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2025 Free Agents - Dwight Powell

Powell's best skill is as a lob threat in pick-and-roll. Luka Doncic and Powell developed good chemistry out of pick-and-roll, and he was the primary lob threat for the Mavs before they acquired Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford. He has consistently finished well at the rim over the course of his career (70% or better each of the last nine seasons) due to the fact that most of his attempts are dunks.  Powell has enough touch inside that he can finish when he has deep position, but isn't someone that going to create buckets for himself in a post-up situation. He will also create easy baskets for himself or others by simply running the floor hard to get to the rim or collapse the defense. Powell will take the occasional 3-pointer, either out of pick-and-pop situations when the big defender is in a deep drop, or when defenders sag off him operating from the top in handoff situations. However, Powell has been unable to punish defenders for sagging off. After attempting 127 threes in the '18-19 season (hitting under 31%), Powell only took 97 threes combined over the next three seasons, and only hit them at a 29% rate. He has essentially stopped taking them altogether, taking only five in '22-'23 and three in '23-'24. Defensively, Powell is good enough to survive but doesn't thrive as a defensive anchor. His block rate and defensive rebounding rate are both below-average for a big, and he can get overpowered by some of the bigger centers in the league. In the playoffs in 2022, Powell got the "traditional big" treatment as he started each game for the Mavericks but his overall minutes reduced significantly compared to the regular season. His minutes have really decreased the last couple seasons, and he fell out of the regular rotation in '23-'24. Powell will be nearly 34 years old as a potential free agent in 2025, and with his recent decline in play, I don't think he would have much interest if he hit opted for free agency.

Summary

Powell has a $4 million player option for '25-'26, and if he opts out he will be an unrestricted free agent with a $7.6 million cap hold and Full Bird rights, which means the Mavericks will have no restrictions on re-signing him. Since his cap hold is likely over his starting salary, and since the Mavericks will likely be operating over the cap, his cap hold is not really relevant. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Powell as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's unlikely that Powell would opt out and take the minimum, but his player option is close enough to the minimum that maybe he would do so in order to go to the right situation.

Cap Considerations

Mason Plumlee (1 year minimum, 2024) Daniel Theis (1 year minimum, 2024) Drew Eubanks (2-1 years, $10 million, 2024)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Mavericks, Pelicans, Kings, Clippers, Knicks

Predicted Contract: Opt In: $4 million

Last updated: 8/28/2024

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