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Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart
What seems to be lost in all of this is the fact that Nerlens chose to sign the QO. He closed any chance at further negotiations. And the only real reason he did that is because he wanted the max and nothing or not much less. Almost every reputable source pointed to him wanting that. He could have come back and restarted 17.5-20 mil a year, but he didn't because that's not what he wants. Plain and simple, this is on him.
Unfortunately, the Mavs are likely bad with or without Noel anyway. The West is so tough that it's the exact time to rebuild. I'm not losing sleep over not giving a quarter of the cap to a player to win 30 games. Hope he proves me wrong and we kick ass, but it's unlikely we have that much of a better season this year.
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Dallas Morning reported he would have settled for 20M. Not sure how credible his mom is, but it's out there. I'm with Locked on Mavs here, which more or less concluded the following timeline:
- Mavs offer 4/70 on July 1st, Noel declines, wants the max
- Noel and agent seek out other offers, there are none, eventually fires agent
- Noel gets back to Mavs with new agent, starts negotiations at 22M per. Mavs say the won't move from 17M or even lowered the offer at that point because Noel had lost any leverage.
- Noel signs QO
Now, I could have lived with 20M per, but it's still unreasonable for Noel to expect to get that. 15M is fair value, the 17.5M were already generous and saying "we like you here".
The issue with Noel seems to be not so much about the money per se, but the tag that comes with it. Being a "max player" or close to might be important to him considering where he came from and what happened in Philly. He does not only want to proof it on the court, but also get the satisfaction earning the most money he can possibly get, rubbing the contract in the face of those that doubted him and/or never gave him a chance. This emotional component makes it a hard deal on the other side of the table since you are not negotiating facts. He's basically asking his next team to become a accomplice in his personal vendetta.