Dwight Powell: 'There's No Place I'd Rather Be Than Dallas'

Dwight Powell
Photo credit Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

By Josh Clark and Mike Fisher 

DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Dwight Powell wants to remain a Dallas Maverick despite a report that he will decline his $10.2 million player option for the 2019-20 season and become an unrestricted free agent.

For the first time Wednesday, Powell addressed Chris Haynes' (Yahoo) report that he will opt out of the final year of his contract. 

"I did not have any conversation prior to that article coming out with whoever wrote it, so I don't know where their information came from," Powell told the Dallas Morning News, after he participated in the dedication of a new Mavs Tech Center in East Dallas. "I did not have any conversation with anybody about that."

Now, while Powell says he specifically didn't speak to Haynes it doesn't mean that his agent didn't. 

Will all that being said, we still don't know what Powell is going to do. 

105.3 The Fan's Mike Fisher reports that the Mavs plan is for Powell to opt-in and then extend him for several more seasons. But, if for some reason he does opt-out, they still want to retain him long-term. 

No matter what Powell decides to do, it appears that he's on the same page with the Mavericks about extending his stay in North Texas. 

“There’s no place I’d rather be than Dallas. I’ve done everything to show I love it here. This team gave me my shot…treated me extremely well, as an athlete and man. So, yeah, I love the Dallas Mavericks," Powell said. 

Fish says Dallas can offer Powell a four-year extension worth more than $50 million. He signed a four-year, $37 million contract in 2016.

Powell, should he agree to the extension #Mavs plan to propose, can get a raise of up to 20% in the first new year and then raises of 8% after. Example: The $10.3M for next year, then $12.36M (in 2020-21), then $13.35M (in 2021-22) then $14.35M (in 2022-23) = $50.3M for 4 years. pic.twitter.com/wrMKBEVomN

— mike fisher ✭ (@fishsports) May 20, 2019

The 6-foot-11 forward averaged 10.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2018.