THURSDAY, 10:25am: The Mavs will receive "legit consideration" from Oden, joining the Spurs, Heat, and Cavs as serious suitors, tweets ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Meanwhile, TNT's David Aldridge hears that Oden will take his time to make a decision and may not sign until sometime in August (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 10:23pm: The Mavs reached out to Greg Oden's camp this week, and are interested in signing the former No. 1 overall pick, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The team's pursuit of Oden predates Andrew Bynum's choice of the Cavs over Dallas and other suitors, Stein adds.
The Spurs and Heat appeared the frontrunners to land Oden as of last week, Stein reported, with the Cavs farther back among several teams chasing him. Cleveland may be out of the running now that Bynum is heading there, though plenty of competition remains. The Celtics and Grizzlies have also reportedly been involved since free agency began. A report on July 1st linked Oden to the Pacers and Kings, as well as the Mavs, so this isn't the first time we've heard about Dallas getting in the mix.