An interesting move by the Dallas Mavericks – signing Chandler Parsons to an offer sheet which forces the Houston Rockets to match it in three days led to a reply from their Texas rivals, who made a max contract offer to Dirk Nowitzki, who isn’t planning on playing anywhere or for anyone but for the Mavs.

The Mavericks offered Parsons a three-year, $45 million deal, that might or might not including a player option after the second seasons. This means that he has a chance to become a free agent once again in 2016, the same time Dwight Howard can also opt out of his contract if he think he can make more money or isn’t happy with the direction the Rockets are going in.

Dirk Nowizti has pretty much agreed to a two-year deal with the Mavericks that includes him being paid $10 million a season, but there hasn’t been an official signing yet. The big problem for the Rockets, who don’t actually assume Nowitzki will sign for them and have done this more as a trolling thing, is what happens now with Parsons and Chris Bosh.

The Rockets were hoping to re-sign Parsons, but only after they made their deal with Chris Bosh (or LeBron James, or Carmelo Anthony). Signing Parsons now doesn’t leave them the cap space to make that All-Star signing they were dreaming of, and might eventually leave them with a very similar roster to the one that disappointed last season when they were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.

It also means there might not be a trade for Jeremy Lin as well. With three days left to respond to the offer sheet, the Rockets need to both send Lin on a trade (probably to the Philadelphia 76ers), sign Chris Bosh which means putting some pressure on him to stop waiting for LeBron James and match the offer from the Dallas Mavericks to Chandler Parsons, or the Rockets come out as one of the biggest losers in this free agency.

A starting lineup for the Mavericks that includes Tyson Chandler, Dirk Nowitzki, Chandler Parsons and Monta Ellis does sound very interesting and exciting offensively, although they might have more than a few problems on the defensive end, especially if Raymond Felton doesn’t take this as a chance to save his deteriorating NBA career.

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