The Mavericks waived guard Josh Akognon, sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, with the Dallas summer league team’s leading scorer getting caught in the same salary-cap crunch as center Bernard James.
Waiving Akognon and James, who had nonguaranteed contracts, created almost $600,000 in cap space necessary to finalize the deal for shooting guard Monta Ellis.
The Mavs have interest in bringing the 5-foot-11 Akognon, who finished last season in Dallas on a 10-day deal, to training camp again if he clears waivers. Akognon is expected to explore other NBA options and will have lucrative offers to return to China, where he led the league in scoring the past two seasons.
