The past few seasons, Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki has failed in his attempts to recruit Deron Williams and Dwight Howard to join him in Dallas. But that's not stopping Nowitzki from putting on the recruiting hat once again, only this time it's for LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, according to Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears.
Dirk Nowitzki recruiting LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony to Mavericks
The Mavs are set to have a boatload of cap space, and Nowitzki is already making pitches to James and Anthony.
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While Nowitzki has been the man in Dallas for years, he said he’s willing to step aside and let James have “the keys to the city.” The 36-year-old said it’s an absolute no-brainer to go after the best player in the world when he’s on the market:
“All the teams with cap room got to try [to sign James],” Nowitzki said. “He’s the best player in the league right now. If he’s a free agent - which obviously doesn’t happen very often that the best player in the league is a free agent - than you got to obviously go at it. I don’t know what our chances are, but you at least have to try.”
As for Anthony, Nowitzki highlighted his scoring ability and said the Mavs would “love to have him.”
James and Anthony have both opted out of their contracts heading into free agency, and the Mavs are set to have a good chunk of cap space to offer one of the star players. Dallas currently has about $26.5 million in cap space after acquiring Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton from the New York Knicks, and Nowitzki is expected to re-sign at a discount to help make room for James or Anthony.
The trade for Chandler could be a good selling point for Anthony, considering the Knicks star became close with the 31-year-old big man in New York. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported the Mavs feel they became “real players” for James or Anthony following the acquisition of Chandler.
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