Most MFFL's remember that Brendon Haywood was recently signed to a huge extension in the $7-$10M/yr range until 2016, so unless another team conceivably wants to trade for that contract, he may be here a while. Fans can rest easy knowing that in case Haywood strains another hip flexor and Chandler can't stay out of early foul trouble (note to editor: feel free to change "in case" to "when"), Ian Mahinmi has one more year left at $880k.
More importantly, we head back to Tyson Chandler, arguably the biggest difference between the current Mavericks and any of the past Dirk-era Mavs teams. Stats can't justify his contributions on this team, even though he was 10th in the league in rebounds and 15th in offensive boards. His attitude, hustle, desire, competitiveness, and infectious personality are something this team hasn't seen at the center position with the sleepy, lumbering likes of Skillet-hands Dampier and the underwhelming and outmatched Shawn Bradley, Raef LaFrentz, DeSagana Diop. Most would agree that re-signing Chandler, who turns 29 in October and just made $12.7M, is the team's biggest offseason priority. It would obviously be ideal if this team could manage to keep both of their top centers, but a combined $20M is a lot to pay for one position that isn't Dirk. It's the same reason why they might not be able to sign Butler to go along with the Matrix at small forward. However, if they do let most of their free agents go (Barea, Stevenson, Butler), then they could possibly have some room to keep both for the future.
Defending a Title: Guards
Defending a Title: Forwards
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