Yogi Ferrell verbally agreed to a contract to stay with the Dallas Mavericks — then realized his agent had gotten him into a terrible contract. Rather than take the one-year qualifying offer for $2.9 million then become an unrestricted free agent next year, but the deal they first agreed to was for less money ($2.5 million) then gave Dallas all the power with a $2.9 million player option the second year. Backing out of an agreed to deal is not a good look, but Ferrell wanted to get a better deal for himself.
He did with a two-year, $6.2 million contract with the Kings.
On The Jim Rome Show a couple days ago, Ferrell said there were no hard feelings.
“I was fortunate (the Mavericks) were able to put me in the position that they were in. There were no hard feelings. I decided I needed the chance in my career. With my style of play, I feel like it fits better with the Kings than the Mavericks.”
He thanked the Mavericks — including Mark Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle specifically — for giving him a chance when other teams did not. However, with ball handlers such as Dennis Smith Jr. and Luka Doncic on the roster, his role was not going to expand.
Sacramento has De’Aaron Fox at the point and Ferrell will back him up, getting run in an athletic second unit that includes Buddy Hield, Harry Giles (who showed real promise at Summer League) and more. Ferrell is going to get more of a chance, then can be a free agent in 2020 when there should be a lot more cash available in the market than this past summer.