Over the past two seasons the Dallas Mavericks have been trying to woo the biggest free agents on the market and after losing out on players like Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Deron Williams, the team has signed former Bucks star Monta Ellis to a three-year deal while also signing point guard Jose Calderon and the Dallas Mavericks will open the season at home against the Atlanta Hawks at the American Airlines Arena at 8:30 PM.
Howard of course signed with the other Texas team in the Houston Rockets and Paul opted to stay with the Clippers, leaving the Mavericks to chase the next tier of free agents like Ellis and Andrew Bynum. Mark Cuban signed Ellis to a deal worth between $25-30 million and now he is the next star player to suit up alongside Dirk Nowitzki and he joins Jose Calderon from the Pistons as the big free agent signings this offseason for the Mavericks, who had needs at both positions.
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The Mavericks felt the deal was important after they backed out of a free agent deal with Devin Harris for $9 million over three-years after discovering a toe injury and also due to rookie first round pick Shane Larkin breaking his ankle in summer league practice. The 27-year-old Ellis is the biggest named free agent the team has signed over the past two years and he leaves the Bucks for less money than he would have made if he didn't opt out or accept the three-year extension offered by the team last year.
Ellis was one of the top offensive stars for the Bucks with nearly 20 point per game and although he had a horrible three-point shooting percentage, Calderon comes to the roster with a 46.1 percent to lead the league. Ellis came over to the Bucks in a trade from the Warriors and this past season he was swept by the Miami Heat in four games on their road to winning the championship. The Mavs tried hard to get Howard and Andrew Bynum, but each picked a different team, with Bynum going to the Cavs. The Mavericks may now sign Samuel Dalembert and are also working on bringing back Brendan Wright.
The Mavericks lost some key players in free agency with OJ Mayo and Darren Collison and they also signed Gal Mekel to a contract. The team has Larkin from the draft as he recovers from his injury, while they also traded for the pick of Ricky Ledo, who is an immensely talented player but missed his whole season at Providence due to academic issues. The Mavericks may have made the best of a bad situation by signing Ellis, as they missed out on all the other major players in free agency over the past couple years.
Calderon was a solid signing by the team after he averaged 11.6 points and 6.6 points for the Pistons after being traded by the Raptors in the Rudy Gay deal, beating out the Sacramento Kings and Detroit for his services. The contract is for four-years and worth nearly $30 million.
