Mavericks Sign O.J. Mayo

THURSDAY, 3:59pm: Mayo has officially signed his contract with the Mavs, tweets Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

TUESDAY, 11:40pm: The deal is for two years, with a second-year player option, according to Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com (via Twitter).

10:14pm: Free agent guard O.J. Mayo has announced via Twitter that he's decided to sign with the Mavericks. ESPNDallas.com's Jeff Caplan reports that it's a multiyear deal, and that the Mavs had roughly $4MM left in cap space; they either signed him to a deal that fits under that figure, or are planning to participate in a larger sign-and-trade move.

At this stage in the summer, Mayo was considered to be one of the most sought-after players left on the market. He recently met with the Suns, but reportedly walked away from the meeting with no offer from the team. Mayo was asking for $8MM per season.

Last season the 24-year-old guard's role in Memphis changed, as he saw himself take a permanent role off the bench for the first time in his playing career. In his fourth year, Mayo averaged 12.6 PPG and 2.6 APG, and was nearly dealt to the Celtics for Ray Allen at the trade deadline.

We don't yet know how much money the deal amounts to, which is obviously important, but on the surface this move is a positive one for an active Mavericks team that suffered a huge blow two weeks ago after Deron Williams announced he'd be signing with Brooklyn. Mayo could either slide back into a starting role, or fill in for the recently departed Jason Terry as the team's main scoring presence off the bench. 

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