Dirk to Miami?

[misha]

Sources: Nowitzki to opt out

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=5210625

The Dallas Mavericks are expecting star forward Dirk Nowitzki to opt out of his contract late next month and become an unrestricted free agent July 1, according to sources close to the situation.

The Mavericks, though, continue to negotiate with Nowitzki on a contract extension in hopes of convincing him to pre-empt his free agency. They remain confident that the leading scorer in franchise history is staying with the only team with which he's ever played, even if Nowitzki winds up joining the most anticipated free-agent class in league history.

The sides have until the end of June to reach terms on an extension that would keep Nowitzki off the open market, but sources told ESPN.com this week that it's more likely -- with free agency less than 40 days away -- that the nine-time All-Star becomes an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career.

TP for the heads up.

Excellent article that kind of makes you wonder about Paul Pierce's situation and how that might work since Nowitzki's and Pierce's contracts and situations are as near to identical as two players situations can be.

Don't know about Dirk, but I'm very confident that Paul will finish his career in green.

[nickagneta]

Sources: Nowitzki to opt out

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=5210625

The Dallas Mavericks are expecting star forward Dirk Nowitzki to opt out of his contract late next month and become an unrestricted free agent July 1, according to sources close to the situation.

The Mavericks, though, continue to negotiate with Nowitzki on a contract extension in hopes of convincing him to pre-empt his free agency. They remain confident that the leading scorer in franchise history is staying with the only team with which he's ever played, even if Nowitzki winds up joining the most anticipated free-agent class in league history.

The sides have until the end of June to reach terms on an extension that would keep Nowitzki off the open market, but sources told ESPN.com this week that it's more likely -- with free agency less than 40 days away -- that the nine-time All-Star becomes an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career.

TP for the heads up.

Excellent article that kind of makes you wonder about Paul Pierce's situation and how that might work since Nowitzki's and Pierce's contracts and situations are as near to identical as two players situations can be.

Pierce won't be able to command as much money as Dirk is in free agency.

Pierce is best off staying with his current contract and asking Ainge for a three year extension. Probably at $10 million a year.

Dirk will get offered a maximum contract by Dallas.

The article talks though about Dirk possibly giving the Mavs a discount and also about his contract only being a four year deal (Over 36 rule)so that the financial incentive to stay in Dallas isn't huge.

While Dirk would command more money on the open market, the situations are still extremely similar regarding opting out versus extensions versus no trade clauses versus giving the team a discount to help the team out. Etc, etc.

Given that the opting out move opens up a lot of flexibility for Dirk, I could see Pierce doing the same thing for the same flexibility