6:22pm: Both moves are official, the Mavericks announced (via Twitter).
4:08pm: The Mavericks will sign hardship addition Marquese Chriss to a two-year contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Willie Cauley-Stein will be waived to make room on the 15-man roster.
Chriss, who signed his third 10-day deal with Dallas under the hardship provision earlier this week, has been productive since joining the team in December. He has appeared in 12 games, all off the bench, and is averaging 6.8 points and 3.9 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per night.
Chriss will earn a prorated minimum salary for the rest of the season and a standard minimum in 2022/23 for a player with six years of service, giving him roughly $3MM overall, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. It’s unclear at this point if next season’s salary will be guaranteed.
The 24-year-old was taken by the Suns with the eighth pick in the 2016 draft, but hasn’t lived up to the promise he showed during his rookie season. He also spent time with the Rockets, Cavaliers and Warriors, but was out of the league until COVID-19 forced teams to seek emergency replacements.
Cauley-Stein is in his seventh NBA season and his third with the Mavericks. He’s averaging 1.9 points and 2.1 rebounds in 18 games, but hasn’t played since November 27.
The 28-year-old center is making $4.1MM on an expiring contract. Dallas will still owe him the remainder of that salary (about $1.95MM) unless he is claimed on waivers, according to Marks (Twitter link). The sixth pick in the 2015 draft, Cauley-Stein signed with the Mavericks as a free agent before the start of the 2020/21 season.
Cauley-Stein is a Good basketball player. Wonder where he ends up signing at.
Dumb move by maverick. Cauley-Stein Is a great defensive center who can guard the perimeter. Bulls , lakers , Miami , Toronto , nets should try to sign him
You haven’t been watching the Mavericks. WCS hasn’t even been playing lately and when he has played horribly. Chriss is younger with a much higher upside.
Hello, you appear to be suspended in time in the year 2015. Stay there where it’s safe! It only gets worse in the years to come.
Good move by DAL!
One must wonder how long will WCS keep getting jobs in the NBA, it is incredibly puzzling that he does, specially when much better players like Chriss struggle to get a job!?!?!?
I think WCS needs a change of scenery to help regain his form. I see him as a rotation guy for at least about 10 teams. Portland and Denver may want to give him a look
Very well deserved for Chriss. The only reason Dallas was holding onto WCS was being able to use his expiring salary as part of a trade, but clearly nothing brewing there. Would like to see Mavs add either Kyle Guy or Cassius Stanley on their open 2 way contract, as both of those guys 10 day deals will be up soon.
Another guy who turned down big money thinking the grass would have been greener on the other side.
Should be a good market for WCS. Denver, Minnesota, Chicago, Portland could use some depth at the 5.
Celtics could use size. They should look into it. Always thought Willie could be like McGee. Hasn’t happened yet. Not really a motivated big imo.
WCS is out for personal reasons…. wonder what that is, but doubt he gets picked up if hes not willing or able to play.
can’t be a starving artist with a job.
WCS is on the Hoops Rumors Commenters All Star star team, along with other legends like Tacko Fall and Moses Brown; yes, lots of C’s. However, in the NBA, he’s borderline as a roster player. At his best, he’s a slightly above average defensive C that’s a material liability on offense. He’s a 7 footer who runs the floor, which gives the illusion that he must be a plus on the defensive end. Truth is he’s NOT long for a C, and doesn’t move well laterally. Can’t rim protect, can’t switch well.
Your premise is wrong … he was a defensive demon with Kentucky. He had amazing lateral movement, rim presence and could guard 1-5 with ease. His downfall was to be drafted by that black hole in the middle of California.
Nope, and your post isn’t even responsive. I wasn’t talking about him as a college player. Although, it’s also true that despite your assessment he was actually a disappointment (to NBA people anyway) at UK (which is why he stayed 2 years past his sell by date).
FYI, rim protection doesn’t translate from college to the NBA. He’s NOT an NBA rim protector. Period. It’s got nothing to do with the team that drafted him.
I was hoping the Bulls would’ve given Chriss a shot but too late now
Sucked on the Kings and was convinced he was going to get paid when he left. My man was always delusional about how good he thought he was.
Another feel good story from 10 day contracts!
Chriss has paid his dues for few yrs with the W’s and is well deserving. Congrats!
I like Chriss thought he looked good with Warriors. Definitely should be on a roster.
To the folks saying WCS is a good player have no idea who this guys actually is. He’s paper thin and honestly has to be built up by those around him just so he will actually give a real effort. I’m from Sacramento and I was stoked when we drafted him! Him and Boogie were going to be a bleh twin towers for years to come. Then Willie started getting mad that cousins was getting all the attention. Willie then preceded to start whining constantly and his play which wasn’t remarkable whatsoever completely fell through the floor. This guy like many others before him is a millionaire for being tall. He’s tall… that’s literally it.