Dirk Nowitzki intends to take a "significant pay cut" next summer as part of the Mavericks' sales pitch this offseason as they attempt to sign a superstar in free agency, according to ESPNDallas.com. If the Mavs are able to meet with Chris Paul and/or Dwight Howard, Nowitzki plans to promise them that he'll be extremely flexible in his next negotiations with owner Mark Cuban, ensuring that Dallas will have ample space under the salary cap to acquire more talent in the summer of 2014.
"At this point of my career, it's all about competing and winning," Nowitzki said Thursday after an event to promote AT&T's "It Can Wait" program, which urges people not to text and drive. "It's not about money. Obviously, Cuban took care of me for a long, long time. I always tried to pay him back by hard playing and being here for this franchise, so I don't think we're going to fight over money. I want to compete over these last couple of years. That's going to be the goal."
When he resigned with Dallas in 2010, Nowitzki game the Mavs a hometown discount, signing a four-year, $80 million deal instead of taking the maximum of $96 million. The Mavs won the franchise's first NBA title the next season, when Cuban used most of the savings on Nowitzki's deal to acquire Tyson Chandler in a salary-dump trade with the Charlotte Bobcats.
The 34-year-old forward, who will make $22.7 million in the final year of his contract, still has a higher salary than every NBA player except Kobe Bryant. With some moves freeing up cap space, the Mavs would have enough cap space to sign Paul or Howard to a max deal this summer. Currently, the only contracts on the Mavs' books for 2014-15 are team options on the rookie deals for Jared Cunningham and Jae Crowder.
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