After following a championship season with a first-round sweep at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Dallas Mavericks are looking to re-tool and reload for another shot at a title while Dirk Nowitzki is still a championship-caliber star.
And there may be help on the way.
The big fish of NBA Free Agency this summer is the Brooklyn Nets' Deron Williams and sources have told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that Williams will choose between the Nets and Mavericks as the location of his next long-term contract.
Williams, 28, was a star high school basketball player in Dallas and there have long been talks of a possible return to his roots to continue his playing career. The first thing on his mind is the opportunity to compete for an NBA title and the Mavericks have proven capable of doing so under the triumvirate of Nowitzki, owner Mark Cuban and head coach Rick Carlisle.
"I want to go to a place where I feel like they will have a chance to build and build fast," Williams told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm not really in the mood for being part of a rebuilding process. I'm getting older. I'm about to be 28. I want to win. I want to win now. Also, I want to live in a place where I want to live and my kids will enjoy living. That's pretty much it."
Sounds like Dallas fits all the criteria. And according to his mother, Denise Smith, Williams will not prolong his decision.
"I think he and his agent have gone over all of the possibilities and I think it (his decision) will be made pretty fast," Smith told ESPNDallas.com by phone. "I think he wants it out of the way, just because I know I'm asked every day, so I know he's asked a million times."
Read more about the Mavericks at Mavs Moneyball.