I disagree that Dallas needs to capitalize - if they have a chance it's worth going for it. But Luka will provide surplus value on his contracts for a long horizon if you expect him to be roughly a top 5 player or better for the next 10 years.

It's almost impossible to win without your key player on a max. Reason being that teams don't get these players without very high picks which means most of the rest of the roster is crap and the team is not ready to win no matter how well they play.

It works better in the NFL because QBs have ridiculous impact, $25m of surplus value is gettable by a QB playing as an above average starter.

Steph's contract wasn't really a hindrance - they won in 2018 and 2019 would have been the Warriors but for KD's achilles.