Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com reports that Ian Mahinmi, “likely” the newest Maverick, has arrived in Dallas and hopes to join its summer-league team in Las Vegas tomorrow:
Sources tell DallasBasketball.com that the Mavs are “finishing up the paperwork’’ on Mahinmi, who will receive a two-year contract at the BAE-level of $1.9 million annually.
Fisher warns us not to think of Mahinmi as the immediate backup to Brendan Haywood. “This is ‘upside’ stuff,” he says. As such, his signing “in no way precludes the Mavs’ many other pursuits and discussions about players, which include Miami’s Udonis Haslem and Minnesota’s Al Jefferson.”
Mahinmi has played only 32 games over three NBA seasons, missing the 2008/09 campaign entirely. According to basketball-reference.com, his career averages are 3.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.4 blocks in 5.9 minutes per game, and he posts a career 61.2% shooting mark from the field. Last month, Tom Ziller of NBA FanHouse explained that Mahinmi’s impressive track record in the NBA D-League means “grabbing the Frenchman could wind up looking like the summer’s most prescient move.”