Will Dirk Leave Big D? Wow. The free agent season just got a little crazier. Dirk Nowitzki, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in German Dallas history has declined the last year of his contract (which was worth $21.5 million). Supposedly the President of the Mavericks, Donnie Nelson, is set to fly to Germany on Thursday when the madness begins. I wonder what Mark Cuban is thinking right now. This move clearly shows that Dirk wants to win a championship, because most players are going to take that $21.5 million all the way to the bank. Dirk wants to win, and he wants to win now.

Yi and Yao. Yao Ming decided that he’s not going to opt out of his deal with the Rockets. I feel like this is the honorable thing to do considering the injuries he’s had the Rockets suffer through. Yao will make $17.5 million this season and it is unclear if the goal is for a new long term deal to get done. Yi Jianlian is on his way to Washington as the Nets will receive forward Quinton Ross and cash. The Nets will also get about $3 million dollars of cap relief to give even more space as they head into the free agent frenzy. Big day for China. Shouts to Wang Zhi Zhi.

Brian Shaw to Coach Cavs? It seems like current Laker assistant and ex-Laker player Brian Shaw will be next in line to coach the Cavaliers. Shaw is a young guy and will be the new coach for a team that may or may not be with one of the best players in the league next year in LeBron James. I don’t like or dislike this move, and I don’t think this hurts or helps their chase of LeBron.

Tidbits

• The Heat waived big man, James Jones which will save them 400k heading into free agency.
• The Raptors GM, Bryan Colangelo thinks that Chris Bosh is going to leave Toronto. Big shock there.

• If you think your team has no shot at signing a big name free agent, then you must have forgotten about the almighty sign-and-trade. The sign-and-trade to me makes all of this free agent hububb that much more interesting because a team may come out of the woodworks and spin a deal that noone saw coming.