Dallas Letting Champion Forward Decide Fate With Team

We are at an interesting part of the NBA season. The trade deadline has come and gone, and teams are starting to understand what their rosters will look like for the rest of the season and the playoff push. For contending teams, the buyout market is the last place they can look to pick up some extra help before the playoffs. Many tanking teams will buyout veterans in preparation of this, allowing them to finish the season on a team that is actually trying to win games. 

Khris Middleton, who was recently traded to the Dallas Mavericks, is a prime example of a potential buyout candidate. Middleton still has a lot of talent and could help a contending team as a rotational piece. The Mavericks likely are looking to improve their draft position by tanking, and don’t need him helping them win games. 

A recent report by Marc Stein of The Stein Line says that the Mavericks are actually letting Middleton choose what his future looks like. 

“Dallas has essentially left it up to newly acquired Khris Middleton to decide if he wants to stay with his new team for the rest of the season or seek a buyout, league sources say. Middleton can still join a playoff-bound team is he waived by March 1 (Sunday), but he could just opt to stay put and see where it leads. The 34-year-old scored 25 points in the Mavericks' win Sunday at Indiana and — as has been conveyed to Middleton — Dallas will certainly still have a need for shooting next season.”

This is a nice thing to do for an accomplished veteran like Middleton. If he wants to move again and spend the last few months of the season on a new squad, Dallas will let him. However, if he wants to stick around, be a veteran to the Mavericks' young talent, and potentially land himself that role on Dallas next year, he can choose that too.