The Mavericks could be in for a very interesting summer. Franchise player Dirk Nowitzki has opted out of his contract becoming a unrestricted free agent. The Mavericks must re-sign him or they will be in big trouble. That’s because the Cleveland Cavaliers have indicated that they won’t even listen to sign and trade offers for LeBron James. If Nowitzki leaves town the Mavericks would have huge holes at both power forward and center. I have a feeling that Nowitzki will come back to the Mavericks. If he does they will still need a center. There’s not much available in free agency as old war horses like Jermaine O’Neal, Shaquille O’Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Brad Miller are the best out there. The Mavericks could try to work some kind of deal with the T-Wolves for Al Jefferson.

UPDATE: (7/3/2010) - The Mavericks have re-signed Dirk Nowitzki to a 4-year, $80 million dollar deal.

The Mavericks picked 22-year old center Solomon Alabi with the 50th overall pick of the NBA Draft. They then shipped him to the Raptors for a future second round pick and cash considerations. Alabi played in 77 games (68 starts) in his three years in college and he averaged 9.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 2.1 blocked shots per game. The Mavericks probably made this trade to recoup some of the cash they spent to acquire SG Dominique Jones from the Grizzlies.

The Mavericks have acquired 21-year old shooting guard Dominique Jones (#25 overall) from the Grizzlies for cash considerations. Jones played in 33 games (all starts) at South Florida last season and he averaged 21.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He played in 95 games (94 starts) in his career with the Bulls and he averaged 18.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. The Mavericks got one of the best offensive players in the draft so it was money well spent.

The Mavericks only have one pick (#50 overall) in tomorrow night’s NBA Draft. The Mavericks will be a very veteran driven team so they should just take the best player available tomorrow night and run with it. When free agency opens next weekend the Mavericks will be a team to watch as I believe they have a real interest in trading for LeBron James.

32-year old PG/SG Jason Terry just keeps playing well for the Mavericks. Terry played in 77 games (12 starts) for the Mavericks last year and he averaged 33.0 minutes, 16.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He has now played in 474 games (283 starts) in his six years with the Mavericks and he is averaging 33.0 minutes, 16.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Terry has now moved up to #9 all-time in games played (474) in Mavericks’ history. He is also #2 in three pointers made (875), #9 in assists (1,964), #7 in steals (569) and #6 in points scored (7,710). Terry is showing no signs of slowing down so look for him to continue to move up in the Mavericks’ record book.