Dallas Mavericks Trade News 2016: Mavs Sign Big Man David Lee
The Dallas Mavericks have a new addition to their team in the form of big man David Lee.
A tweet by Yahoo! Sports' Shams Charania says the 32-year-old professional basketball player is expected to sign with the Mavericks for the room exception of $2.1 million, once he is cleared through the waivers.
According to Tim Cato for SBNation.com's Mavs Moneyball, Lee will likely replace the roles of big men Charlie Villanueva and Dwight Powell and it is believed that he can be effective by providing some scoring off the bench.
"Villanueva or potentially John Jenkins will most likely be waived to clear a spot. Because Lee will be signed before March 1, he is eligible to make the Mavericks' playoff roster," an excerpt of Cato's report reads.
Lee has been involved in various trade rumors since January. In a report by Jeff Clark for SBNation's Celtics Blog, Lee drew the interest of the Toronto Raptors, but due to their long-term cap, which the Celtics were trying to avoid, a deal did not push through.
Lee was a first round pick (30th overall) by the New York Knicks during the 2005 NBA draft. He played for the team for five seasons before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the 2010 off-season. The Golden State Warriors then signed him to a six-year deal amounting to $79.54 million.
He was then traded to the Boston Celtics in July 2015 in exchange for shooting guard Chris Babb and small forward Gerald Wallace. Throughout his career so far, he has made two NBA All-Star appearances, in 2010 and 2013, and made the All-NBA third team in 2013.
He was also part of the Golden State Warriors team that won the 2015 NBA championship.
For the current season alone, Lee has played in 30 games and is averaging 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.4 blocks, and 0.4 steals, through 15.7 minutes of playing time per game.
