DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks reportedly made an offer to restricted free agent forward Matisse Thybulle before the Portland Trail Blazers matched the offer a day later, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Athletic's Shams Charania first reported that the Dallas offer was for three years at around $33 million.
The 26-year-old shooting guard played his first three seasons in the NBA with the Philadeplhia 76ers before the team traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2022-23 season.
Since Thybulle was a restricted free agent, the Blazers had 48 hours to match the offer, meaning he would stay in Portland. This is what is referred to as the “right of first refusal,” according to NBA.com. They decided to match Thursday morning, per Wojnarowski.
Thybulle is a versatile, defensive-minded wing who has averaged 4.6 points per game and 1.5 steals per game during his four years in the league. While playing in Portland for 22 games last season, Thybulle had some of the best shooting of his career by shooting a career-high 38.8% from 3-point range and attempting a career-high 6.2 shots from deep.
If the Blazers had decided not to match the offer, Dallas would have had Thybulle soaking up minutes at the shooting guard and small forward positions along power forward for smaller lineups.