The Mavericks are closely following the decision that Monta Ellis will make. The shooting guard has until the end of this Wednesday to decide whether to exercise his Player Option. If not, he would become a free agent and would be available on the market starting from July 1. This is the option that the shooting guard seems to be leaning towards, as reported by journalist Eddie Sefko. If this is true, Dallas would have a budget of 30 million dollars to sign players starting next week (they are interested in LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan), as well as to offer a secure contract extension to Tyson Chandler.
It seems that the Mavs are not willing to have Ellis continue with the franchise. In the event that he decides to stay and earn the 8.7 million from the final year of his current contract (25 million for three seasons), Mark Cuban's team would do everything possible to trade him and obtain in return a high draft pick. This is the information reported by Tim MacMahon from ESPN.
Monta Ellis likely to opt out of the final year of his contract with the Dallas Mavericks, a source said. Not 100-percent, but close.
— Eddie Sefko (@ESefko) June 24, 2015
The discord in the locker room throughout the just-concluded season is one of the decisive factors (and Ellis' difficult personality) that lead the franchise to prefer to be without the first player not named Dirk Nowitzki who led the Mavericks' scoring since the 1999-2000 season.