season, both career-highs, shot 39.7 from 3-point range and served as a go-to guy on a contending Sixers team.

We wrote then: Harris' max, should he get an offer to depart the Sixers, would total four years and $140 million, with a 2019-20 salary of $32.7 million. Those are the sort of numbers Dallas can pull off should the Mavs lure a single "big fish'' -- but they are in excess of what Dallas brass (and, our sources say, officials from other clubs) believe is an accurate valuation of the player.

That situation unfolded exactly like that. The Mavs liked him (and then and now, the reuniting of "Tobi & Bobi'' would be a riot). He's a big forward who can score and he's a personality fit pretty much anywhere he goes.

But here's what's changed: While the Mavs "liked him at a price'' last summer, there is nothing "like-able'' about the price now. And the real names that pop up on what sources tell us is a lengthy Mavs wish list generally have one thing in common:

Unless they are superstars (like, say, Bradley Beal), Dallas' willingness to "take on salary'' (which Mavs owner Mark Cuban told us months ago was part of the plan) is about short-term salary.

The two best examples of names that fit are two guys who:

1) Have been on Dallas' wish list for a long time.

2) Contribute not only on the floor but also as a "culture fit.''

3) Have contracts with a size that doesn't matter right now ... because the contracts expire after this season.

Exhibit A is Kelly Oubre of the Phoenix Suns.

Exhibit B is Patrick Beverley of the Los Angeles Clippers.

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Oubre and Beverley are vastly different players, with vastly different personalities. But what they have in common - and the reason we wrote about both in our examination of Dallas' possible involvement in a four-way trade that would send Chris Paul from OKC to Phoenix - is their expiring contracts. 

Oubre makes $14.4 mil this year and then the commitment is over. Beverley makes $15.5 mil this year and then the commitment is over. Both guys (and others like them) can help Luka Doncic propel Dallas to the heights of the NBA this season ... and then they come off the books in the offseason of 2021, freeing the Mavs to go back into Shopping Season with room/ammunition for the largest possible targets.

Last offseason was about paying Kristaps Porzingis his five-year, $158 million deal and then trying to add affordable help. This offseason is about a willingness to pay expensive help ... but only in the short-term. Harris doesn't fulfill that need. Chances are, if/when Dallas pulls off an acquisition in the coming days, the "get'' will fulfill that need perfectly.