Amid his advancing age coupled with injuries, JJ Barea of the Dallas Mavericks expressed his readiness for training camp and willingness to play a few more years. The 35-year-old Mavs backup point guard missed the final 40 games of the 2018-2019 season due to a ruptured right Achilles tendon. This quickly raised concerns about the Puerto Ricans future. But in an interview with Dwain Price of mavs.com, Barea spoke briefly about his status, noting that he wants to be ready by training camp.
“It’s looking like it, but me and coach (Rick Carlisle) and (head athletic trainer) Casey (Smith) are going to sit down and then make a plan. If we can wait a little bit longer, we’ll wait a little bit longer and it’ll be better when I come back. But it’s looking and it’s feeling like I’ll be ready to go for training camp, and that’s what I want. I want to be ready to go for training camp so I can do the whole training camp and go step-by-step after that.”
Barea, who's about to enter his 14th year in the NBA, also shared his plans for the future. Amid rumors of impending retirement, Barea admits that he still loves the game and is looking to play three to four more years.
“I still feel good, I still love to play the game. So I still want to play two or three more years, maybe four. But I want to go for two (more years). . .and then we’ll go from there.”
Mavericks fans need not worry. They will still see the feisty Puerto Rican take the floor in the next few years.
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