Phil Jackson has officially made his first move as team president. The New York Knicks said they would be very active in making deals this offseason and they are living up to their word. The team has finalized a trade with the Dallas Mavericks that sends Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler out while bringing in Jose Calderon and center Samuel Dalembert, along with some young talent. With cap space cleared for both teams, how does this effect players like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony?
Dirk Nowitzki hopes the move helps the Mavericks land either Anthony, James or both. The Mavericks now have approximately $26.5 million in cap space. They still need to re-sign Nowitzki who has said he is willing to take a hometown discount if need be. Is this enough to land both stars? Nowitzki is extremely optimistic.
"All the teams with cap room got to try [to sign James]," Nowitzki said, via Yahoo Sports. "He's the best player in the league right now. If he's a free agent - which obviously doesn't happen very often that the best player in the league is a free agent - than you got to obviously go at it. I don't know what our chances are, but you at least have to try."
Nowitzki has already made it known that he wants Anthony on the team as well. According to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, Anthony and Chandler are very good friends off the court and that could sway the guard's decision in the long run. ESPN confirms that Anthony does have a meeting scheduled with the Mavericks, but the team will have a lot of competition if they are going to win him in free agency.
Dallas has the pieces to attract the two biggest players on the market. Chandler improves them as a defensive team and Nowitzki takes the pressure off in terms of scoring. Not to mention the team has cap space. They could easily sign both stars and they will have even more next season when Chandler and Felton come off the books. They will also have enough to try for Kevin Love or LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015. Owner Mark Cuban is excited at the potential in the offseason.
"We think Tyson makes our defense better and we still maintain quite a bit of cap flexibility," Cuban said, via ESPNDallas.com.