The Mavericks fortified their bench by signing veteran forward Juwan Howard to a contract. Howard played in 80 games (38 starts) last season for the Rockets and he averaged 26.5 minutes, 9.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Howard has now played in 951 games (869 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 35.1 minutes, 16.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He will likely back up Dirk Nowitzki for the Mavericks. D.J. Mbenga played in 21 games (0 starts) for the Mavericks last season and he averaged 3.9 minutes, 0.8 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Mbenga played in 79 games (2 starts) in his three year career with the Mavericks and he averaged 4.8 minutes, 1.3 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.1 assists per game. This was an excellent move by the Mavericks as Howard still has a lot left to offer a team in contention.