Dampier to get seven years, $73M from Mavs

[Objective J]

We can always package him up in the seventh year as an expiring contract to a salary cap clearing team. This effectively makes 6 years of stuck with him. So, at 36 when he is all washed up, we ship him off. Sounds like a pretty good contract to me.

[grndmstr_c]

So, at 36 when he is all washed up, we ship him off.

He'll be 35 when he's in the final year of his contract.

[madape]

From Chad Ford in today's ESPN insider (ripped from another Mavs board)

"The beat goes on and on. By the end of the summer, Nash's deal with Phoenix actually started to look reasonable."

"The seven-year, $73 million contract offer to Dampier truly is "crazy." Dampier, who, come to find out, is only 29, not 30, is coming off a career year. For the first time since 1998, he averaged more than 10 points a game or 28 mpg. For this first time in his career he averaged more than 10 rpg a game. For the fifth time in six years, he finished the year on the injured list. He did all of that on one of the worst teams in the league last season."

"Nash is a winner. A team leader on a team that legitimately competed for a championship the past few years. Dampier is a tough, physical big man who has never played a playoff game. Nash wasn't worth $10 million a season over five years. Dampier, apparently, is worth more than $10 million a season over seven."

"Nash and Dampier got their money this summer. But it may be the fans in Phoenix and Dallas who'll have to pay for it in the long term."

[Evilmav2]

I haven't seen anybody post the numbers breakdown on Damp's contract, so here they are, courtesy of RealGM:

04-05 - $7,600,000 - Year 1 - age 29
05-06 - $8,550,000 - Year 2 - age 30
06-07 - $9,500,000 - Year 3 - age 31
07-08 - $10,450,000 - Year 4 - age 32
08-09 - $11,400,000 - Year 5 - age 33
09-10 - $12,350,000 - Year 6 - age 34
10-11 - $13,300,000 - Year 7 - age 35 - team option

Now, I'm trying to be optimistic about this Damp aquisition, but looking at these numbers is making it very hard for me to do so. I really don't think that we have given up too much to aquire Dampier (That Philly pick isn't going to turn into anything but a one year shot at a low 1st round pick, or $1 million cash), and I do believe that Damp is a solid, if very unspectacularly talented player who can help our Mavs in coming years if he remains healthy. That said, I just can't convince myself that he is, or ever will be worth a salary that will pay him over $12 million per at age 34.

Now, I'm not worried about Damp underachieving, regressing, or clogging up our offense (Throughout his career, Damp's per 48 minute production has always been very consistent, and I say that if we could play a stumblebum like Scott Williams for major minutes in our rotation last year and still score effectively, we certainly should be able to do so with Erick), but I am dreadfully worried that if his chronic knee problems degenerate further this trade will have netted us one horribly overpaid, aging bench decoration who will be absolutely untradable for years. I certainly hope that doesn't come to pass, but that's the risk that is continuing to give me a bad feeling in my gut about this deal...

[mary]

Thanks Evil, I've been waiting to see the details.

Chad Ford makes it sound like Nash's deal is so much lower than what the Mavs gave Damp. That's just more lazy journalism.The only real difference is in length and Nash couldn't have received a seventh year since he's already 30 (and will be 31 by the time the playoffs come around). If you compare the two contracts though, they're really not that much different. Here is Nash's contract - take a look and compare to the numbers Evil posted for Damp.


04-05 - $8,750,000 - Year 1 - age 31
05-06 - $9,625,000 - Year 2 - age 32
06-07 - $10,500,000 - Year 3 - age 33
07-08 - $11,375,000 - Year 4 - age 34
08-09 - $12,250,000 - Year 5 - age 35
09-10 - $13,125,000 - Year 6 - age 36 team option

Edited to correct: Actually Nash will be making more money as a 35 year old pg than Damp will be making as a 33 year old center when the end of the 2008/2009 season rolls around.

[fin4life]

If the team option is true... then the contract isnt TOO bad. But I have heard that there wont be a team option. I just hope that you are right, evil. 6y/60m is just as bad as nash's contract

[chumdawg]

Here are details from today's Insider:

Insider has learned the details of Dallas' seven year, $73.3 million dollar contract with Erick Dampier. His first-year salary is $7.7 million. The last year of his contract, worth more than $13 million, is conditional on Dampier playing in three All-Star games in the first six years of his contract OR playing 2,100 minutes in a minimum of 70 games during the 2009-10 season.

I wonder how good they think his chances are of making the All-Star games.

[grndmstr_c]

If he makes three freaking all-star games that seventh year will absolutely have been worth it. Thanks for the scoop CD. It sounds to me like that contract is a far cry from being the worst in basketball.