7:46pm: The injury to Harris prompted the Mavs to sign Ellis, Stein writes. That makes sense, since GM Donnie Nelson said two days ago that the team likely wouldn't be in the mix for Ellis, comments that seemed misleading when word broke of the Mavs' agreement with Ellis earlier today. The money that was to go to Harris is now set to go to a big man, according to Stein, so perhaps the club won't be signing another point guard. The Mavs envisioned Harris starting at shooting guard, as he often did with the Hawks, Stein says, so that lends further credence to the Ellis-for-Harris substitution.
6:51pm: A toe injury has prompted the Mavericks to nix their agreement to sign Devin Harris to a three-year, $9MM deal, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The decision was mutual, Stein notes. Dallas remains interested in signing him, but the surgery required is expected to keep Harris out until the start of the regular season, according to Stein (Twitter link). First-round pick and fellow point guard Shane Larkin suffered a broken ankle in summer league practice, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports notes via Twitter, so it's possible the pair of injuries prompted the Mavs to call off their plans with Harris.
"All indications" are the Mavs will sign Monta Ellis using cap room instead of a sign-and-trade with the Bucks, Stein tweets. So, the decision not to sign Harris gives the club the flexibility to sign a big man as well, with Samuel Dalembert still the primary target, according to Stein (Twitter link).
The Mavs have signed point guards Jose Calderon and Gal Mekel to deals this summer, as our Free Agent Tracker shows, and they have Josh Akognon on a non-guaranteed contract, so they're not entirely devoid of help at the position. Still, Calderon is the only point guard with more than eight games of NBA experience on the roster now, so perhaps the team will look elsewhere. Aaron Brooks, D.J. Augustin and Beno Udrih are among veteran point guards still available on the free agent market, though none have been linked to Dallas this summer.
Harris, an Excel Sports Management client, remains an unrestricted free agent. The Knicks had been in touch with his representatives prior to his decision to head to Dallas, and the former No. 5 overall pick out of Wisconsin said this spring that he'd be open to listening to offers from the Bucks. Milwaukee has hired former Hawks coach Larry Drew, inked Zaza Pachulia and has a signed offer sheet from Jeff Teague, all of whom played with Harris in Atlanta this past season.
Ellis was a better option anyway. Outside of Dirk they lacked any capable scorer. That team would have been scary if they could have added Bynum.