The Mavs have claimed DeAndre Liggins off waivers, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports (via Twitter). Liggins was waived by the Cavaliers on Sunday.
In Liggins the Mavs get a journeyman two-guard most known for his defense. He played in 59 contest for the reigning champion Cavaliers this season, starting 19 of them at one point while filling in for an injured J.R. Smith.
On the season, Liggins has averaged 2.4 points in 12.3 minutes per game. His deal, Charania notes, isn’t guaranteed for the 2017/18 campaign. Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News adds that there’s a team option on Liggins’ deal, so the Mavs will get the opportunity to choose whether they’d like to keep him on board.
By claiming Liggins, the Mavericks will save the Cavs $2.5MM in luxury tax, Bobby Marks of The Vertical tweets. That means, as we relayed at the time of Liggins’ release, the 28 other teams that are below the luxury tax will receive roughly $44K less in tax distribution.
The Mavs were the only team with a roster spot open at this point in the season.
Worth noting is that Dallas claiming Liggins precludes them from signing recently retired Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo to a one-day deal, as had been speculated.
Though the Pro Bowler will still be honored during the Mavs’ final home game, he’ll be ineligible to see any official court time. Sure, the Mavs had previously said that Romo wouldn’t actually play, but now it’s outright forbidden.
So it’s actually the Cavs that make the saving yes? A waiver claim saving the Mavs luxury tax sent me scrambling to figure out how it all worked! Anyway, if the Mavs are the only team with the cap space to claim Liggins and it is so beneficial to the Cavs, is there some sort of informal understanding between the Cavs and Mavs here?
Yes, original post was missing a mention of the Cavs in that sentence. Sorry about the confusion.
As for whether there was some sort of understanding between the two teams, I don’t think so. Liggins is a decent young player and it makes sense that he’d be claimed. He was signed with the minimum salary exception, meaning any team could have claimed him, though as our post notes, Dallas was the only team with an open roster spot.