A handful of veteran NBA guards worked out for the Mavericks on Thursday, according to Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link), who report that Isaiah Thomas, Lance Stephenson, and Monta Ellis all earned a look from the team.
Thomas, who previously worked out for the Lakers, is hoping to revive his career after dealing with hip problems for the last several seasons. He has appeared in 55 total games since the start of the 2018/19 season for the Nuggets, Wizards, and Pelicans, averaging 11.1 PPG and 3.2 APG on .393/.381/.771 shooting in 21.0 minutes per contest during that time. Those numbers aren’t bad, but they haven’t been enough to make up for his below-average defense and earn him a full-season rotation role.
Still, Thomas says he feels better now than he has in years, and Charania and Krawczynski confirm that sources say the 32-year-old guard appears to be in great shape. The Lakers are probably no longer an option for him after signing Rajon Rondo, but he could earn an opportunity with Dallas or another team.
While Thomas appeared in a handful of games for New Orleans in 2020/21, it has been quite some time since either Stephenson or Ellis suited up for an NBA team.
Stephenson, who has logged over 500 regular season NBA games and another 57 playoff contests across nine seasons, hasn’t played in the league since 2018/19, when he made 68 appearances for the Lakers. A report last month indicated he was holding a private workout in Las Vegas for NBA teams in the hopes of making a comeback. Stephenson will turn 31 this Sunday.
Ellis, meanwhile, has been out of the league even longer. His last NBA stint came in 2016/17, when he appeared in 74 games for the Pacers. Ellis was a talented scorer earlier in his NBA career, but was never a great three-point shooter (31.4% in his career) and will turn 36 years old this October.
The Mavs are currently carrying 14 players on guaranteed contracts, with Moses Brown on a partially guaranteed deal. While it doesn’t appear they have a ton of roster flexibility for now, that could change before the start of the season. For instance, if they were to trade two or three players to Toronto for Goran Dragic, they’d open up a roster spot or two.
Oh s**t if Monta comes back ima be happy asf
Just reading those 3 names made me happy…would love to see them all back
…after the workout, they signed with the Lakers.
Just Monta Ellis, the other two are too young to play for the Lakers.
The Mavs could always call Dirk if they are looking at players to finish out their bench
Monta Ellis is my guy mans
Not your cuz NAW?
Wow. Monta Ellis doesn’t strike me as a great candidate to revive his career, given the trajectory of the league since 2016…
Ha, was thinking the same thing. Volume scorers don’t really have a home anymore. Unless he’s been improving his jump shot, I don’t see it.
Through quick googling, I can’t even tell what he’s been up to (aside from being an assistant coach) the last few years. Although, his wikipedia page notes that Indiana is still paying him through this season via the stretch provision.
Volume scorers still have a spot in this league. Have you seen some of these bench units? And starters getting more nights off than before?
Regular season can help. Playoffs they tend to disappear.
@rct Yeah I kind of forgot he existed until I randomly saw him playing pickup in a Luka summer clip from a year or so ago ha
@GETBUCKETS Yeah but even volume guys usually are at least competent 3pt shooters these days. Can’t think of many off bench scorers who don’t pass, don’t play D, AND can’t spot up shoot 3’s.
Also, FWIW, I would imagine the athleticism that made Monta such a great scorer has probably declined pretty significantly at age 36
The stretch provision doesn’t actually impact when they get paid, just the accounting for it (accounting as in cap hit, not financial accounting)….
Isn’t that right?
Players who are waived with guaranteed money left on their deals actually almost always receive their remaining payments across multiple seasons (unless they’re in the final year of their contract and the stretch provision deadline has passed).
Essentially, the stretch provision is always applied to the player’s actual payments, but the team can choose whether or not to apply it to the cap hits.
If there was a team for him to go to tho it would be the mavs. Arguably had his best years there, borderline all nba player
Would love to see IT go back to the Celtics as a bench scorer behind the likes of Smart and Schroder. However that Payton Pritchard kid goes hard.
Lance a make em dance, would love to see him back in the league. I could see him coming of the bulls bench.
I think World B Free was in that workout too
This seems more like a reach to appease the cry babies. I don’t see any of them being a viable addition outside of maybe Lance for his size, and experience.
We failed to add a shor creator outside of THJ. We still need one off the bench. Perhaps through the season we pick someone up.
They’re all silly prospects. I suspect DAL was planning on luring another more serious guard, like Sacto is.