Dallas Basketball

Why Mavs Should Sign Luka Samanic to Final Roster Spot

Semanic has performed well in the G League and is still only 22 years old.

Dalton Trigg

What’s better than one Luka? Two Lukas … right?

The Dallas Mavericks haven’t done much since free agency began on June 30, and they still have an open spot to fill on the 15-man roster. If the Mavs don’t think they have a real shot of getting into the mix for Utah Jazz or Brooklyn Nets leftovers when/if Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant get traded, perhaps they should shift their attention to taking chances on younger, cheaper talent.

Remember the name Luka Samanic? The 6-10 Croatian forward was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 18th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. For a number of reasons, Samanic and the Spurs just weren’t a good match for each other. San Antonio waived him in 2021 after just two seasons.

After signing a two-way contract with the New York Knicks, Samanic averaged 28.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in the G League for the Westchester Knicks. The 22-year-old shot 55.2 percent from the field, 41.5 percent from deep, and 90.1 percent from the free-throw line. He was waived by the Knicks in March.

When it comes to having young talent on the roster, the Mavs only have a few guys who meet that description, including Luka Doncic (23), Josh Green (21) and Frank Ntilikina (24). Everyone else is either 30 years old or close to it — even Dallas’ recent two-way contract signed Tyler Dorsey, who will turn 27 in February.

Given the upside Samanic has shown in the G League, it could just be a matter of time before he gets another shot at sticking on an NBA roster. He has the talent, he just has to put it all together and find the right opportunity. Signing him to a cheap, multi-year contract with no guarantees beyond the first year wouldn’t hurt anything, even if the Mavs decided to move on before that first year is up.

Maybe the third time will be the charm for Samanic, and maybe the Mavs will end up being the team to give him that next chance. What do they really have to lose?

You can follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter at @dalton_trigg

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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