The Dallas Mavericks have made a decision on the offer sheet that the New York Knicks extended to restricted free agent center Moussa Cisse.
The Knicks surprised the NBA world on Saturday when they signed Cisse, who just completed his rookie season for the Mavericks, to a two-year, $4.7 million contract as a restricted free agent.
The Knicks are in salary cap trouble as they are close to the second apron, so they have to sign players to minimum-salary deals if they are going to add them to their roster. They tried to poach Cisse from the Mavericks with this offer sheet, but unfortunately for New York, Dallas decided to match the offer.
Mavericks Match Knicks Offer Sheet
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Mavericks matched the Knicks’ offer sheet on Cisse, according to the player’s agents.
“The Dallas Mavericks have matched the New York Knicks’ two-year, $4.7 million offer sheet on restricted free agent Moussa Cisse, Yann Balikouzou and Kevin Bradbury of LIFT Sports Management tell ESPN. The 6-foot-11 center signed the Knicks sheet earlier Saturday but Dallas matches well before 48-hour Monday deadline,” Charania wrote on X.
Masai Ujiri Keeps Young Center in the Fold
Given that the Mavericks are a rebuilding team, it made sense for them to match this offer for Cisse, as it’s for the minimum salary.
At just 23 years of age, Cisse played in 38 games for the Mavericks last year, averaging 4.5 points and 5.7 rebounds in what was a promising start to his NBA career.
The Guinea native is 6’11,” and as an African-born NBA player, it made total sense that new Mavericks president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri would want to keep him on the team’s roster going forward. He is still very young, talented, and has a lot of potential, so given the fact that the contract is for so little money, this was an easy match for Dallas, and the fact that they matched it the same day it was offered proves just that.
Look for Cisse to play more than 38 games next season for Dallas and likely average more than the 13.9 points that he averaged, especially if the team ends up trading its other centers, Daniel Gafford and/or Dereck Lively II. While both of those players are more proven in the NBA, with a new head decision maker in Ujiri coming into the fold now in Dallas, he could be open to making some trades that would open up playing time for the team’s younger players, such as Cisse.
The Mavericks missed the playoffs last season, which led to the firing of former GM Nico Harrison and a parting of ways with former head coach Jason Kidd. But with Ujiri now making decisions for the Mavericks and with Dusty May as the team’s head coach, the future is looking a lot brighter in Dallas than it did a year ago when Harrison made arguably the worst trade in NBA history when he traded superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis.
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