Mavs Have Considered Adding Veteran Ball-Handler

The Mavericks have mulled the possibility of adding one more ball-handling veteran to their roster before the start of the season, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack article.

Currently, the Mavs have 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts and one (Tyler Dorsey) on a two-way deal, so there would be room to add another player to the 15-man regular season roster and/or via a two-way contract.

According to Stein, Dallas believes there’s a good argument for leaving that 15th roster spot open for now, since it would allow the team to maintain some roster flexibility and wouldn’t further increase its projected luxury tax bill. It’s possible the Mavs will stand pat for now and allow players like Frank Ntilikina, Josh Green, and Dorsey to vie for a regular ball-handling role in training camp and the preseason, Stein writes.

The Mavs already have two strong options to handle the ball, with superstar Luka Doncic and veteran guard Spencer Dinwiddie both expected to play major roles. But the team did lose Jalen Brunson in free agency this offseason and hasn’t acquired an obvious replacement for him.

As we outlined over the weekend, a pair of high-ranking Mavericks executives – president of basketball operations Nico Harrison and VP of basketball ops Michael Finley – were in attendance on Saturday to watch Dennis Schröder and the Germans defeat the Bosnian national team at EuroBasket. Schröder is one veteran free agent who could be on Dallas’ radar. Eric Bledsoe, Facundo Campazzo, Elfrid Payton, and Dennis Smith Jr. are among the others available, Stein notes.

One option for the Mavs if they don’t want to lock a player into that 15th roster spot for the entire season would be to carry a point guard on a non-guaranteed contract this fall, giving the club the flexibility to make a change without having to eat that 15th man’s full salary. However, it’s unclear how many of the top veteran free agents left on the market would accept non-guaranteed deals.

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