Daniel Gafford's 3-year, $54 million Extension Is Good Business
Well-deserved contract for a key player, as well as increased flexibility for the Mavericks
On Monday evening, news broke from Shams Charania of ESPN that the Mavericks were signing center Daniel Gafford to a 3-year contract extension worth “nearly” $60 million. It was later reported by NBA Insider that the precise terms of the deal were 3-years, $54 million, less than initially reported. As NBA Salary cap expert
pointed out, the extension is the maximum amount the Mavericks could extend Gafford for, while still maintaining their ability to trade him immediately, so they choose. Gafford’s salary for 2025-26 will be $14.4 million, the final year of his current contract. The extension will go into effect in starting in 2026-27. The deal also contains a 5% trade kicker, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
Gafford has proven to be a key member of the Mavericks since his arrival in February 2024 from the Washington Wizards. A favorite of former Mavs superstar Luka Dončić, Gafford quickly elevated to started status and started the majority of the Mavs’ Playoff run to the 2024 NBA Finals. In 29 regular season games Mavs that year, he converted on an earth-shattering 78% of his field goal attempts. In 2024-25, he averaged a career-high 12.3 points but an unfortunate knee injury costed him significant time in the spring. Still, he has proven to be reliable and durable.
Upon first glance, offering upwards of $15 million annually to a non-shooting big who often isn’t in closing lineups and is part of a center logjam may be a puzzling move. But this extension rewards a good player while also unlocking flexibility for the Mavericks that they didn’t have before. Gafford is a quality NBA big man, and at age 26, is still in his athletic prime. He’s proven to be effective in Jason Kidd’s system, and seems to be well-liked within the organization. Gafford breathed life into a franchise with a long history of lackluster centers since Tyson Chandler, so this deal is more than worth it from that perspective.
This extension also takes Gafford from being an expiring player to now being under contract for four more seasons. As we saw with Desmond Bane being traded to Orlando, the “apron era”, places a premium on controllable contracts. Many times, players who are extended cannot be traded for six months, but by retaining the ability to do so, the Mavericks now have the flexibility to move Gafford for a greater team need should a deal materialize at some point this summer. While all reports indicate they are reluctant to move him, there will no doubt be significant league-wide interest in his services, with the Mavericks already rostering Dereck Lively II and Anthony Davis, two players also best-suited at Gafford’s position. Additionally, if the Mavs can somehow get under the nearly $196 million first apron, then Gafford’s salary could be used in a sign-and-trade to acquire backcourt help, allowing the Mavs to sign a player in free agency for more than the league minimum salary, which is their only avenue to do so right now.
With the impending selection of Cooper Flagg #1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft less than 48 hours away, the Mavericks offseason is starting to come into focus. There is surely much more that will happen in coming days and weeks, but we haven’t been able to say this in a while about the Mavericks— they did some good business.