The start of NBA free agency is upon us, and the Dallas Mavericks have reportedly identified their stop-gap point guard.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported in the wee small hours Monday morning, still hours before free agency officially begins at 5 p.m. CDT, that the Mavericks are “widely expected” to sign D’Angelo Russell to a two-year deal. That came after Stein’s report last week that the Mavericks were the “leading suitor” for Russell’s services, simply because he was “more attainable” than the other options on the table.
Shams Charania of ESPN says the deal is for two years and is worth $13 million. Stein says the deal is worth closer to $12 million. Given Sham’s recent inflation of actual contracts in early reports (see, Daniel Gafford), we’re going with Stein.
Russell was traded from the Lakers to the Brooklyn Nets, along with Maxwell Lewis and three second-round NBA Draft picks in December for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 assists in 58 games for the Nets and Lakers last year.
Russell has already played for four different teams and had two different stints with two of those four. He tends to wear out his welcome, but if all the Mavs need from him is to be a bridge until Ryan Nembhard is ready for primetime or until Kyrie Irving works his way back from that ACL tear he suffered in March, maybe it could work?
If it is the earlier reported $11.7 million number, over two years it allows the Mavs to use the taxpayer mid-level exception for 2025-26. The space ($5.7 million) to do so was carved out under the second salary cap apron with Irving’s new three-year, $119 million deal, which the recovering star is expected to sign after declining his $43-million player option for the upcoming season.
The new three-year deal (two years plus a player option) nets Irving just over $36.7 million in 2025-26.
Mavericks roster
* Kyrie projected new contract
* Dallas still has a $1.5M buffer below the 2nd apron if they use the $5.7M tax ML pic.twitter.com/H68EqlrSde
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 25, 2025
Take a look at the Mavericks’ projected salary cap situation entering free agency, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
There are still a couple of wild cards in the mix for the Mavs, though. The team just signed Gonzaga guard Ryan Nembhard, the brother of Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, to a two-way deal following the 2025 NBA Draft. Our own Draftnik David Trink is high on Nembhard, even going so far as to suggest that he could work his way into a starting role for the Mavericks despite going undrafted. Nembhard averaged 9.8 assists per game while shooting better than 40% percent from the 3-point line last year for the Bulldogs, and our boy Trink makes a strong case for feeding him to the association’s wolves early on if he shows promise and chemistry with Cooper Flagg in NBA Summer League play.
Stein also reported early Monday morning that Dallas is trying to create additional space to re-sign the oft-injured Dante Exum as a backup, by shopping Olivier-Maxence Prosper. Exum played in just 75 games for the Mavs over the last two seasons — just 20 in 2024-25 — as injuries once again marred his tenure with the team. He did show flashes on a few occasions, but he’s not a pure point guard, of course.