All-Star Khris Middleton opts to stay with the Mavericks, spurning buyout offers to remain a playoff contender's key piece.
DALLAS — Maybe this should be taken as a warm-and-fuzzy compliment to the Dallas Mavs.
But for whatever reason, three-time All-Star Khris Middleton has made his decision about negotiating a buyout to leave Big D to join a playoff team.
And interestingly ... he's staying.
Coming into the weekend, coach Jason Kidd made the team's position clear.
"That's up to Khris," Kidd said before Friday night's home game against the Memphis Grizzlies. "We support whatever decision he makes if he's going to stay or if he's gonna get bought out.
"But I think he's gotta make that decision here pretty quick."
Indeed. Any player on a standard NBA contract who has not been waived by Sunday's midnight deadline cannot play in the postseason for a new team this spring. For Middleton — a 34-year-old champion playing out the final year of a $33.3 million deal — the decision (first reported by colleague Marc Stein) is a notable one.
Middleton came to Dallas on February 5 in the three-team trade that shipped Anthony Davis to Washington. He has looked comfortable in his six games with the Mavericks, averaging 14.5 points while shooting 50.0% from the field.
The stats represent a meaningful step forward after two seasons with lesser efficiency in Washington, and his best game as a Maverick — 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting in Indiana on February 22nd — served as a timely reminder that he still has something left to offer a winning team.
At 21-38, Dallas is not that team right now, and nobody inside the organization is pretending otherwise. The Mavericks had given Middleton the room to figure out what makes sense for him without any pressure to rush toward a particular answer.
Where it gets complicated is the money. Dallas holds Middleton's full Bird Rights, which means the Mavericks could offer him a larger deal this summer than any team signing him off a buyout could. That is not a small thing for a player at his stage of his career. Finishing the season in Dallas, stringing together more performances like the one in Indiana, and hitting free agency with his Bird Rights in place might ultimately do more for his next contract than a two-month stint with a contender would.
So maybe it's about something more than just "warm-and-fuzzy.''
"Khris is a champion," Kidd said after a recent win in Indiana. "He understands how to play. He doesn't always have to score. His voice and his leadership are needed."
And so, his voice and his leadership remain in Dallas.