JULY 25th: The Mavs confirmed the move via press release.
JULY 23rd: The Mavericks and Brandan Wright have reached an agreement on a new two-year deal for the big man, according to agent Jim Tanner. Tanner tells TNT's David Aldridge (Twitter link) that the two-year contract for his client will be worth a guaranteed $10MM, with an additional $1.1MM in incentives.
Wright, 25, had long been expected to return to the Mavs, with Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com reporting earlier in the month that the two sides were discussing a possible two-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $4MM annually. When owner Mark Cuban talked about the club's offseason last week, he spoke as if Wright were already under contract.
In all likelihood, the Mavs simply had to keep Wright's small ($884,293) cap hold on the books until after the Monta Ellis signing was finalized, which happened today. With Wright's Early Bird rights in hand, the team can go over the cap to re-sign him.
Wright set career-highs in a number of categories last season for the Mavs, including PPG (8.5), RPG (4.1), and games played (64). The former eighth overall pick has a career PER of 19.7, having exhibited the ability to produce efficiently when he stays healthy.