Dallas Mavericks salvage their offseason; Sign O.J. Mayo to a two year deal – NBA News
The Dallas Mavericks have made a blockbuster move by agreeing to a two year contract with free agent guard O.J. Mayo.
Mayo played for the Memphis Grizzlies last season and has been with them for the past four years. He was picked up as the number three pick in the 2008 NBA draft. Memphis Grizzlies did not make a $7.2 million qualifying offer to
O.J. Mayo this summer, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent once free agency began on July 1st.
The shooting guard averaged 18.5 points in his first NBA season but was given reduced playing time over the past two seasons. Last season, he played 26.8 minutes per game and scored 12.6 points per game.
He will now join Dirk Nowitzki and a list of players who have been acquired by the Mavericks in free agency or trades this year. Chris Kaman, Elton Brand, Dahntay Jones and Darren Collison have all been acquired by the Mavericks
in the past week or so. The addition of Mayo to the roster makes it a competitive one and it is likely that Mayo will either take the starting shooting guard position or continue to play in his role of the 6th man.
Mayo took to his twitter account on announced, “I will be signing with Dallas! #Mavsnation.”
The Dallas Mavericks had a poor start to their free agency campaign when their year-long effort to acquire star point guard Deron Williams failed and the player decided to re-sign with the Brooklyn Nets.
The Mavericks were then hit with setbacks when 6th man Jason Terry signed a three year contract with the Boston Celtics and veteran point guard Jason Kidd agreed to a three year deal with the New York Knicks. However,
team owner Mark Cuban and President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh have done a great job salvaging their offseason attempts to put together a competitive roster.
With the addition of Mayo, the team now has quality role players in all the positions, and still retains enough salary cap space to offer a max contract to any of the big free agents on the market next summer. In addition to this,
their contract obligations with Brand and Kaman end next year.
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