**Dallas Mavericks Could Use Tim Hardaway Jr.’s Cap Space to Acquire 5x All-Star**
Early Friday morning, the Dallas Mavericks traded Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round picks to the Detroit Pistons for 24-year-old shooting guard Quentin Grimes. This move appeared to be more about clearing Hardaway’s $16.1 million salary off the books for the Mavericks.
With Grimes only accounting for $4.3 million, the Mavericks gained nearly $12 million in cap space. The question now is what Dallas will do with this newfound financial flexibility.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, one possibility is signing Klay Thompson in free agency. “League sources tell The Stein Line that the Dallas Mavericks, with some newfound financial flexibility after securing the Tim Hardaway Jr.-to-Detroit trade that I wrote about Tuesday (see the full Twitter thread here), are another team intent on exploring the feasibility of signing Thompson once he makes it to free agency.”
The Mavericks are not the only team expected to pursue a contract with the five-time Warriors All-Star. The Orlando Magic are also preparing a substantial offer for the four-time NBA Champion.
However, only a few teams have sufficient cap space to make an attractive offer for the two-time All-NBA shooting guard. The Mavericks would likely need to execute a sign-and-trade to bring in Thompson, as they remain well above the $141 million spending limit.
It appears that for the first time in the 34-year-old’s NBA career, he might play for a team other than the Golden State Warriors. If this happens, it will take some adjustment to see Thompson in a different uniform, but it might be time for everyone to move on as the Warriors aim to retool around Stephen Curry.
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