The Dallas Mavericks got the answer they were hoping for Saturday night: Dirk Nowitzki has pledged to re-sign with the only team he's ever played for.
Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that Nowitzki and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban have reached terms on a new four-year contract after a series of wrap-up meetings that consumed much of the day.
The deal, sources said, is worth at least $80 million and includes a no-trade clause, with Nowitzki making good on a longstanding offer to Cuban to take less than the maximum $96.2 million he could have received over the next four seasons in exchange for assurances that the Mavericks will use that financial flexibility to ramp up their efforts to acquire a top-tier sidekick.
The one thing that bothers me here is the idea of Dirk wanting a sidekick. The team's given him Jason Kidd and Caron Butler, who were pretty damn good sidekicks. At some point, he has to be the one to take responsibility for the Mavs' failings.
MD: You have to win, no matter what. SC: Why didn't you try that this year?
Much like LeBron James has to accept responsibility for the Cavaliers' failings.
"Say, the next time you want to win your daughter back, you could just try giving her a pony, the apocalypse doesn’t really cut it!" --The Prince, Prince of Persia (2008)
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Originally posted by ekedolphinMuch like LeBron James has to accept responsibility for the Cavaliers' failings.
Ugh. Pay attention. Who on the Cavaliers is on the same level as either Jason Kidd or Caron Butler? Hell, who's even on the same level as Jason Terry?? Please don't say Shaq.
Anyway, I'm still of the mind that Dirk is not quite good enough to be a team's #1. I don't know if it's lack of skill or lack of killer instinct or WHAT, but it hasn't worked for them as well as they'd hoped so far. Who knows, maybe he just needed a change of scenery, but it looks like that may never happen.
Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoMaybe it is just me, but Jasono Kidd isn't really that great anymore.
He's obviously not as great as he used to be, but 10 points, 9 assists, and 2 steals a game is nothing to sneeze at. And more importantly, that's still better than anything the Cavs have offered LeBron.
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The idea that the NBA is throwing around is setting up an eight or ten team division in Europe within the next 5 or 10 years. The NBA can own the teams and sell them at a later date to potential investors.
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