The Dallas Mavericks are one of five teams in belief that they might land Dwight Howard in free agency this summer. The team was fourth to give their sales pitch to the free agent. Owner Mark Cuban has been saying for months that Howard was a priority in the offseason and would do everything necessary to land him. After being contacted by the media to discuss how the sales pitch went, Cuban remained quiet on the details.
"We never talk about what we do. We don't test the waters in the media. We don't troll on Twitter." That was all Cuban would say in an email to ESPN. Cuban went on to say that the Mavericks operate under privacy in order to have more open conversations with teams and players. That is not the case with other meetings that Howard had during his free agency tour. Details emerged that Howard discussed adding a second max-contract player in Houston along with the request of roster input. The Los Angeles Lakers were open about how well their meeting went as Steve Nash reported it was productive.
The Mavericks were very upfront with their pitch on a two-year plan to rebuild the championship roster. The meeting with Howard included star Dirk Nowitzki, head coach Rick Carlisle and the team's director of analytics to name a few. The biggest key is Nowitzki. The All-Star has a contract that expires at the end of the season. He has already indicated he will be willing to take a significant pay cut in order for Dallas to be able to sign another big free agent next summer and be prepared for the future.
Something like that could be very appealing to Howard. He is also in pursuit of endorsement deals and building a successful brand for himself. If there is one owner in the NBA that knows how to do just that, Cuban is the man. Also the fact that Dallas was willing to keep the meeting's contents a secret could persuade Howard to sign. Last season with Los Angeles, all of the center's dirty laundry was essentially dangled in front of the media as he signed with the Lakers.
Cuban also has a strong relationship Howard's agent Dan Fegan. The two are good friends and he could help push Howard in the direction of Texas. Keep the conspiracy theories coming.
