Wesley Matthews has signed with the Mavericks, and in the end the Raptors finished third in the race to get him. The Kings made a ‘huge’ offer but were rebuffed as Dallas upped the years to four, which was the main advantage being offered by the Raptors.
Wes Matthews has agreed in principle with the Mavericks on a four-year deal, per source. Turned down huge offer from Sacramento.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) July 3, 2015
In hindsight, this may be a move best not made as Matthews is coming off an Achilles tendon injury, and was looking to make closer to $12M a year, which by all accounts would be a bit of a risk to spend on a position where the Raptors already have DeMar DeRozan.
Focus now turns to addressing the power forward position (assuming DeMarre Carroll’s a three) from what’s left of a thinning free-agent pool. Some notable options at four include Jordan Hill, Brandon Bass, Luis Scola, and Darrell Arthur. It might be that Masai Ujiri will have to look to the trade market to see if he can address the position, and see if he can raise the talent ceiling on this team beyond DeRozan and Lowry.
To me, the off-season had three todos:
- Find a starting SF
- Find a starting PF
- Ensure that DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are not your two best players heading into next season
So far, it’s 1/3 in my books. Still early, but you have to think everything will be sorted out in a few days given the rate at which transactions are happening.
