Now that it's official that Dallas Mavericks veteran point guard JJ Barea will be waived by the front office prior to the 2020-21 NBA season, the Mavs have an open roster spot and it seems that they've found their guy.
Per Tim MacMahon of ESPN, Dallas is poised to re-sign another vet in Courtney Lee for this year's training camp.
Sources: Mavs plan to sign Courtney Lee to replace J.J. Barea on camp roster. Like Barea, Lee was considered a leader and great vet in Dallas locker room despite not being in regular rotation last season. Mavs value that kind of presence even though Lee is roster long shot.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 10, 2020
The 35-year-old Lee has been with the Mavs since Jan. 2018 as part of the Kristaps Porzingis deal from the New York Knicks. Though the journeyman hasn't seen the floor all to often as a member of the Mavs, the vet has been a key part of the locker room in helping share some much-needed wisdom and experience to this young Dallas unit. Even if Lee was deemed out of the entire season last season, the Mavs still opted to bring him in inside the bubble which only goes to show much trust they have for the Indiana native.
His numbers though in Dallas haven't been great especially taking into consideration how much they paid him. Lee was earning over $12 million per year in his two seasons with the Mavericks and only played a total of 46 games. Lee only managed to average less than a handful of points per contest and couldn't really do some damage whenever he got the opportunity to.
The Mavs were happy to finally get Lee off their books after he entered the 2020 offseason as an unrestricted free agent. This training camp deal that Lee is getting might be his last chance to impress the Mavs coaching staff to give him another shot and sign him for the upcoming season.
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