Mavericks sign Rashard Lewis
The Dallas Mavericks signed ex-Miami Heat free agent forward Rashard Lewis on Tuesday night. Yahoo Sports' NBA reporter Marc Spears tweeted Tuesday night that the 16-year veteran will sign a one-year deal with the Mavs. ESPNDallas' Tim MacMahon added the deal was for the minimum, and Dallas would still have the $2.7 million exception left over.
Lewis is the first major player to leave the Miami Heat since LeBron James announced last week that he would return to his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Many speculated other key Heat players such as Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade would follow James' lead and also depart for other teams. Wade and Bosh have opted to stay in Miami. It is unclear what role the 34-year-old Lewis would have played in Miami next year. Lewis averaged 4.5 points last season, the lowest season-average since his 1998-99 rookie season.
Dallas has had a busy free agency period, re-signing star forward Dirk Nowitzki to three-year, $25 million contract. The contract earned Nowitzki respect for taking a pay cut and for allowing the team to make available the salary cap space for another successful free agent signing in Chandler Parsons.
Parsons, a new addition alongside Lewis, said Monday he felt "offended" that his former team, the Houston Rockets, hunted aggressively for a big-name player to star alongside Dwight Howard and James Harden instead of acknowledging that he might be the player they were looking for all along.
The Mavericks along with the Rockets were reported Monday to be making a late play for free-agent forward Mike Miller. It was reported Tuesday that Miller will join James and sign with Cleveland.
- Will Green
