Delonte West

Mavericks Notes: Nowitzki, West, Mayo

Dirk Nowitzki is doing everything he can to avoid undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his troublesome right knee, but with the knee swelling up again yesterday, his options are looking increasingly limited, as he told the media.

"I’m doing everything I can, conservatively, not to have surgery," Nowitzki said, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. "I guess that’s obvious, that I really don’t want it done now. If I want to do it, I would love to do it after the season, get through the season somehow. But the swelling came back three or four times now. That’s obviously not good news. If it’s going to keep swelling up on me, then that’s obviously not the way to go through an 82-game season and hopefully a long playoff run."

If Nowitzki and the team's doctors decide that surgery is the way to go, the procedure will likely take place next week, with healing expected to take between three and six weeks. Here are a few more Tuesday morning Mavericks links:

Southwest Notes: Collison, Crowder, Benson

Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes.com tots up the off-court endorsement earnings for Team USA, noting that everyone on the team except Kevin Love has a deal with Nike. The absences of Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard leave Adidas without a representative, notes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Twitter link). Before USA Basketball takes on Argentina later this afternoon, let's catch up on the latest news and notes out of the Southwest Division…

  • Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com looks at how the Mavs point guards line up behind presumptive starter Darren Collison. Delonte West should serve as a solid backup to Collison as Rodrigue Beaubois continues to learn the position.
  • Jae Crowder, the 34th overall pick in this year's draft, isn't guaranteed a roster spot with the Mavs, even though he's already signed to a deal, as Earl K. Sneed writes on Mavs.com. Nonetheless, his impressive summer league stint gives him hope of cracking the rotation at either forward spot.
  • The Hornets have cut ties with numerous members of their respective broadcast teams as new owner Tom Benson wants to take the franchise in a new direction, writes John Reid of The Times Picayune. The latest to go include longtime television play-by-play announcer Bob Licht and analyst Gil McGregor.

Delonte West Re-Signs With Mavericks

THURSDAY, 5:05pm: The Mavericks have officially re-signed West, according to a team release.

TUESDAY, 6:44pm: According to a tweet from ESPN.com's Marc Stein, Delonte West will re-sign with the Mavericks on Wednesday. Earlier tonight there was a report from ESPNLosAngeles.com that the Lakers were interested in making an offer for West, but it appears the eight-year veteran will forgo that possibility to stay in Dallas.

Terms of West's deal aren't yet known, but the Mavs still have the cap flexibility to offer the veteran guard more than the veteran's minimum. The one-year pact also allows the Mavs to retain flexibility for next summer, when the team is expected to revisit the free agent market in hopes of landing an impact player.

Lakers Interested In Delonte West

The Lakers are interested in signing free agent Delonte West, according to ESPNLosAngeles.com's Dave McMenamin. The 29-year-old West spent last year in Dallas, where he averaged 9.6 PPG and 3.2 APG in 44 games. The team views him as a versatile guard who can fill an important role backing up both Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash

Los Angeles still has its mini mid-level exception to use, which allows the team to sign someone to a first-year salary of $3.09MM, but Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has said there's a chance his club doesn't use it. If this in fact turns out to be the case, expect the Lakers to offer West a one-year offer at the veteran's minimum (about $1.2MM, in West's case).  

Earlier today, Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson said he was in negotiations with West, and that he hoped the two parties could work something out. Throughout his eight-year career, West has been involved in several on- and off-court incidents that have prevented him from signing long-term deals with one franchise. The Lakers would be his fifth team.

Mavs Notes: Free Agency, West, Stotts, Kaman

Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson appeared on fishbowlnetworkradio.com on Monday, speaking about a number of topics related to his team's offseason. As Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star Telegram writes, Nelson says Deron Williams was the key to the Mavericks' summer — Nelson believes the Mavs would have re-signed Jason Terry and Jason Kidd if Williams had chosen Dallas. Those are interest comments, since Terry and Kidd both had huge cap holds on the Mavs' books. If Dallas hoped to re-sign both players at reasonable rates, the team couldn't have renounced its rights to either player, which means there would have been no cap room for Williams. Perhaps a sign-and-trade could have been worked out with the Nets if D-Will had chosen the Mavs.

In any case, Nelson also weighed in a few more issues, so let's round up the highlights….

  • The Mavericks have two open roster spots, and rookie Bernard James is expected to take one of the two. Delonte West could re-sign and take the other spot, but that's no certainty, as Nelson points out: "There’s also an argument for keeping that last roster spot open, because sometimes you get lucky towards the end of the summer." The GM adds that the Mavs are still in negotiations with West and are hopeful that they'll work something out.
  • Nelson feels like assistant coach Terry Stotts is a great head coach candidate, and says the team is prepared to lose him if the Trail Blazers decide to hire him.
  • According to Nelson, Chris Kaman was at or near the top of the team's list of free agent targets after D-Will. The GM expects Dirk Nowitzki to benefit significantly from Kaman's presence.
  • Mavs owner Mark Cuban also spoke to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com about the offseason and the new CBA, pointing out that he wants his team to avoid the luxury tax not necessary for financial reasons but because taxpaying teams will face significant restrictions on roster moves starting next summer.

Free Agent Rumors: O’Neal, Bulls, Wallace

The Spurs have made a handful of signings so far this summer, but every contract agreement they've reached has been for one of their own players — unrestricted free agents Tim Duncan and Boris Diaw will return, along with restricted free agents Danny Green and Patty Mills. Even the team's one new addition, Nando De Colo, wasn't a free agent, since San Antonio held his NBA rights exclusively. The Spurs are standing relatively pat this offseason, not pursuing outside free agents, and that's just fine with coach Gregg Popovich, as he tells Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.

So while the remaining free agents on the market aren't likely to draw a ton of interest from San Antonio, there are plenty of other potential destinations out there. Here's the latest on a few available players:

  • The Bucks are taking a "long look" at Jermaine O'Neal's workout today, tweets Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld.

Earlier updates:

  • The Bulls are eyeing shooting guards such as Marco Belinelli, Randy Foye, Delonte West, and Willie Green, according to Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com.
  • Despite indicating earlier this year that he intended to retire, Ben Wallace would like to return to the Pistons for the 2012/13 season, says Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News. The Pistons have a full roster, so they'd have to make a move to clear a spot to sign the unrestricted free agent.
  • The Warriors and Bobcats are still pursuing Carl Landry, writes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Charlotte, which could offer Landry more money, is attempting to work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Hornets.
  • A number of teams have expressed interest in Mickael Pietrus, but the Celtics are still "very much in the picture," says A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com adds (via Twitter) that Pietrus has a "huge" offer from an overseas team, but that he wants to play for an NBA contender on more than a minimum-salary deal.
  • The Clippers have reached out to Ryan Hollins and Darko Milicic, in hopes of adding a backup big man for the minimum salary, writes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Darko's agent Marc Cornstein says playing time will be a bigger factor for his client than money, since the Timberwolves are still sending him pay checks.
  • A big-name free agent came off the market yesterday when the Trail Blazers matched Nicolas Batum's offer sheet. As Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld writes, Blazers GM Neil Olshey stressed that reports suggesting Batum didn't want to return to Portland were orchestrated by the Timberwolves and Batum's agent. "Nic never said that," Olshey said. "Let’s be very clear. Nic made a couple of comments at the behest of the Minnesota Timberwolves and his agent. That was their agenda; it was never Nicolas’s agenda."

Free Agent Rumors: Timberwolves, Rush, Mills

A couple more notable names came off the free agent market this morning, when Kris Humphries landed a two-year deal from the Nets and Grant Hill agreed to sign with the Clippers. While a number of solid rotation players are still available, the market is rapidly thinning for teams in search of starters. As clubs continue to jockey to sign the remaining available players, we'll track many of today's free agent rumors right here:

Earlier updates:

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Free Agent Rumors: Humphries, Stiemsma, Lin

As NBA teams continue to agree to contracts and officially sign this year's free agents, you can keep tabs on all the activity by checking out Hoops Rumors' 2012 Free Agent Tracker. We're continuously updating our database to reflect the latest contract agreements, adding details on years and salaries as they become available. But there are still plenty of unsigned players left on the market, so we'll track today's rumors on those guys right here:

  • TNT's David Aldridge (via Twitter) cites league sources that believe Kris Humphries would be more inclined to remain with the Nets than leave for the Bobcats. Marc Stein tweeted that the Nets could be involved no matter what Humphries decides to do, and could end up offering to negotiate a sign-and-trade if he chose Charlotte. 
  • The Timberwolves are waiting for Portland to make a decision on Nicolas Batum before they extend an offer sheet to Greg Stiemsma, according to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com

Earlier updates:

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Odds & Ends: Hinrich, Bulls, Meeks, Mayo, Tolliver

Aggrey Sam of CSN Chicago reported earlier that the Bucks presented Kirk Hinrich with an offer of about $4 MM per year, while the Bulls have made an offer somewhere between the veteran's minimum and around $2 MM per year. The proposed length of either deal is still unknown. Although the Bulls have been relatively quiet at this point during the offseason, Sam thinks that Chicago could eventually become financially viable for free agent point guards such as Ramon Sessions, Raymond Felton, Jerryd Bayless, and Delonte West, who could be available if they are not acquired during the first wave of free agent signings. Derek Fisher and Jonny Flynn were also mentioned as potential additions.                                                                                                 
We are currently less than four days away from the end of the NBA's moratorium period, and here is the rest of what we've heard around the league this evening…
  • Ersan Ilyasova plans to meet with Bucks owner Herb Kohl on Tuesday, which is seen as an important opportunity in the team's effort to retain the 6'10'' forward (Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times reports). Earlier this week, we reported that Milwaukee offered a deal worth around $40MM over five years.

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Southwest Notes: Gay, Rockets, Mavs, West, Green

The day's biggest news so far came out of the Southwest Division, when ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported that Michael Heisley had found a buyer for the Grizzlies. While we wait to hear whether an agreement between current ownership and prospective buyer Robert Pera will be finalized, let's check in on a few more Southwest updates, including the latest Rudy Gay trade rumors….

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