EXTENSION: Maxi Kleber to DAL for 3 yrs/$33M (thru 2025-26, age 34)

[F Gump]

I love Maxi on this team, he covers a lot of holes, I just don’t think we can count on his back being healthy.

I get your issue about Maxi's reliability.

But I think you are way off in failing to accurately assess what a BIGGGGG 3-and-D player is worth when they are healthy, and what he's still going to be worth after factoring in some iffiness.

Those bigger 3-and-D guys are so few. Yet almost every team needs and wants one. And if they have one, they want another.

If he was healthy all the time, I think Maxi would be a $16-18M signing all day long, about 35-45% above the MLE. I accept he's not, but you can't pretend that MLE is his starting value "when healthy." That's way low.

So getting him extended for 10.8, which is below what almost EVERY team can offer (the 11.3M MLE, or even more if they have cap room) is about right if he is NOT healthy, and will prove a steal if his issues are in the past.

Plus, we also have to recognize that if he got to free agency, the Mavs would very likely lose him to bigger offers -- and then would have no way to replace him, either. The Mavs wouldn't get an extra MLE, just because he walks. If you don't think that's a very real issue, and how NBA life works, and if you think it's better to negotiate such players into free agency rather than something you want to avoid with your key core players, see Brunson, J.