Mavs Sign Derek Fisher

THURSDAY, 2:39pm: Fisher is officially a Maverick, as the team announced today in a press release that it has signed the veteran point guard.

WEDNESDAY, 9:41pm: Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said the team will sign Derek Fisher tomorrow, reports Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com (Twitter link). The team has a full roster, with 15 players, and will have to release someone before the signing becomes official. Troy Murphy, who is presumed to be on a non-guaranteed deal, seems the best bet to go. It's not clear what the terms of Fisher's deal will be, but the Mavs have $1,974,509 of their room exception available after using part of it to sign second-round pick Jae Crowder this summer.

Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reported earlier tonight that the team was looking for a veteran point guard, and the 38-year-old Fisher fits that description. Fisher had narrowed his choices to three teams, as we passed along earlier tonight. Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com, who broke that news, noted that Fisher was seeking to sign with a contender, but the Mavs, at 7-9 following a blowout loss to the Bulls tonight, seem outside of the championship picture, even with the return of Dirk Nowitzki looming. It could be that he chose the Mavs because they could give him more than the minimum, but the difference between the amount they can pay him and the $1.352MM he would earn as a 16-year veteran is not great.

Sefko wrote 10 days ago that the Mavs weren't interested in Fisher, but Carlisle told TNT's David Aldridge that the Mavs have been eyeing Fisher for "a while" (Twitter link). Darren Collison, who was benched for last night's game against the Sixers, missed tonight's contest with a sprained middle finger, and while X-rays are negative, there's no word on when he'll return.

Now that Fisher is returning to the league, it presumably erases doubts about his ability to remain as president of the players union. Fisher has been under fire from the union's executive committee, which asked him to resign in April amid a feud between Fisher and executive director Billy Hunter.