If the Dallas Mavericks decide to punt the 2012-13 season and reserve long-term cap space for the 2013 free agent class of Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, Jason Terry will be playing somewhere else. The guard told Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News that he has no interest in returning to Big D on a one-year rental.
Jason Terry Uninterested In Potential 1-Year Deal With Mavericks
“It’s a tough situation,” Terry said. “I’m finally in a position where I can kind of predict my own future, so to speak. I want to stay here in Dallas. That’s always been my goal. But it needs to be long-term. If they’re not ready to step up and do that, then I’ll have to make my home elsewhere.”
Terry sounds a lot like Tyson Chandler did a year ago, only instead of contract length being the wedge between J.E.T. and the Mavericks, with Chandler it was contract size. There’s no question that, if Dallas punted, it’d give Terry a massive one-year deal. The more punitive luxury tax penalties don’t kick in until 2013-14, and Dallas has Terry’s Bird rights, so there’d be no particular harm in paying J.E.T. $12 million for next season.
But if Terry would rather lock in his last big contract, he should be able to find a partner elsewhere. The free agent class is fairly shallow, and Terry is far from the oldest dollar-seeker out there.
For more on the Mavericks, visit Mavs Moneyball and SB Nation Dallas.
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