Delonte West returning to the Dallas Mavericks next season – NBA News
Delonte West has agreed to terms for a new contract with the Dallas Mavericks that will see him returning to the Mavs for next season as reported by ESPN.com’s Marc Stein.
After signing O.J. Mayo to the team last week, the Mavericks had $2.5 million cap space and veteran minimum contracts at their disposal. The details of the deal between the Macs and West are unknown at the moment.
The return of West, and the impending signing of rookie centre Bernard James, will complete the 15 man roster for the Mavericks. But this 15 man roster is quite different to the one West played with last season.
After Jason Terry joined the Boston Celtics and Jason Kidd joined the New York Knicks, the Mavericks seemed to have lost out in free agency this year. They failed to lure Deron Williams, who re-signed with the Brooklyn Nets. However,
the Mavericks management did a good job to recruit Darren Collison, Dahntay Jones, Elton Brand, Chris Kaman and O.J. Mayo.
Collison and Jones were acquired in a trade with the Indiana Pacers; Brand was picked off the waiver while Mayo and Kaman were picked up in free agency. The re-signing of West was always seen as the final piece of the puzzle.
West will join a crowded back court for the Mavs this next season. He was initially brought into Dallas to be a back up for Jason Kidd, but his hustle play and shooting earned him a spot as a starting shooting guard on the team.
He missed one third of the last season with a broken ring finger on his right hand, but will return next season healthy and ready to take on point guard responsibilities with Collison, although he can play both the 1 and the 2 positions.
Dallas has Jones and O.J. Mayo to cover the shooting guard position, which means veteran Vince Carter, will see a great deal of playing minutes at the small forward position.
West averaged 9.6 points, 3.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds last season in which he played only 44 games before the hand injury forced his season to an abrupt ending.
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