Report: Nerlens Noel Signs Qualifying Offer With Mavs
DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The unimaginable has happened.
Mavericks restricted free agent center Nerlens Noel has agreed to sign a one-year, $4.1 million qualifying offer, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN.
According to 105.3 The Fan's Mike Fisher, Noel was offered $17.5 million per year for four seasons. Haynes is reporting Saturday that that kind of an offer was "non-existent in any form."
Haynes' co-worker at ESPN, Adrian Wojnarowski, tweeted Saturday that his sources tell him Noel was offered the $70 million over four years, as Fish reported.
This is a very risky move for both Noel and the Mavericks.
Dallas clearly didn't expect Noel to turn down $70 million guaranteed, but Noel is clearly frustrated by the Mavericks offer to be accepting this kind of deal. Noel was eligible for a max-salary starting at $25 million per year, but no teams offered him anything near that or else he would have signed it.
Back on June 30 at 11:01 p.m. cst. when free agency began, Noel and his agent at the time, Happy Walters, requested that the Mavericks don't wine and dine Noel, but that a simple phone call expressing their interest in retaining him would suffice.
Noel and Walters shopped themselves to no avail and now there isn't a team that has the funds to offer him a deal anywhere near $25 million.
Just this last week, Noel, seemingly frustrated by the lack of a big contract coming his way, moved on from Walters and signed with a new agent, Rich Paul.
It'll be interesting to see the Mavericks side of the story when this all shakes out, but clearly, this is not what they were hoping for when they traded for Noel at last season's trade deadline.
This is a developing news story
