Mavericks cut Samuel Dalembert, others to finalize roster

The Dallas Mavericks have cut Samuel Dalembert as they trim the roster to 15 players, according to Yahoo! Sports' Shams Charania. Dalembert cuts leaves three centers on the roster: Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee and Salah Mejri, who had an impressive preseason to beat out Dalembert.

Since McGee is injured, Mejri will immediately have a role to begin this season. Although he's 29 and certainly lacks the potential of a younger player, he's proven that he can still be physical with his thin frame and looked solid as a rebounder. Whether he can hold up defensively against NBA talent on a nightly basis in the biggest question, but as a likely second unit player, he won't be asked to do too much.

While the cuts of N'Dour, Ashley and Wilson haven't been made official yet, we can safely say those will be the players waived to get to an NBA required 15. Former Xavier guard Tu Holloway will also be signed solely so the Mavericks can cut him and hold his D-League rights. He'll end up with the Texas Legends this season.

Samuel Dalembert

When Dalembert was brought in by the Mavericks for a second stint, he was expected to repeat his performance from the 2013-14 season. Reporting to camp overweight and generally failing to impress meant Dalembert didn't make the cut over a virtual no name in Mejri.

Maurice N'Dour

Maurice N'Dour, a forward out of Ohio who went undrafted in this year's draft, isn't a surprise cut but not for the reasons you might think. Though he was brought in mostly as a camp participant, in the early preseason he showed a bit that made some think he could compete for a roster spot. Unfortunately, N'dour was injured towards the middle of the preseason, and that probably cost him the chance to steal a spot.

Update: ESPN's Tim MacMahon reports that N'Dour still has a shot at making the final 15. He has a partially guaranteed three-year minimum deal and Mavs owner Mark Cuban is apparently pushing to keep him around even though he's seen as a longterm project by the coaching staff.

Brandon Ashley, Jarrid Famous, Jamil Wilson, Tu Holloway

Ashley, Famous and Wilson were never likely to make the roster, although as Charlie Villanueva proved last year, I suppose anything is possible.

Ashley is a power forward who went undrafted out of Arizona this year.Wilson is a small forward out of Marquette, undrafted in the 2014 draft.

Famous has been around the longest of the group, an undrafted center out of South Florida in the the 2011 draft. He actually cut a couple days ago to make room for point guard Tu Holloway, who was on the Mavs' 2012 Summer League team. Holloway was also waived today, but as noted above, is expected to be with the Legends.