The Dallas Mavericks aren't juggling any gigantic pieces of their salary-cap pie anymore, having secured the services of free-agent center DeAndre Jordan for a one-year deal in the neighborhood of the $24.1 million he was due for 2018-19 before opting out of the Clippers.

But the smaller pieces can still add up -- especially if Dallas alters DeAndre's neighborhood just a bit.

The final step here -- though an obviously important step -- involves the re-signing of temporary free agent Dirk Nowitzki. One option, we're told, is to give Dirk a $5 million deal for this year (along with a possible second-year option). That seems tight -- except an NBA source tells DallasBasketball.com just after the noon hour on Sunday that Jordan's reported "one-year, $24.1-million deal'' is actually under $24 million ... which sets the wheels in motion for that sort of deal for Dirk.

Another option, however, is to use that "slightly under'' to chase a replacement for the planned boomerang of shooter Doug McDermott, who spurred Dallas' request for patience, and an offer that was going to be nowhere near three years and $22 million, to take that deal from the Pacers.

Who around here is a viable catch-and-shoot guy? Free agent Seth Curry qualifies. There is a way to have holds on both Yogi Ferrell and Curry if Jordan settles in at about $23.9 million. Dallas could renounce its Bird rights on Salah Mejri and waive Kyle Collinsworth and boost its spending room from about $2.5 million to about $3.8 million, and offer that leftover money of about $3.5 million (and EB rights) to Curry.

Does Dallas want another combo guard? Roster-wise, does Dallas really need Luka Doncic, Dennis Smith Jr., JJ Barea, Yogi Ferrell and Jalen Brunson, plus Seth, plus old pal Devin Harris? Not so much. How about is the post-McDermott shooter is, like McDermott, a bigger body, someone like Mario Hezonja, the 6-8 Orlando shooter? (Now that we think of it, maybe the Magic, in need of point guard depth, ought to be talking to the Mavs ...)

While sources say Mavs continue to consider Curry, DBcom has been told the Mavs have "not ruled out'' free-agent Hezonja, who was the Magic's 2015 first-round pick, fifth overall. (That's not necessarily meant as a locked-in prediction, of course.) He hasn't blossomed in the way they'd hoped, and this season his option wasn't picked up, Orlando passing on having him under team control for another season at the highly-reasonable price of $6.9 million.

Having seen what Dallas coach Rick Carlisle did to rejuvenate McDermott's career (and Curry's before that), would Hezonja, or a player like that, be interested in joining Dallas' "Fallen Angel'' program? Or, as the New York Post reports, will the Knicks work to beat the competition's price? (The Post also suggests a Dallas interest in Pistons 33-year-old power forward Anthony Tolliver, by the way.)

The Mavs could give Dirk the $4.43 mil MLE and come close to the $5 million being discussed (and the figure he opted out of to help make the Jordan signing happen), and then use this leftover room for other help. To us, that seems a more tidy use of the leftover. But clearly, Jordan coming in under the $24.1 million is by design, one way or another -- a smaller piece of the pie, but in terms of Dallas Mavericks roster-building, a nevertheless important one.