The Dallas Mavericks and Monta Ellis seem to be at an impasse regarding his contract. Ellis’ current deal is scheduled to pay him $8.72 million next season, but Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders is reporting that the guard wants to opt out and look for a bigger payday.
“The big wrinkle for the Mavericks is Monta Ellis,” Kyler says. “Sources close to the situation believe Ellis will opt out of his deal this summer and seek a new multi-year deal based on his current play.”
Ellis put up solid numbers during his two year stint with the club and could ultimately turn that into a big paycheck, just don’t trust that to happen in Dallas. The beef between the organization and Ellis has been pretty well documented. Tim McMahon of ESPN sums it up saying:
“Ellis should not anticipate that raise coming from the Mavs,” McMahon said. (The team) would rather move on than make a major long-term investment in a one-dimensional player whose moodiness and selfishness negatively impacted the team’s chemistry last season.”
The Mavs are in for a busy offseason and they have bigger fish to fry than Ellis. Dallas is in the market looking for a big man to pair up in the front court with Dirk Nowitzki, most likely LaMarcus Aldridge or DeAndre Jordan. As of right now, it’s looking like the likelier of the two is Aldridge as there was a report that came out yesterday claiming Dallas as the front-runner for the forward’s services.
Whatever Ellis ultimately decides to do, we could be looking at a completely revamped back court next year in Dallas, as Rajon Rondo is most likely on his way out.
