Barkley puts Mavs near top of FA wish list

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Barkley puts Mavs near top of FA wish list
By Jeff Caplan

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/maver...s-fa-wish-list

The great Charles Barkley joined GAC on 103.3 FM ESPN Friday afternoon and, as usual, brought some strong opinions to the air waves.

First off was Barkley's thoughts on Dirk Nowitzki's contract situaton -- to opt out or not to opt out. Barkley doesn't think Dirk will walk away from the $21.5 million Mark Cuban owes him next season nor does Barkley think Dirk should opt out and take his title hopes somewhere else.

"The grass ain't always greener on the other side now," Barkley said. "Cuban and the city of Dallas have been very good to Dirk."

Another reason Barkley thinks Dirk should stay is because Sir Charles believes the Mavs aren't all that far away from serious contention. In fact, if Barkley could reverse the clock and head into free agency this summer, oh, say like one LeBron James -- although Barkley didn't name names -- the Mavs would be at the top of his wish list.

"Out of all these teams all these people are talking about, Dallas is probably the best, well-suited to win a championship, to be honest with you," Barkley said. "OK, New York has money, they stink. New Jersey has money, they stink. The Miami Heat has money, they stink. The Chicago Bulls, to me, is the most attractive situation because of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, but none of those other teams are as close to winning a championship as the Mavs, to be honest with you."