The Dallas Mavericks have signed yet another big man as they attempt to rebound from DeAndre Jordan's change of heart, inking veteran center JaVale McGee on Thursday.
The Mavericks, according to league sources, have landed McGee on a two-year minimum deal with a team option in Year 2 to see whether they can resuscitate the 7-footer's career after stops in Washington, Denver and Philadelphia.
Since Jordan backed out of his free-agent commitment to sign with the Mavericks in early July, Dallas has traded for Zaza Pachulia and signed veterans McGee and Samuel Dalembert in hopes of assembling a passable center-by-committee ‎rotation. The Mavericks also recently signed Tunisian center Salah Mejri, who spent last season with Euroleague champion Real Madrid in Spain, to see whether they can develop him into an NBA reserve.
Pachulia is projected to replace the departed Tyson Chandler as Dallas' starter at center, but the need for rim protection -- even if Pachulia pans out as a fallback -- led the Mavericks to sign McGee and Mejri and bring back Dalembert to audition them all in October.
The Mavericks did almost a month of background work on McGee's health situation before coming to the terms, holding out for more clarity on the 27-year-old's ability to stay healthy after playing in just 28 games over the past two seasons.
