Mark Cuban rewarded J.J. Barea with contract, knowing he’d probably be cut

Mark Cuban gave J.J. Barea a parting gift for his time with the Dallas Mavericks.

Being a Mav for life often defies conventional knowledge. So even though Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban knew J.J. Barea probably wasn’t going to make the final roster for the 2020-21 NBA season, he decided to reward an all-time fan favorite anyway.

According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the Mavs are releasing Barea on Thursday despite signing him to a one-year, veteran-minimum deal worth $2.6 million just last week.

The reason? Cuban wanted to reward the 36-year-old veteran for his impact in Dallas over his 11 years with the team, which is why he decided to give him one last payday, knowing full well Barea would most likely be released before the start of the season.

Mark Cuban proves once again the Mavericks treat their players well

Between the lack of a state tax and Cuban’s reputation for treating his players so well, it’s somewhat baffling the Mavericks consistently miss out on the league’s biggest free agents year after year. Perhaps Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis will help change that, but it’s pretty clear Dallas’ love for its own players (#MMFL) runs deep.

Now an unrestricted free agent, Barea will be hoping to latch onto another team before the start of the upcoming season. Last year, coming off an Achilles tear he suffered in January 2019, he averaged 7.7 points and 3.9 assists in 15.5 minutes per game, appearing in only 29 games for the Mavs. Even so, he was a valuable voice in the locker room and shot 37.6 percent from 3-point range.

Dallas was committed to giving more minutes to its reserve backcourt of Jalen Brunson and Trey Burke, so Barea had become the odd man out. Even with the writing on the wall for one of Dallas’ locker room leaders, Cuban did right by one of the move beloved Mavs in franchise history with this final parting gift.