Derrick Jones Jr., the Dallas Mavericks‘ starter throughout the team’s NBA Finals run, is set to potentially enter unrestricted free agency Sunday night without an agency to represent him, a source said. the league.
On Friday, veteran basketball writer Marc Stein reported that Jones was leaving his former agent Aaron Turner to join Klutch Sports, run by Rich Paul. However, under National Basketball Players Association guidelines, players looking to change representation must wait 15 days before signing with another agency, as Yahoo’s Jake Fischer noted.
Jones’ decision, according to a league source who was granted anonymity to speak freely, came Wednesday. That decision, team and league sources confirmed to The Athletic, could mean Jones would have no representation for teams to negotiate with until July 11, when Klutch would be allowed to sign him as a client nearly two weeks after free agency begins at 6 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday.
On Sunday morning, a Mavericks source had shared his optimism that this bizarre, never-before-seen scenario could be resolved as soon as Sunday. Jones could still negotiate his next contract through Turner, the president of Verus Management, who has represented him since he entered the league. Jones and Turner could also come to a mutual agreement to waive the contractual waiting period, which would allow Klutch to take him on as a client sooner.
But Jones, as of now, will not be represented by either side when free agency begins and will not immediately continue negotiations with the Mavericks, who have been allowed to negotiate with him since the Finals ended. For the first time, this casts doubt on the likelihood of him returning to Dallas, league sources say, which had previously been viewed as a mutually desired scenario.
Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison described Jones as the “No. 1 priority” in a postseason news conference. But free agency is moving quickly, and Dallas has other priorities that could make it difficult for the team to hope for a resolution to this situation if it persists. The Mavericks are one of the teams expected to make a serious push for Klay Thompson, the four-time champion who is expected to leave the Golden State Warriors after 13 seasons, The Athletic reported Friday.
Under Turner’s representation, Jones signed with Dallas last summer for the league’s veteran minimum, a calculated gamble that positions him for a career payday that could have doubled his career earnings of $28 million.
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