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The Many Ripple Effects Of The Kevin Durant-Warriors Decision

By Gerald Bourguet

May 30, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) is congratulated by Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) after game seven of the Western conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Thunder 96-88. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
May 30, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) is congratulated by Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) after game seven of the Western conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Thunder 96-88. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kevin Durant
Apr 25, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) and Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) greet each other after the Thunder defeated the Mavericks 118-104 in game five of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

Dallas Mavericks

Out of all the non-involved teams in the league, Durant’s decision will affect the Dallas Mavericks the most.

Mark Cuban missed out on DeAndre Jordan last year in the most unforgettable renege in NBA history. He lost Chandler Parsons, he missed out on Hassan Whiteside despite a max offer, and even Dwight Howard was no longer an option after the Atlanta Hawks surprisingly scooped him up.

Thanks to Durant’s decision, Cuban will reel in his first major, non-Parsons free agent in years.

Unfortunately for the Mavs, Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut are hardly the kind of handsome haul needed to send Dirk Nowitzki out in style.

With Parsons accepting the Memphis Grizzlies’ four-year max offer and Pachulia hitting free agency/getting picked up by the Warriors, Dallas had some very apparent needs for their starting five. With Barnes and Bogut joining the party, those needs have been addressed.

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Suns' Kevin Durant getting well-earned praise before 2023-24 season
Suns' Kevin Durant getting well-earned praise before 2023-24 season /

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    • Unfortunately for Dirk and the Mavs, these pickups hardly move the needle for a franchise that’s constantly retooled to try and make Nowitzki’s teams competitive, using Elmer’s glue and duct tape to fix leaking pipes that have long needed professional maintenance.

    Bogut is an underrated center with championship experience, and despite that crumbling act in the Finals, Barnes is still a versatile, 24-year-old small forward/power forward hybrid. The max offer won’t reflect his inconsistency despite being placed in the most pristine of conditions, but Barnes is far more useful than people realize.

    The sad truth, though, is that these acquisitions will probably be enough to keep Dirk around, which means the greatest player in Mavericks franchise history is likely doomed to spending his last 1-3 years playing for a mediocre team that’s good enough for a first round playoff exit and little more.

    At the very least, he’ll get the massive pay raise he deserves after sacrificing money for years to try and help the Mavs assemble a contender, even though his imminent two-year, $40 million is still something of a discount.

    A core of Deron Williams, Wesley Matthews, Barnes, Dirk and Bogut is certainly good enough to bother a few teams. A healthier Matthews could shake off a lot of the rust we saw in 2015-16, Bogut is an upgrade from Pachulia and even though Barnes is nowhere near the individual player that Parsons is, he’s still a defensive wing who shot 38.3 percent from downtown last season.

    The Mavs can look back on the 2016 offseason and say they landed two extremely useful players, all courtesy of Kevin Durant’s decision to join a 73-win team. Unfortunately, they can also say that this turn of events all but sentenced the end of Nowitzki’s career to the same state of NBA purgatory he’s been in for years now.

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