Dallas Mavericks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Texas Notes: Wood, Mavericks, Martin, T. Jones

August 6th, 2022 at 10:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Christian Wood told WFAA TV that he’s “counting my blessings” about the trade that sent him from the Rockets to the Mavericks in June. Wood, who spoke during a break at a youth basketball camp, said he’s focused on helping Dallas get even further than last season’s trip to the Western Conference Finals.

“It’s a great opportunity for me and for this organization to try and take that next step,” he said. “I just want to win games. My main objective is to try and get to the (NBA) Finals.”

Wood, who’s entering the final year of his contract, will add plenty of scoring and rebounding to the Mavs’ front line. He averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game last season, but he wasn’t in the Rockets’ long-term plans, so they shipped him to the Mavericks in exchange for four players and a first-round pick.

Wood said he’s happy to be in Dallas — both on and off the court.

“I love the city — it’s a little bit calmer than Houston, thank God,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve tried a few food spots out here, and the food is great. But I’m still trying to find my way around.”

There’s more NBA news from Texas:

The Mavericks are hiring Nets scouting director Matt Riccardi to a senior front office position, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Riccardi, who grew up in the Dallas area, has been with Brooklyn for the past 13 years.
Several teams are monitoring Rockets forward Kenyon Martin Jr., who requested a trade in June, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. After the Rockets re-signed Jae’Sean Tate and drafted Jabari Smith and Tari Eason in the first round, it doesn’t appear there’s a future for Martin in Houston.
Tre Jones‘ contract for the upcoming season became guaranteed for $500K when he remained on the Spurs‘ roster past August 1, tweets Spotrac contributor Keith Smith. Jones, who would make $1.78MM if he gets a full guarantee, could challenge for the starting point guard spot now that Dejounte Murray has been traded to Atlanta. Jones made 11 starts last season while averaging 6.0 points and 3.4 assists in 69 games.

NBA Teams With Open Two-Way Contract Slots

August 5th, 2022 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

A total of 18 NBA teams currently have both of their two-way contract slots filled, as our tracker shows.

That doesn’t mean those players will be locked into those slots for the rest of the 2022/23 season, or even until opening night, since two-way deals are low-cost contracts that don’t count against the salary cap, making them easy to replace. But it means those spots are unavailable for the time being.

That leaves 12 teams with at least one two-way slot available. Those teams are as follows:

Atlanta Hawks
Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
New Orleans Pelicans
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs
Washington Wizards

The Hawks, Hornets, Mavericks, Rockets, Clippers, the Trail Blazers, and Wizards have fairly straightforward two-way situations at the moment — they’ve each filled one slot and have one open, with no reports indicating that any of those teams has reached an agreement on a two-way deal with a free agent or draftee.

The Nets and Bulls also have one two-way spot filled and one open, but each of them has a two-way qualifying offer out to a restricted free agent — David Duke for Brooklyn and Malcolm Hill for Chicago. If those players simply accept their QOs, neither the Nets nor the Bulls will have a two-way opening.

The Spurs also have one two-way player signed and one spot open, though a Shams Charania report last month indicated that undrafted rookie Jordan Hall will sign a two-way contract with San Antonio. If and when that happens, the Spurs will join the list of teams with both of their two-way slots occupied.

The Pacers and Pelicans are currently the only two teams that don’t have a single player on a two-way contract. A Charania report way back in June suggested that Dereon Seabron would sign a two-way deal with New Orleans, but it hasn’t officially happened yet.

The best candidate for a two-way contract with Indiana, meanwhile, could be 48th overall pick Kendall Brown, who is one of a handful of 2022 draftees still unsigned. Even if Seabron and Brown sign two-way pacts, the Pacers and Pelicans would still each have one slot available.

International Notes: Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Yurtseven, Pokusevski, Jovic

August 3rd, 2022 at 9:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is looking forward to representing Serbia on the basketball court for the first time in three years, writes Johnny Askounis of EuroHoops. The two-time MVP will join the national team for a pair of 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifying games, hosting Greece August 25 and traveling to Turkey August 28.

“I feel great, similar to every time I reunite with these guys. I just met some of them,” Jokic said in advance of the Serbian team’s training camp. “We are preparing, we just started and we will see how far we can go. Up first are the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers and the goal of helping Serbia qualify to the World Cup.”

Jokic also plans to participate in EuroBasket next month, and he could return for both the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics if Serbia qualifies. Jokic cited a special pride in being able to play for his home nation.

“It means a lot, I talked with my family, it’s a totally different feeling when you play for the national team,” Jokic said. “I felt different when I came here than when I go to Denver.”

There’s more international news to pass along:

Another MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and his brother and Bucks teammate, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, are in Athens waiting to join the Greek team for training camp, per Aris Barkas of EuroHoops. An agreement limits NBA players to 28 days of preparation before major FIBA tournaments and 14 days before the Olympics. The other Antetokounmpo brothers, Alex and Kostas, are already training with Greece. New Mavericks signee Tyler Dorsey is under the same restrictions as Giannis and Thanasis and can’t start training until Thursday.
Heat center Omer Yurtseven elected not to join the Turkish national team’s training camp in Italy, but he didn’t inform team officials of his decision or seek permission in advance, according to a EuroHoops report. The decision was made by Yurtseven rather than the Heat, the story adds, as the rookie center chose to stay in Miami and focus on preparing for training camp. The report notes that Yurtseven was suspended for eight games in 2018 for skipping national team activities without providing notice.
Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski and Heat rookie Nikola Jovic were denied permission by their respective teams to join Serbia for EuroBasket and the World Cup qualifiers, Askounis states in a separate story. Hawks forward Bogdan Bogdanovic is also unavailable because he’s recovering from knee surgery.

And-Ones: McCormack, Luxury Tax, OKC Blue, Harrison

August 2nd, 2022 at 10:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

David McCormack has signed with Besiktas in Turkey, according to a team press release. McCormack was reportedly signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Timberwolves but apparently chose to begin his pro career in Europe.

The undrafted big man out of Kansas was a prominent member of the Jayhawks’ national championship team. He spent all four of his college seasons at Kansas, starting 96 of 132 total games. In 2021/22, he averaged 10.6 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 40 contests (21.9 MPG).

We have more from around the basketball world:

A total of 10 teams are currently projected to collectively spend $650MM in luxury tax payments next season, according to Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. That would an NBA record for tax penalties. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Bucks, Lakers, Sixers, Celtics, Suns, Nuggets and Mavericks all project as taxpayer teams for the time being.
The G League’s Oklahoma City Blue will continue to play the Thunder’s Paycom Center next season, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman reports. The Blue also played there last season, having been the only G League team to host their games in an NBA arena. They often had to play late morning or early afternoon games with the Thunder playing there on the same night.
Former NBA swingman Andrew Harrison has signed with Yukatel Merkezefendi Belediyesi in Turkey, as JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors relays (Twitter link). Harrison has suited up with the Grizzlies, Cavaliers and Pelicans during his NBA career. In his last NBA season, he played a combined 16 games with Cleveland and New Orleans in 2018/19.

Mavs Didn't File Complaint Against Knicks

August 1st, 2022 at 6:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks are under investigation by the league regarding potential tampering during their pursuit of free agent Jalen Brunson, but that probe wasn’t instigated by Brunson’s old team. According to Marc Stein’s sources, the Mavericks did not file an official complaint against the Knicks, as he reports in his latest Substack post. The Knicks made a series of salary-dumping moves prior to free agency, then snagged Brunson away from Dallas with a four-year, $104MM contract.

NBA Opens Tampering Investigation Into Knicks

August 1st, 2022 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has begun an investigation into the Knicks for possible tampering related to the team’s free agent signing of Jalen Brunson, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. According to Haynes, the league will attempt to determine whether New York made contact with Brunson before the free agent period started.

The Knicks signed Brunson to a four-year, $104MM contract last month. Days before free agency opened, word began to trickle out that Brunson was “widely anticipated” to sign with New York for a four-year deal exceeding $100MM, with multiple reports suggesting that the Mavericks had believed for weeks that the point guard was bound for the Knicks.

A June 29 report stated that Brunson planned to meet with the Knicks, Mavs, and Heat when free agency began, but the meetings with Dallas and Miami never took place, with the Heat disputing that they’d scheduled a sit-down at all with the former second-round pick.

We don’t know exactly what happened behind the scenes, but the sequence of events created the impression that the Mavs and Heat knew Brunson would be joining the Knicks and didn’t want to waste their time, while the guard’s camp was trying to create the impression that a final decision hadn’t yet been made.

It’s not unusual for free agents’ presumed destinations to leak before the negotiating period officially begins on June 30. However, it raises eyebrows in the league office when the details of a rival team’s offer to a free agent leaks days in advance and there’s a publicly-reported widespread belief that the player will join that team. The Sixers are facing a similar investigation due to their free agency moves, including a contract agreement with P.J. Tucker that leaked early.

Brunson’s case is further complicated by the fact that he has personal relationships with so many people within the Knicks’ organization. Leon Rose represented Brunson as a player agent before he joined New York’s front office, and his son Sam Rose is now one of Brunson’s reps at CAA. Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father, was hired by the Knicks as an assistant coach several weeks before free agency began.

While the NBA has ostensibly made more of an effort to penalize teams for violations related to tampering and free agency gun-jumping in recent years, it’s not as if Brunson’s contract with the Knicks is in any danger of being voided.

The Bulls, Heat, and Bucks have all been penalized for similar free agency violations since 2020, and all three teams were forced to forfeit a future second-round pick. It will be surprising if the Knicks face a stiffer penalty than that once the investigation into their contact with Brunson is complete.

It will likely take some time for the NBA to announce the results of its probe. Last year, the investigation into the Heat and Bulls was reported on August 7 and the penalties weren’t announced until December 1.

Moses Wright Reportedly Joining Team In China

July 29th, 2022 at 10:32am CST by Luke Adams

After finishing the 2021/22 season with the Mavericks, free agent forward Moses Wright is reportedly heading overseas, having agreed to a deal with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Association, according to a report from Sina Sports.

Wright, who spent training camp and the preseason with the Clippers last fall after going undrafted out of Georgia Tech, signed a 10-day hardship deal with the Clips in December, then joined the Mavericks on a two-way contract in February. He logged just 14 total minutes in four NBA appearances for the two clubs, but had an impressive showing in the G League, earning a spot on the All-NBAGL First Team.

In 29 total appearances for the Clippers’ and Mavs’ G League affiliates, Wright put up 19.6 PPG, 9.2 RPG, and 1.4 BPG on .562/.395/.657 shooting in 32.0 minutes per contest. The 23-year-old also played well for Dallas’ Summer League team in Las Vegas earlier this month, racking up 15.5 PPG and 6.8 RPG in just 19.0 MPG in four appearances.

While there was a sense that Wright might be a candidate to get another two-way contract with the Mavs, the team didn’t issue him a qualifying offer last month, so he was an unrestricted free agent. Assuming Wright officially completes his deal with Zhejiang, Dallas will have to look elsewhere to fill its open two-way slot.

Final Roster Spot Could Remain Open

July 25th, 2022 at 10:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks will look to keep their 15th roster spot open as the season approaches for a variety of reasons, as Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News explains.

Dallas doesn’t have the assets or interest to pursue trades for either Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving, but could sign a role player waived after other teams make a significant deal. The Mavericks will also maintain the flexibility to bring in a player in a trade without having to cut someone on a guaranteed contract.

In case you missed it, the Mavericks signed Tyler Dorsey to a two-way contract. Get the details here.

Mavericks Sign Tyler Dorsey To Two-Way Deal

July 24th, 2022 at 8:49am CST by Arthur Hill

11:04am: Dorsey’s signing is official, the Mavericks announced (via Twitter).

8:49am: Tyler Dorsey will return to the NBA on a two-way contract with the Mavericks, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The 26-year-old shooting guard worked out for Dallas earlier this month and was rumored to be discussing a two-way deal with the organization. He played last season for Olympiacos, helping the team win both the Greek League title and the Greek Cup.

Dorsey reportedly had an extension offer from Olympiacos as well as a contract offer from Fenerbahce in Turkey, but his preference was to return to the NBA. He not only wants to prove he can play at the NBA level, he’s also hoping to qualify for a pension, according to Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. Players become fully vested after three years in the league.

Dorsey, the 41st pick in the 2017 draft, has already played 104 games over two seasons with the Hawks and Grizzlies. The former Oregon star averaged 6.7 points and 2.3 rebounds before heading overseas in 2019.

Dallas currently has both two-way slots open.

Southwest Notes: Brunson, Finney-Smith, Rockets, Wesley

July 23rd, 2022 at 3:39pm CST by JD Shaw

Former Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson expected to stay with the franchise for a long time, he revealed on JJ Redick’s The Old Man & The Three podcast (Twitter link). Instead, Brunson wound up signing with the Knicks this month, inking a four-year, $104MM deal.

“I loved my time in Dallas. I thought I was going to be in Dallas for a long time,” Brunson said. “I started having a monster season. I went to them before they officially offered it to me, and by the end, it was kind of too late.”

As has been previously reported, Brunson was interested early in the 2021/22 season in the same four-year, $56MM extension Dorian Finney-Smith eventually signed, but by the time the Mavericks offered it after the trade deadline, Brunson had outperformed it.

“The business came knocking at the door, and so it was time to at least look [in free agency]. I had to do my due diligence and look to see what was out there.”

Brunson is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 16.3 points per game. He was a secondary creator alongside Luka Doncic, also averaging 4.8 assists and shooting an efficient 50%.

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

Mavericks forward Dorian Finney-Smith is aiming to be more of a vocal leader next season, as relayed by Dwain Price of Mavs.com. Finney-Smith is eyeing a ring with Dallas, who’s expected to compete for a title after losing in the Conference Finals 4-1 to Golden State last season. The Mavericks acquired Christian Wood and have a top-tier offense, but they’ll need to give a high-level defensive effort to contend. They ranked seventh in defensive rating (109.1) and 10th in defensive rebound percentage (73.3%) last season.
Kelly Iko of The Athletic examines several Rockets topics in his mailbag, including next summer’s free agency, new assistant coaches and more. Houston is coming off a 20-62 season and is continuing a full-scale rebuild. The team has a young nucleus of Kevin Porter Jr. (22), Jalen Green (20), Jabari Smith Jr. (19) and others to build around. Houston also recently added Lionel Hollins, Mike Batiste and Mahmoud Abdelfattah to its coaching staff.
Ethan Fuller of BasketballNews.com interviews Blake Wesley, who was drafted No. 25 overall by the Spurs last month. Wesley appears ready to sharpen his point guard skills. “I see myself as a point guard, so going into the NBA I feel I’m gonna be a point guard,” Wesley said. “A big key to the Spurs is [being] 6-foot-5, long [and] athletic, so to get guys open is gonna be good for me. I’m gonna get to the paint and find guys.”