Trail Blazers' Matisse Thybulle 'Desperately' Wanted to Sign with Mavs

Despite returning to the Portland Trail Blazers, defensive specialist Matisse Thybulle was hoping to put on a Dallas Mavericks jersey for this upcoming season.

The Dallas Mavericks have made several swings during this offseason: some being making contact and others ending in a whiff and slow walk back to the dugout. 

Dallas was hoping to hit another homerun on Thursday in efforts to bolster their defense, but the Portland Trail Blazers robbed them with a snag on the warning track by matching the offer sheet signed by restricted free agent Matisse Thybulle.

On Friday morning's episode of #thisleague UNCUT, NBA insiders Marc Stein and Chris Haynes spoke on the NBA offseason, including Portland matching Dallas' offer sheet for Thybulle.

"The Dallas Mavericks implemented a poison pill and they were hoping that would prevent the Blazers from matching," Haynes said.

The 'poison pill' that Haynes spoke of was Dallas adding a player option following the second year in the deal along with a 15-percent trade kicker and the structure allowing Thybulle to be paid half of his annual salary by October 1 each year. 

For a number of restricted free agents, the ploy to explore the market in hopes to sign a big offer sheet to gain leverage against their current team is often the plan. But for Thybulle, he 'desperately' wanted to end up in Dallas.

"The vibe I've gotten is that Thybulle really did want to end up with Dallas," Stein said. "This is something Thybulle's been wanting even before this summer. Dallas has been talked about as a potential destination. The Mavericks have explored in the past pathways to trade for Thybulle."

Haynes added: "Matisse desperately wanted to be a member of the Dallas Mavericks."

Hearing that surely doesn't ease the pain on the Mavs' end of this, but that's the nature of the business that is restricted free agency. And to those who ask "why doesn't Dallas just offer Portland a trade for Thybulle?" Well, because Thybulle signed the offer sheet with the Mavs, he's unable to be traded to Dallas in the next calendar year.

So, for Nico Harrison and the Mavs' front office, it's back to the drawing board to figure out the best avenue to utilize their MLE to add to Dallas' perimeter defense alongside the new addition of Grant Williams.

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