It’s interesting that Wes Matthews is having, by far, the highest-scoring season of his Mavericks tenure while also shooting at the best efficiency of that same tenure. It’s inarguable that this is the best Matthews has played, from a raw stats perspective, since his Blazers days. Usually when I say “inarguable”, I’m being facetious or sarcastic, but there is no faceteness or sarcasm here. Somehow, Matthews is legitimately re-entering his prime.
The thing is, do Mavericks fans even want Matthews to be this good? I would say no. They want their young talent to be good. Having a 32-year-old who has no future with the team (and won’t even help them make the playoffs) take shots away from your rookies is something that most fanbases despise. I remember when Caron Butler did it for the Bucks. I remember how mad it made me. Except I was even madder because Butler didn’t even pretend to be good like Matthews is doing.
That said, I understand that this is a contract year for Matthews. He wants to get paid again, and his desire for money rightfully outweighs his desire to help out young players who he probably won’t ever play with again.