Report: Mavs' Kristaps Porzingis' 5-Year, $158M Max Contract Has Player Option

The final season of Kristaps Porzingis' five-year, $158 million max contract with the Dallas Mavericks reportedly includes a player option, which could allow him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2023. 

Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported the update Friday.

The Mavs acquired Porzingis in a January trade with the New York Knicks. He didn't appear in any games during the 2018-19 season while recovering from a torn ACL.

Porzingis averaged 17.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.3 assists across 186 games with the Knicks.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Tuesday during an appearance on SiriusXM (via Ameer Tyree of Sporting News) the organization plans to ease the power forward back into action next season.

"KP coming back from an injury … we're gonna certainly load manage him," Cuban said. "We saw what Kawhi did, and Kawhi was still banged up in the Finals after all of that. You could see him limping."

He added fans should expect to see "load management," the name given to players skipping games to preserve their health even when not dealing with a serious injury, "more and more and more."

Dallas has created a promising core with Porzingis joining reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Luka Doncic as the cornerstones. Tim Hardaway Jr., Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber lead the group of secondary contributors.

The roster probably isn't ready to seriously compete in 2019-20, especially considering the loaded nature of the Western Conference, but the Mavs are trending in the right direction.

Giving Porzingis next season to round back into top form and then adding a couple more pieces next summer, including another star, could put Dallas in position to make serious noise for the remainder of his contract.