The JET appears to be pulling off the runway down in Dallas after seven plus years of service. Or would that be the JET is preparing to fly out of town? Whatever the case, Jason Terry’s days down in “Big D” as a member of the Dallas Mavericks could most likely end in the coming months. That is unless he accepts the less than market value deal he’ll likely be offered to stay there.
Which is a one year contract extension, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein:
Jason Terry’s place in Mavericks lore is secure. He helped the Mavericks survive the free-agent departure of Steve Nash in 2004, played a pivotal role in Dallas’ title run last season and has repeatedly said he dreams of retiring as a Mav.
Sources with knowledge of the Mavs’ thinking, though, have left little doubt that Terry will not receive the contract extension he’s been publicly angling for.
It’s the same situation as Chandler’s. The Mavs want to keep both vets … but they want salary-cap space for the summer of 2012 more. Dallas has never had cap space in the Mark Cuban era and team sources have made it clear that finding another cornerstone player to pair with Dirk Nowitzki — who turned 33 in June — is the franchise’s No. 1 priority in the wake of its championship breakthrough.
The Mavericks have been offering their own free agents, such as Caron Butler and J.J. Barea, one-year deals to preserve maximum financial flexibility, knowing full well that both players are thus locks to leave because they’ll get more lucrative offers elsewhere.
The thing that is good about all this is that Terry did not get the Mavericks logo inked on his arm along with the NBA championship trophy he had tatted before they won the NBA championship last season. If he did he would be calling Kenyon Martin next season asking him how Kenyon turned those lips on his neck into that neat crown he has now, because Terry would be probably playing with another team by then. But Jason didn’t get that tattoo, so who cares.
What he did do was become the first Mavericks PG to lead Dallas to the NBA Finals when he did so during the 2004-05 season though, after being traded from Atlanta to replace Steve Nash at the position. At 35 years old, he also averaged 17.5 points per game during the playoffs last year on 48% shooting from the field, and 44% from three point range specifically. During the last regular season he averaged 15.8 points per night, and he has been very vocal about his desire of retiring a Dallas Maverick.
I suppose he could do that too, if he accepted the low-ball, one-year extension offer Dallas is looking to give right now. Then next season, after they make their big push towards that marquee free agent, he can accept whatever crumbs are left at that point too as he closes out his career. Chances are he doesn’t want to retire a Dallas Maverick that bad though, and it’ll be interesting to see where the JET eventually lands as a result.
