Courtney Lee Injury Makes Mavs Buyers As NBA Season Re-Boots
DALLAS - As part of the NBA re-boot, the league on Tuesday will open a "transaction window'' for teams to add roster members. And the Dallas Mavericks will be among the teams trying to march up to that window.
Backup guard Courtney Lee sustained a calf injury during the hiatus that required surgery, league sources told Marc Stein of the New York Times, a loss that (should Dallas opt to waive the free-agent-to-be) opens up a roster spot for the Orlando Bubble-bound Mavs.
There are "big names'' available among the street free agents who are eligible to be signed. That list is led by DeMarcus Cousins, Jamal Crawford, J.R Smith and Nick Young.
There is another tier of player who might be helpful to a number of teams, and we would put on that tier DFW native C.J. Miles and Gerald Green.
And then, if a team like Dallas is looking for a specific fill-in for a player like Courtney Lee, a popular veteran in the locker room who occasionally came off the bench to help the 40-27 Mavs as they forged a 40-27 record before the hiatus, good for seventh place in the NBA West? Maybe the right fit is Ryan Broekhoff, who was with the club earlier and despite his roots in Australia owns a home with wife Katie and their newborn son Jack.
The transaction window, which will end at midnight ET on July 1, also allows for teams to convert two-way players to full-time contracts, making them playoff-eligible, and then to add new two-way contracts in their place.
