Mavericks waive Courtney Lee; roster set for regular season

The Dallas Mavericks waived Courtney Lee Saturday, setting the Mavericks roster for the regular season. Dallas is now at the 15 maximum roster spots allowed for regular season play, plus the two players on two-way deals.

This comes after the Mavericks waived Freddie Gillespie and Devonte Patterson earlier in the week.

Lee was signed after the Mavericks waived J.J. Barea, with the Mavericks intending for Lee to provide a nice veteran presence during training camp and hopefully boosting his status for another team to sign him. He only played in one of the Mavericks preseason games, scoring three points on a lone three point attempt in six minutes against the Timberwolves on Thursday. This was always the expected outcome to get the roster to 15, as Wes Iwundu has a fully-guaranteed two year contract.

Originally arriving in Dallas as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade in 2019, Lee endeared himself to the Mavericks organization, gelling with Luka Doncic and the other younger players on the roster. Mostly out of the rotation during his Mavericks tenure, Lee found himself with a chance late last season, averaging 22.7 minutes per game in the seven games played in March before the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately that was where his season ended — Lee didn’t rejoin the Mavericks in the bubble due to a calf injury.