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Wes Iwundu will sign a deal with the Dallas Mavericks, per Shams Charania of the Athletic.
Free agent Wes Iwundu is close to a deal with the Dallas Mavericks, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 22, 2020
ESPN’s Zach Lowe says the deal is for the veteran’s minimum.
This is a veteran's minimum deal, sources say. Absolutely worth a flier. I've long had my eye on Iwundu as an under-the-radar guy who could develop into a rotation player for a good team. https://t.co/lVI9lmesfy
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) November 22, 2020
For those unfamiliar (including me, prior to writing this), Iwundu is a 25 year old forward who played the last three seasons with the Orlando Magic. He’s 6’6” and around 200 pounds and fits the theme in Dallas this off-season of acquiring length.
In his three seasons with Orlando, he’s averaged 4.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and one assist per game. He’s a fairly poor shooter, but given that Orlando doesn’t believe in spacing, this may not be a fair judge.
Per friend of the site, Matt Moore at the Action Network, he’s a very good defender:
The Magic defense was 5 points better per 100 possessions with Iwundu oon the floor, with a really good 104.6 defensive rating. He tops out 87th percentile in individual defense per Synergy, allowing just 36.7% shooting and forcing turnovers 11.6% of the time.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) November 19, 2020
IWUNDU CAN PLAY.
The Mavericks have looked to beef up their defensive chops all off-season and Iwundu fits the profile.
What’s more interesting will be determining what kind of deal this is. Dallas has a nearly full roster to date, so this signing raises questions as to if anyone else could be moved or if this is just a training camp invite with a shot of making the roster. Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News believes it’s a guaranteed deal as has the same question about the number of roster spots.
I'm told that Iwundu's contract is guaranteed, and this source also confirmed my earlier report that J.J. Barea will be back, but this source is telling me the Mavs still have one more roster spot. I knew Bey and Hinton were on 2-ways, but I obviously need to redo my math.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) November 22, 2020
The Barea part of this is a story for another time. We’ll update as more information becomes available.