Sports

Breaking Down Chandler Parsons' Coming $93,895,000 Worth To The Mavs

March 1, 2016 / 4:28 PM CST / CBS Texas

DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The recent high level of play from Chandler Parsons - "I'm playing the best I never have,'' he said this week - has Mavs fans wondering about his likely-impending free agency in the summer of 2016.

There are some unknown issues here. He can decline to opt out of his final year and settle in at a salary of $16.023 million for next season. More likely: He enters the free-agency field, where he can get a four-year deal that starts at $21.1 million.

Also likely: A host of teams will covet him at that max-for-him salary — including the Mavs.

Based on a $90-million cap (that exact cap number won't be known until July), here's how a Parsons deal in Dallas would break down, with max raises, year-by-year:

2016-17: $21,100,000

2017-18: 22,682,500

2018-19: 24,265,000

2019-20: 25,847,500

Grand total? A fully-guaranteed contract to be a "face of the franchise'' in Dallas equaling $93,895,000.

What can other teams do? Based on his Early-Bird-Rights setup (which means Dallas and other teams are limited to four-year offers), they can offer a total slightly less. The raises, according to the CBA, would be smaller. So if Parsons departs Dallas, he can make the max total of $90,097,000.

The Mavs don't think that (relatively-slight) financial difference is their edge. From the owner on down, they surely believe Parsons is part of the fabric of this team and this community — yes, more than the communities of other NBA cities he knows well and even his hometown of Orlando.

There has been speculation that Parsons might want "four years and $80 million.'' That doesn't smell right, when he is eligible to make $14 million more than that — and when in the world of NBA finance, Dallas and many other teams will view Chandler Parsons are worth his max.