09-04-2026, 09:20 AM
(09-04-2026, 06:45 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Agreed. Unless Cuban was stupid enough to Joe Smith the arrangement, everyone in the world kind of knew what the plan was at the time and Dirk was allowed to agree to whatever deal he wanted as long as there was no written quid pro quo. There simply isn’t any comparison to what Balmer tried to pull here. Paper cut versus losing an arm.
As an example, Dirk signed 3yrs for $25M (leaving $15M on the table), which allowed DAL to get rFA Chandler Parsons for 3yrs @ $46M. When asked about the financial sacrifice, Nowitzki famously quipped: “I told him every dinner on the road this year is on him, because it's my money anyway.” Parsons embraced the joke and happily obliged, acknowledging Nowitzki's unselfish gesture to bring him to the franchise.

