The Mavericks expected Yogi Ferrell to accept his qualifying offer.
Turns out, they’ll keep him on an even more team-friendly deal than the one he could have unilaterally signed.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports:
Sources: Free agent Yogi Ferrell has agreed to a two-year, $5.3M deal to re-sign with the Dallas Mavericks. Ferrell was promised the backup shooting guard position to start next season.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 19, 2018
This is an awful deal for Ferrell.
As reported, he’ll earn between $2,548,077 and $2,760,417 next season. That range is less than his qualifying offer – which would have paid him a fully guaranteed $2,919,204 next season.
That reduction is acceptable if Ferrell got something in exchange – but he gave Dallas the concession by adding an unguaranteed second year. If he plays well, the Mavericks will keep him at a cheap salary. If he doesn’t, they’ll waive him for no cost. They have all the control.
The promise of the backup shooting guard job is probably just lip service. Teams don’t stick by that if the player struggles. If he produces, he would have gotten the job anyway.
Dallas has plenty of point guard types – Dennis Smith Jr., Luka Doncic, J.J Barea, Jalen Brunson and Ferrell. Rick Carlisle uses two of them simultaneously often enough that Ferrell should land in the rotation. But it’s far from a lock.
With this deal, Ferrell is taking all the risk and the Mavericks are getting all the upside.
