For the Dallas Mavericks, this year's upcoming free agency period has seen the majority of attention revolving around star guard Kyrie Irving and what his potential plans are. However, lost in his shadow seems to be big man Dwight Powell and his impending free agency status.
A trusty center who can contribute on both ends of the floor, though the 31-year-old may not be an All-NBA talent like his teammate, his on-court abilities could be highly beneficial to any number of clubs looking to compete. The Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers seem to be the two noteworthy franchises that could be gearing up to pursue the Mavs big's services on the open market this summer, as per a report by NBA insider Marc Stein.
“Sources say Powell is expected to draw interest from both Cleveland and Houston in free agency, but the Mavericks consider him a key figure in the organization beyond on-court production and are confident that Powell, who after almost nine seasons is by far the longest-tenured Maverick, will re-sign,” Stein said.
This comes amid rumblings that veteran center Andre Drummond, who just recently exercised his $3.4 million player option to stay with the Chicago Bulls, has a preference of landing with the Mavs this summer. Stein suggested that if Dallas ends up trading recently acquired big Richaun Holmes this summer — something they've already attempted to do –it could prove to open up a spot in the rotation for Drummond.
Even still, say Holmes does get moved, the club's pivot rotation already seems to be rather crowded with Dwight Powell likely to be re-signed and the presence of lottery-selected rookie Dereck Lively II already in tow.