http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4314637
Sources: Teams agree to Marion deal
Comment Email Print Share
By Chad Ford and Marc Stein
ESPN.com
The Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors, living up to the wild tenor of the past few weeks in the NBA, have hatched a complicated sign-and-trade arrangement that went through numerous constructions Wednesday before resulting in an agreement in principle that will send Shawn Marion to Dallas and also absorb the Raptors' much-anticipated signing of Hedo Turkoglu.
Sources close to the negotiations told ESPN.com on Wednesday night a trade call has been scheduled with the league office for Thursday, indicating all sides have agreed to the terms of a transaction that, in its final form, will also involve the Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic.
Sources said the Mavericks, after securing Memphis' participation as a third-team facilitator, contacted numerous teams to expand the deal and believed they were close to securing a fourth trade partner from the Eastern Conference. That team, according to ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher, was the Chicago Bulls and would have landed Tim Thomas with the Mavericks.
But one source close to the process later told ESPN.com that the deal was scaled back to a three-team arrangement without Chicago before it was expanded yet again to fold in the Raptors' signing of Turkoglu.
The deal, according to sources, calls for the Mavericks to acquire Marion and Kris Humphries from Toronto and Greg Buckner from Memphis, with Marion to receive a five-year contract worth an estimated $39 million. Buckner has had two previous stints with the Mavericks but is likely to be released, sources said.
The Grizzlies will land Jerry Stackhouse from Dallas, Quincy Douby from Toronto and a substantial cash payment to buy out Stackhouse's contract. Only $2 million of Stackhouse's $7.25 million salary next season is guaranteed, as long as he is waived by Aug. 10.
The Raptors will receive Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Mavericks, while also preserving their $5.9 million mid-level exception for the coming season by turning their acquisition of Turkoglu -- who is getting a five-year deal worth an estimated $53 million -- into a sign-and-trade as opposed to an outright signing. Assembling the trade this way could also enable Toronto to re-sign Carlos Delfino, after it appeared that the Raptors would have to renounce Delfino to help make room for the Turkoglu signing.
The Magic, meanwhile, were motivated to join in the trade because their participation, as opposed to merely letting Turkoglu walk, will create a valuable trade exception they can use in future deals worth around $7 million.
The inclusion of Humphries, Wright and George gave the Raptors more financial incentive to help Marion find a new home via sign-and-trade, as both George and Wright are heading into the final year of their contracts, while Humphries has two years left on his deal. Toronto, furthermore, is in need of a shooting guard after Anthony Parker signed Wednesday with the Cleveland Cavaliers, so adding Wright gives them a credible starter until newly drafted DeMar DeRozan is ready to contribute.
The main thrust of Wednesday's involved maneuvering, though, is Marion's move to Dallas, since Turkoglu's commitment to join the Raptors has been known since last weekend.
The Mavericks are hoping that the combination of Marion and Orlando restricted free agent Marcin Gortat -- along with the re-signing of Jason Kidd -- will greatly improve the depth and flexibility possessed by a team that won 50 games last season and advanced to the second round of the playoffs before losing to Denver. The Magic can match the five-year, $34 million offer sheet Gortat has signed with Dallas but are expected to let him go.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban has said for months he was prepared to be as aggressive as possible this summer as opposed to waiting for the free-agent bonanza of 2010, when Dallas was initially expected to have substantial cap space. With these moves, Dallas can start Marion at small forward next to Dirk Nowitzki and shift Josh Howard to shooting guard, with Sixth Man Award winner Jason Terry staying in a bench role. The Mavericks also believe that they will have a strong small-ball unit when they elect not to play Gortat or Erick Dampier, featuring Howard at small forward, Marion at power forward and Nowitzki at center.
Sources say the Mavericks are determined to keep Howard even with Marion on the way, believing that Howard will have a strong season with free agency looming in the summer of 2010. If there's a concern for Dallas, it's that Marion will be yet another key member of their core over the age of 30, joining Nowitzki (31), Kidd (36), Jason Terry (31) and Howard (who turns 30 next April).
Marion earned $17.8 million last season and was traded for the second straight February when Miami sent him to Toronto in a swap for Jermaine O'Neal. He went from Phoenix to Miami one year earlier in the Shaquille O'Neal trade.
Yet sources say Toronto was intent on re-signing Marion until the Raptors realized that they had an 11th-hour shot at convincing Turkoglu to back out of a verbal commitment he had given the Portland Trail Blazers, having seen late-season signs of promise in Marion's collaboration alongside Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani.
A deal with Dallas appeared to Marion's best and last hope for securing a new contract starting above the $5.9 million mid-level exception, given that the Cavaliers -- despite their recent pursuits of Trevor Ariza and Ron Artest and a well-chronicled need for a combo forward -- were not making a hard push for him.
The Mavericks on Wednesday also signed free-agent swingman Quinton Ross to improve their perimeter defense and replace the outgoing Wright. Dallas' moves also would appear to make it unlikely that it will try to bring back free-agent forward Brandon Bass.
"It's been a long day of looking at spreadsheets, reading NBA cap rules and rubbing my eyes," Cuban said via his Twitter account.
Marc Stein and Chad Ford are senior NBA writers for ESPN.com. ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher contributed to this report.
I hate to say it, but props to Cuban for this move, keeping Kidd and signing Gortat. I don't think those moves make them better than the Lakers/Spurs/Cavs/Celts but it's the best they could do given the available players, and they'll be a tough beat again next year.
It will be interesting to see what Marion does over there - he and Kidd, plus Donkey, should make a great combination in the open court.
Damned Mavs. I was hoping they'd fade away...
Yeah... Dirk is still Dirk. MVP material when he is ath his best.
And the supporting cast is quite solid.
But after seeing what TP was doing to them and now to have Antonio, RJ and Manu in the mix... they don't stand a chance in my opinion.
Being a Mavs fan, I can only hope for the best. On paper, I think it does put them in the mix with the afore mentioned teams. You never know though, until they play together. I still remember the Antwaan/Antoine debacle a few years back.
I've been checking out ya'lls site and it's a pretty good one. I've been embarrased by some of the Mavs fans comments. I kinda feel like I need to apologize for them but hey, their grown people.(I think) Next season should be an interesting one. That much is for sure.
your the best mavs fan ive met on this site
Yeah man cause the Spurs fans on here are sooo classy and diplomatic.
I've found that a lot are. This is a Spurs site so you have to kinda expect some of it. They would get the same treatment on a Mavs site.
wow.. are you really a fan of the same team as them? i think the maverick fans here are easily the most obnoxious/arrogant basketball fans alive. and i live in los angeles.
Cheers, and welcome!
Don't worry about other posters - they come in all shapes and sizes, and they only get moderated rarely (ie. if things really get out of hand), it's one of the beauties of this place.
Depends on who you are referring to. heads arise in all fan bases.
Toronto has amazingly good ownership. Even with all those years of losing, they're constantly trying to get a better team. Good for the Canadians.
I'm very pleased with how our beloved FO has handled the offseason thus far. I'm not sure if we're contenders but oh well, LA is simply too strong and Boston and Cleveland are strong in the East as well. I think the window for the WCF is open and who knows from there maybe our guys can be beneficiaries of some luck? Who knows... who knows.
Every fan base has ty posters and good ones. Some just more than others(rocketfans)
Thanks and I hope I can somewhat change that perception. I just hope I don't get into any pissing matches with fellow Mav fans.
Earlier today I was reading this 1 thread and 2 Suns fans were really going after each other. I found it funny because it was 2 Suns fans insulting each other on a Spurs board in a thread about the Mavs. One of the Suns fans apologized for the hijack but I thought it was hilarious.
Oh, and thanks for the welcome RuffnReadyOzStyle.
So you just can't bring yourself to admit that the Spurs are contenders again, huh? Not surprising, I guess.
That's our ST, all multi-fanural and ... get used to the conflict, it's part of this place. Just don't take it too seriously - after all, it's just a messageboard... best one on the net, but still just a forum.
Mavs win on this by a landslide
The Matrix in Dallas!
Good deal for the Mavs, finally they have a player who can do something other than score. Not sure if it offsets locking up Kidd till he is 60 though.
A good move for the Mavs, expecially considering what they had starting at SG. Howard slides down to the 2 on offense.
Kidd/JJ
Howard/Terry
Marion
Dirk/Bass?
Gortat/Humphries
Dampier probably gets traded about 20 games into next season for a piece that can actually help.
The Mavs had themselves a legit offseason.
So Humphries ended up in the deal and Orlando participated thereby enabling Toronto still to get Delfino (and quite possibly Rasho). So basically Toronto sent out Douby and Marion and picked up Turkoglu, Wright, and George and still preserve the MLE.
So Villanueva=Ford=O'Neal=Marion=Turkoglu
kidd
howard
marion
dirk
gortat
terry off the bench
could be sick. hopefully gortat doesnt end up being a bust the way dampier did when they got him off golden state
would be deja vu all over again
wish kerr and saver could be in that deal.... Man it's looking like next year may be more suckage unless someone can trade Pho a shrink. Seems like it's pho without shaq this year.
And the Raps find a way to acquire Breath.
The Mavs could take down any of the favorites so far:
Lakers
Spurs
Orlando and Cleveland...
They deserve a lot of respect they're stacked as well...
Mavs are going to be a very good team next year, if they can find a way to make Marion work in their system.
You have to boggle at the matchups now, if the Spurs and Mavs meet:
Parker vs. Kidd
Jefferson vs. Howard/Terry
Manu vs. Marion
Duncan vs. Dirk
Dice vs. Gortat
Wow. That would be a of a series. I think on paper a healthy Spurs team wins all of the matchups, but Jason Kidd makes everyone better.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
