The Mavericks have signed 23-year old center Ian Mahinmi to a 2-year, $1.8 million dollar deal. Mahinmi played in 26 games (0 starts) for the Spurs last season and he averaged 6.3 minutes, 3.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. He has now played in 32 games (0 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 5.9 minutes, 3.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. Mahinmi has always played pretty well when given the chance so I like this signing for the Mavericks.

The Mavericks have re-signed 30-year old center Brendan Haywood to a 6-year, $55 million dollar deal. Haywood played in 28 games (19 starts) for the Mavs last season after coming over in a trade with the Wizards and he averaged 26.5 minutes, 8.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 2.0 blocked shots per game. He played in 77 games (67 starts) overall for the Wizards & Mavs last season and he averaged 30.6 minutes, 9.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 2.1 blocked shots per game. In his nine years in the NBA, Haywood has played in 607 games (469 starts) in which he averaged 24.6 minutes, 7.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game. The Mavericks were smart to lock up Haywood as he was the best center left on the free agent market.

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 have sent the 57th overall pick (2nd round) of the NBA Draft to the Pacers to complete the trade that sent Eddie Jones and Shawne Williams to the Mavs. The Mavericks decided to trade this years pick because it was so late in the second round. The Mavericks were going to have to give up their 2nd round pick to the Pacers either this year or next year so it made sense to do it now and get it over with.

Dirk Nowitzki is likely opting out of his final year on his contract with the Mavericks. But he likely will sign a long term extension with them after a while so that the Mavs can use the Larry Bird exception to re-sign him after they add more talent to the roster. This is a smart move for both the Mavericks and Nowitzki as he will get paid while the team gets better around him. Backup guard Jose Juan Barea has a team option for the 2010-11 season and the Mavericks will likely pick it up as he keeps getting better for them. Center Brendan Haywood and backup forward Tim Thomas are both likely goners for the Mavericks but they won’t miss them.

29-year old shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson has picked up his player option for the 2010-11 NBA season with the Dallas Mavericks. Stevenson played in 24 games (5 starts) for the Mavericks last season and he averaged 11.1 minutes, 2.0 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. He finished up last season playing in 64 games (18 starts) with the Wizards & Mavericks in which he averaged 13.8 minutes, 2.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. He has now played in 645 games (427 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 23.4 minutes, 7.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. The Mavericks had to know that Stevenson wasn’t going anywhere as he would have had a hard time finding a new gig because he’s not a very good player. The Wizards forced the Mavericks to take him if they wanted Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood so they bit the bullet.

The Mavericks were outscored 28-20 in the 4th quarter of this game and it doomed them in the end. Dirk Nowitzki led the way for the Mavericks as usual in this game with 35 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Jason Terry also had a decent game with 17 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists off the bench. Jose Juan Barea played 32 minutes in this game off the bench finishing with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The Mavericks are now down 2-1 in this series.

Backup forward Tim Thomas has left the Mavericks to care for his wife who is ill. He won’t likely be back the rest of the year. Thomas has played in 18 games (1 start) for the Mavericks this season and he is averaging 15.8 minutes, 7.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. This might hurt the Mavericks bench a tad as Thomas played well for them this season. But, I don’t blame him for leaving the team as there are a lot of things more important than basketball.