We had several inquiries/responses to our mavs.com story last week about players who set themselves up for better years in 2023-24.
It got us thinking here at the mailbag about which Mavericks would be the choices if we had a team-wide honor roll.
Then we thought about it more and wondered if a team that misses the playoffs has an MVP, a most-improved and other honorees.
That’s another debate for another time. For now, here’s our quick rundown of Mavs’ award winners in 2022-23.
MVP: Clearly, Luka Dončić is the only choice here. He will get some votes for league-wide MVP, although the Mavericks’ lack of team success put a dagger through any early season hopes he had of winning the NBA award.
Newcomer of the year: Jaden Hardy. He had some competition. Kyrie Irving coming on board made things interesting, but the reason we chose Hardy is because we think Hardy can help the Mavericks win for many more years. And watching his talents grow is going to be fun for a long time.
Sixth-man: Josh Green. He came off the bench in 39 of the 60 games he played, so he qualifies for the award. And he was darn good in both capacities in what amounted to a breakthrough season. His numbers per minute as both a starter and off the bench were similar. But he played about nine fewer minutes when he was a reserve.
Defensive player of the year: Pass.
And with that, on to this week’s mailbag questions.
Question of the week: Do players get paid extra for being in the playoffs? Tripp H.
Big Ed: Yes, but for stars with big salaries, the playoff payoff is equivalent to couch-cushion money. For players on minimum contracts, however, the bonus can be quite the financial windfall. The total for the NBA playoff pool was $26,969,000. Making the playoffs is good for $402,493 per team. Obviously, that would be split among the players (usually 17 of them) for a total of about $23,600 per player. Some players gift a part or all of their earnings to staffers they have leaned on all season (equipment personnel, athletic trainers, media liaisons, etc). Teams that reach the second round earn an additional $479,000. If you make the conference finals, it’s $791,000 more. Win the NBA finals and you get $4,776,000. There also are payoffs for having the best record in each conference, second-best and so on down to the sixth-place finisher. So the top end of the playoff earning scale would be if a No. 1 seed won the title. That would get that team 7,129,480 or $419,380 per player (again, assuming 17 player shares). So that’s why the playoffs are more about glory for the superstars than money (although future salaries, endorsements and other financial opportunities often are made in the playoffs). For minimum wage players, though, it’s a nice bump.
Question: If they re-sign Kyrie Irving to a max or near-max contract, will the Mavericks still have any room left to sign another significant free agent? Chris C.
Big Ed: It’s a very short answer: No. If they re-sign Irving to a market-based deal, it’ll push the Mavericks’ payroll over $150 million, which is well past the projected salary cap of $134 million. And that’s without keeping any of their other free agents. And even if they don’t keep Irving, the money to sign new free agents would be significantly below maximum level. So really, the Mavericks are in a situation where they either use the rest of their cap money on Irving (and go over the cap) or they lose any chance of getting another star-level player. Then again, I learned a long time ago that creative front-office people often find ways to find a few extra million dollars of cap space when they are cleaning out their coffee-cup holders in their luxury SUVs.
Question: How much did the end-of-the-season collapse impact the Mavericks’ ability to lure free agents? David C.
Big Ed: Gut feeling is that it didn’t matter much. The Mavericks made a decision that was the smart one for the good of the franchise. All those losses in December, January and February to bad teams would concern me more, to be honest. But when it comes to free agents, they tend to look more at money and less at situations. But even in this case, the situation isn’t nearly as bleak as some others. When you have Dončić, you are ahead of the game in terms of luring players. Plus, the Mavericks are only one year removed from the Western Conference finals. Free agents often look at situations and wonder how it would have been different if he were there. Many of them think they can be the difference-maker. Some of them are right. But the point is that money, winning and fit (probably in that order) drive most free-agent decisions.
Question: With the first round soon to be over, what’s been your biggest surprise, good and bad, of what’s happened so far. Maggie W.
Big Ed: Jimmy Freakin’ Butler. The Miami swingman has been a good player for a long time. But he’s crossed over into rare air in the first round of the playoffs in leading the Heat to a 3-1 lead over Milwaukee. When you have to work to squeeze in via the play-in tournament, becoming the first seven seed to lose once in the play-in, then are on the verge of taking down the No. 1 seed, that’s big-time stuff. As for the biggest disappointment, I’m going to hold off on saying it’s the Bucks because the injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo, which admittedly has made things easier for Butler and the Heat. But to me, the biggest downer has been all the injuries that have impacted just about all of the series. The Clippers looked sharp in Game 1. Then without Kawhi Leonard (and Paul George), they have been outclassed. The Grizzlies without Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke have been unable to stay with the Lakers. And of course, the Greek Freak not being available for virtually all of the first three games had an impact on that series.
Twitter: @ESefko
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