The Raptors are in hot pursuit of SG Wesley Matthews, and their offer of a greater number of years and a sign-and-trade for Portland aiming to reduce Matthew’s asking rate below $15M doesn’t appear to be getting the job done.
Dallas and Sacramento are the primary two competitors. While the Kings’ on and off-court situation is assumed to be unattractive, it simply means that they’ll have to throw bigger money at Matthews to land him, and they’ve created the cap space to do just that.
Dallas’s approach is a little different. The Mavericks are trying to land DeAndre Jordan, and feel that if they do so, Matthews will follow. Despite the frenzied opening two days of free-agency which has seen mediocre players get big money, Matthews is apparently willing to wait it out and see if Dallas is in fact able to land Jordan. If so, Dallas is confident of their approach to Matthews:
Mavs fear Kings will make huge offer to Wesley Matthews. Hope now is that he will wait to see if DeAndre Jordan chooses Dallas.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) July 2, 2015
Mavs fear Kings will make huge offer to Wesley Matthews. Hope now is that he will wait to see if DeAndre Jordan chooses Dallas.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) July 2, 2015
Once again, the Raptors angle here is an extra year to make it a four-year deal at around $11-12M, while executing a sign-and-trade with Portland to make the numbers work (the Raptors are ~$9M under the cap which is not enough to land Matthews). Here’s the Raptors cap situation:
MavsMoneyBall: The Trail Blazers probably aren't going to sign Wes Matthews http://t.co/5kXPs5YKII
— DFW Sports Update (@DFWSportsUpdate) July 2, 2015
The Raptors are apparently contemplating a lineup of Matthews at SG, DeMar DeRozan at SF, and DeMarre Carroll at PF, which would beg the question: what is Jonas Valanciunas’ role in such a lineup?
