MAVS NEWS:

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@MavsFilmRoom
Marc Stein reports that the Mavs have already committed to converting Ryan Nembhard to a standard NBA contract as soon as they can.

They do however, need to clear enough money to be able to give him a multi-year deal so he doesn’t hit restricted free agency this summer.

This ^ is CBA-nonsense. AFAIK it doesn't align with what Stein said (and Stein is very good on CBA stuff) or with what I am hearing elsewhere about Stein's comments on this. So I think MFR is doing sloppy clickbait reporting in what he says.

1 Teams cannot ever "commit" to a future contract. It's forbidden by CBA rules. There can be no commitment until you actually do the deal and send to the NBA. Because, things change. (For example, what if Nemby gets a season-ending injury? That changes things.) I'm sure the Mavs have discussed and plan to do this, but the claim they have made a commitment is not true (and not possible). 

2 As I have explained before, there is no reason to convert Nembhard "as soon as they can" (early Jan) and huge incentive to let it play out until Nembhard is out of games he can play as a 2-Way player (he won't get there any sooner than late Feb). 

3 "Clearing enough money" for a multi-year isn't a thing. It's going to be minimum salary, and the Min Sal Exception always allows up to 2 years (they can do as many of those as they like, provided they stay under apron 2 this season because they are hard-capped). 

In addition, they won't be "clearing money" at all to make it happen. They already have the money to pay a partial season deal. Nothing to clear. They just have to wait until the rest of the season is small enough for their funds to pay for minimum salary.

They will be waiting until they have money for THIS season to be able to pay a rest-of-season minimum, and that minimum salary deal can be (and should be) for 2 seasons.

SIDE NOTE - It's possible for the Mavs to make a trade and clear some salary to open up room for an earlier rest-of-season minimum. But they would gain nothing by doing it any earlier. Same player, same pay, and in fact more luxury tax the earlier they put his salary on the 15-man. So unless idiots are still running things, they are purely in a waiting mode, biding their time until late Feb (or even later, if Nemby sits out a game here or there between now and then).