Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson, who made the decision to let Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea leave in free agency, is trying to take advantage of a shrinking title window while trying to avoid a prolonged lottery dip.

“The trick is to maintain that title-contending team and still keep your options open,’’ Nelson said. “I think we’ve struck a decent balance at that. We have some pretty intriguing pieces we think can make a run for the roses this year and then we’ve built enough flexibility to be free agent players.’’

Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, and Lamar Odom are all set to come off the books after this season, leaving the Mavericks with an estimated $17 million in cap space.

“The one thing we don’t want to do around here is go back to the death-march walk in the desert where you don’t see the playoffs for 10 straight years,’’ said Nelson. “When [management] landed here, our fans had been through one of the longest droughts in NBA history.’’