MAVS NEWS: Luka Is Hurt, But is Trudging On | DLive's Mom Passes Away| Maxi OUT

[omahen]

Ya lots of folks here seem to miss he was talking about preseason…

He clearly singled out Luka, Kyrie and GW as locked starters, as "the big three". So reading between the lines he says, the other two starting jobs are opened at least to some extent. Which again, reading between the lines, means Green is not a lock. 

I think this is more or less in line with what Green has shown so far. It means Mavs are not convinced at this point that he is a sure thing. I could assume this means they are not prepared to give him "starter" money at this point. A position I could agree with, as I myself am far from convinced that Green can fill that role long term. Based on this I would expect that Green signs for max MLE level money at this point or he waits for restricted free agency. It would be pretty strange if Mavs paid him 15 mil or more per while not being sure what he is.  

It is up to debate if it is smart or not to "disclose" such positions publicly while negotiations are still not finished. As I said last season regarding Wood situation - starting or not is imho an important topic for players, especially in their contract years. We clearly saw it did impact Wood and the end result was bad for everyone involved.

Edit: one could draw many similarities regarding Green situation with how they handled Brunson. Sure Green is RFA and they have more control, but still. I think players also value if teams value them. Can we say that about Mavs in the Green situation? I am ok if they see him as just a role player in the long term. But does he sees himself the same or he wants more. If yes, wouldn't it make more sense to trade him than risk having an unhappy player that might be looking more for a situation where the team would value him in a similar way than he does. Of course, on the other hand, it is totally possible that Green himself doesn't see himself as more than a role player. I think the outcome of the negotiations will tell us a lot about that.