Eddie Sefko of DallasNews.com quotes a source that says that the Dallas Mavericks are close to signing backup center Ian Mahinmi of the San Antonio Spurs.
Mahinmi (6-11) played 26 games for the Spurs last season and is an unrestricted free agent. He averaged 3.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in six minutes per game last season. Several NBA sources said the 25-year-old Frenchman is ready to make a significant improvement moving forward.
As the report indicates, Dallas will likely use one of their smaller exceptions - possibly their bi-annual - to sign Mahinmi. This means that they will still have their full midlevel exception available, as well as all of their roster assets. The largest of those is Erick Dampier's non-guaranteed $13 million contract for the upcoming season.
Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson have said in the past three days that backup center and backup power forward are currently their top priorities in free agency.