Restricted free agent forward Matisse Thybulle intends to sign an offer sheet with the Mavericks, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and TNT (Twitter link). The Trail Blazers will have the right the match the offer to retain Thybulle.
One of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders, Thybulle has earned two All-Defensive nods during his first four years in the league. However, he has struggled to make an impact on the other side of the ball.
In 245 games with the Sixers during his first three-and-a-half seasons in the league, Thybulle averaged just 4.4 points per game on .448/.325/.667 shooting. He bumped those numbers to 7.4 PPG on .438/.388/.625 shooting in 22 contests with the Blazers following a February trade that sent him to Portland.
The Mavericks don’t have any cap room available, but they haven’t used any of their $12.4M non-taxpayer mid-level exception, so their offer sheet for Thybulle will presumably come out of that figure. While the terms of the offer aren’t yet known, it will have to cover at least three seasons (though they don’t necessarily have to be fully guaranteed beyond year one).
Marc Stein, who previously reported Dallas’ interest in Thybulle, said at the time that Portland has sent “behind-the-scenes signals” that it will match any reasonable offer sheet on the restricted free agent wing. It appears the Mavs are prepared to test the Blazers’ commitment to the 26-year-old, perhaps hoping that the uncertainty surrounding Damian Lillard‘s future will cause the team to waver on locking in Thybulle.
The two teams could theoretically still negotiate a sign-and-trade agreement, but that won’t be possible once Thybulle officially signs his offer sheet. At that time, the Blazers would simply have to decide whether to match it or whether to let him go to Dallas.
If Thybulle formally signs an offer sheet and Portland receives it before the July moratorium ends on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, the Blazers will have until 11:59 p.m. on Friday to make their decision. Players can sign offer sheets during the moratorium, but the clock on the matching team doesn’t start ticking until the moratorium is over.
Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams have one full day to match an offer sheet received before noon and two full days to match an offer sheet that comes in after noon. For example, if the Blazers were to receive Thybulle’s signed offer sheet at 3:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, they’d have until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday to make their decision.
The Mavericks were also said to have an interest in restricted free-agent forward Grant Williams. Landing Thybulle would presumably take them out of the mix for Williams, but it’s unclear if Dallas would pivot to an offer sheet for the Celtics RFA if the Blazers were to match on Thybulle.
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