So the Mavs' current salary commitments for Summer 2010 are Dirk, Damp, Josh, Terry & Diop, totaling $64.9 MM. Let's say, for argument's sake, that Dirk is willing to opt out and then settle for the veterans' minimum. That would cut our obligations to something like $43MM, which should be somewhere in the neighborhood of $20MM under the cap. That is certainly enough to extend an offer to one of the marquis free agents. I doubt the Mavs will be extending anybody's contracts past the end of the 2009-2010 season any time soon if they think they can be legit players in that market. Now, if they could dump the hideous contract of Diop, that would free another $6.4MM in cap room. Plus, I believe Josh's contract is a team option for that year. So it appears, if the Mavs don't make any moves to improve the team any time soon (and take on longer contracts in so doing), they could be very legit in the 2010 free agent market.
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