Dallas Mavs Cut 3 Players Ahead of NBA Preseason Finale
With just 11 days remaining until the Dallas Mavericks get the new season underway, the team has already started trimming its roster ahead of next week's preseason finale against the Detroit Pistons.
In an official statement, the Mavs say that they have officially waived Jordan "Jelly" Walker, Mike Miles Jr. and Joe Wieskamp. Walker and Wieskamp were on Exhibit 10 contracts, while Miles was on a two-way contract. We will likely see all three of those players with the Mavs' G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, this season.
The Mavs now have two open two-way contracts to hand out, and one source close to the team tells DallasBasketball.com that versatile wing Dexter Dennis, who played his senior year of college basketball at Texas A&M, will be a player to receive one of those. A.J. Lawson, who is a 3-and-D wing heading into his second NBA season with newfound strength and confidence, is the only Mavs two-way contract player at this moment.
Dexter Dennis has made some electrifying plays for the Dallas Mavericks in preseason play.
Christopher Pike/Getty Images
As for the Mavs' third two-way contract, it can either be used on a guy like Greg Brown III, who is a 22-year-old forward entering his third season after spending two years with the Portland Trail Blazers, or it can simply be left open for the time being.
Not only will the Legends be getting some "local Dallas toughness" with Miles, assuming the plan is for him to suit up with them, they'll also be getting a high-energy guy in Walker, who is no stranger to hard work and having to prove himself.
"I never was 'the guy' when I was younger. I never was the main guy," Walker told DallasBasketball.com. "I always had to continue to work and work and work, because I was always talented, but there were other people more talented than me when I was younger. But I understood that talent only lasts for so long, and I had to continue to work, and I never stopped working. And the people who were so-called better than me when I was younger, I ended up really passing them by a mile as I got older."
We'll see if Walker can eventually work his way back up to being a Mavs two-way contract player at some point. Right now, though, there are just simply too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to guards on Dallas' roster.
