The Mavericks and the Clippers have made minimum-salary offers to free agent Charlie Villanueva, who’s close to making a decision between the two, a source tells RealGM (Twitter link). The teams are the first to have been directly connected this summer to the 30-year-old former 7th overall pick.
A report in July indicated that Villanueva had worked out for multiple teams, though it’s not clear whether the Mavs or the Clippers were among them. The Excel Sports Management client is coming off an exceedingly player-friendly five-year, $37.7MM contract with the Pistons, but it looks like he’s in line to make much less this time around. His points per game decreased in each of those five seasons in Detroit, and last year, he notched 4.6 points in 9.0 minutes per night across just 20 appearances. He shot a career-low 25.0% from behind the three-point arc in the small sample size, but the 6’11” power forward is a career 34.3% three-point shooter capable of stretching the floor.
Joining the Clippers would appear to give Villanueva a better shot at making the opening-night roster, since they only have 13 guaranteed deals while the Mavs have 15, as our roster counts show. Hedo Turkoglu is reportedly on track to sign with the Clippers, but even if he receives a fully guaranteed contract, there’d still be room enough for the team to give one to Villanueva, too.