Mavericks plan to waive three-time NBA champ, re-sign veteran forward

The Mavericks intend to waive center JaVale McGee and re-sign free agent forward Markieff Morris, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (link).

McGee signed a three-year, $17M+ contract with Dallas last offseason, but only spent seven games in the starting lineup and subsequently fell out of the team’s rotation altogether. He averaged 4.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in a career-low 8.5 minutes per game across 42 appearances in his first – and only – season as a Maverick.

The Mavs shopped McGee in various trade talks throughout the offseason, but were unable to find a taker. According to Charania, the plan is to stretch the veteran’s remaining salary when he’s waived. That means that instead of counting against the cap for $5.7M in 2023-24 and $6M in ’24-25, McGee’s cap hits would be spread across five seasons at a rate of about $2.35M per year.

As Charania notes, in order to use the stretch provision on McGee, the Mavericks will have to officially waive him by August 31, which is the deadline to stretch a cap hit for the current league year.

The Mavs currently have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, but releasing McGee will open up a spot on the projected 15-man roster for Morris, who finished last season in Dallas after arriving from Brooklyn in the Kyrie Irving blockbuster.

Morris didn’t have much of a role for the Mavs down the stretch, logging just 70 total minutes across eight regular season appearances, but the organization apparently values his toughness and veteran leadership. The 33-year-old has 12 NBA seasons and 750 regular season appearances on his résumé.