Free agency will be starting in a couple of days now that the draft is over, which means the rumor mill is heating up. While the Mavericks have made their interest in re-signing Derrick Jones Jr. known, they also want to improve their wing depth and could be looking to do that in the form of a conference rival.
Marc Stein has reported that the Mavericks are interested in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who has won two NBA championships, one with the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 season and one with the Lakers in 2020. Stein said “League sources say that there would be mutual interest in free agency between Caldwell-Pope and the Dallas Mavericks … but Dallas could only get into Caldwell-Pope’s projected salary range via sign-and-trade. It is believed that the Nuggets do not want to participate in a sign-and-trade with an in-conference rival — Dallas just supplanted Denver as the NBA’s reigning Western Conference champion — even if that means losing Caldwell-Pope without compensation.”
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As Stein said, the Mavericks would have to engage Denver with a sign-and-trade to make this possible and the Nuggets likely wouldn’t be interested in helping Dallas. Caldwell-Pope turned down a player option worth over $15 million and is likely looking at a contract worth around $20 million per year.
In his two seasons with the Nuggets, Caldwell-Pope has averaged 10.4 PPG while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range and has often been the leading defender against the opposing teams’ best guards. He’d be a match made in heaven for the Mavericks even at a smaller 6’5″. He’s had life easy playing alongside Nikola Jokic and it could continue being easy alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
At 31 years old, Caldwell-Pope is likely looking for his last big contract before his career enters its twilight stages, and could be looking at a 3-year, $75 million contract that few teams wouldn’t be interested in. For the Mavericks to match that salary in a sign-and-trade, they’d likely have to send out Josh Green, Maxi Kleber, future draft capital, and possibly Jaden Hardy, which there’s no guarantee Denver would be interested in entertaining that deal. The Nuggets are still looking to contend for championships though, and getting something is better than nothing when they’re as strapped for cap space as they are.
The Mavericks still have to trade away Tim Hardaway Jr. at some point as well, as they’d like to move off his $16 million expiring contract sooner rather than later to make re-signing Derrick Jones Jr. possible.
Teams can begin negotiating with free agents on June 30th at 5 p.m. CST, then ink can start hitting paper on July 6th.
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