Kobe Bryant signed the biggest contract extension he could with the Los Angeles Lakers leaving many to wonder if Dirk Nowitzki will do the saw with the Dallas Mavericks. Bryant and Nowitzki are pretty comparable. Both players are the faces of their respective franchises. They are aging veterans in the final years of their contract. The only thing is Nowitzki does not plan on taking a max contract like Bryant did.
Nowitzki is playing out the final year of a mx contract that pays him $22 million this season. He certainly has the resume to earn another big deal like Bryant did, but instead Nowitzki expects to take a pay cut.
"Obviously, it's good for Kobe," said Nowitzki, via the Dallas Morning News. "That's a lot of money for a 35-year-old, but if one guy earned it, it's definitely Kobe....I don't really want to look forward too much. "I'm not going to extend, obviously. I want to play the season out and then we can talk about the summer. I want to have a good season. I want to have an injury-free season and then [his coach/agent] Holger's going to take his leather coat and meet with [Cuban] in the bunker suite and we'll go from there."
Nowitzki has already taken a pay cut once. In 2010, he left $16 million on the table to stay in Dallas. That move resulted in a championship and NBA Finals MVP trophy. After the Mavericks missed out on both Dwight Howard and Deron Williams in free agency over the past two summers, the team will be looking to sign at least one big free agent this year so having spare cap space if crucial.
"I have no idea at this point," Nowitzki said. "My contract is coming off, 'Trix [Marion] is coming off, Vince[Carter] is coming off and so there's a lot of money under the cap to make this team better. Like I said, this is Game 13 or 14 of the season, I'm more worried about [this] season than July."
If Nowitzki took a contract in the $10 million ballpark, it would leave Dallas with around $21 million left on the books, allowing the team plenty of flexibility to make some runs at guys. The Lakers do not have that luxury after Bryant's deal. The team will likely be able to afford one more max contract, before signing others to much smaller deals.
Nowitzki is thrilled over the future of the Mavericks. He likes just how set up the team is financially with plenty of space to sign big guys. He has not intentions of handling his next contract the way Bryant did.
