Mavericks assign Josh Green to the G League’s Salt Lake City Stars

After regularly seeing playing time—sometimes a significant amount—at the start of the season, rookie Josh Green has fallen out of the Dallas Mavericks’ rotation. He has appeared in just one of the team’s eight games in February, playing just over five minutes.

In order to get him some much-needed playing time, the Mavericks announced Wednesday that they flex-assigned Green to the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA G League, where teammate Tyler Bey is also assigned.

“He was playing when we had four of our best defenders out on Covid protocols, but with those guys back, the rotation minutes have not been there,” Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said. “I talked to Mark [Cuban] after the Portland game and I said, ‘If there’s a way to get Josh some playing time in the G League bubble, I think it’d be a good thing.’ I talked to [Green] about it yesterday. He was appreciative. I think he realizes that being on the floor and playing is something that’s important at this stage of his career.”

With Green on the move, all four of the Mavericks rookies are now assigned to G League teams. They aren’t paying for the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, because the Legends opted not to travel to the G League campus. The season is taking place inside a bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, similar to the NBA season restart last summer.

NBA teams that do not have a G League affiliate participating in Orlando have the option of assigning players and transferring two-way contract players to G League teams in the bubble using flexible assignment and and two-way rules.

Dallas drafted Green with the eighteenth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. In his short career, Green has appeared in 17 games with the Mavericks. He is averaging 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in those games while shooting 47.2 percent overall.

Green scored a career-high eight points in a win over the Indiana Pacers on the road on January 20. He has recorded a career-high six rebounds twice, doing so against the Pacers as well as the San Antonio Spurs on January 22.

When the Mavericks drafted Green, Carlisle referred to him as a “ready to go 3-and-D guy” with the potential to crack the rotation. That hasn’t quite panned out and that’s why Green is heading to the G League.

“He’s a hard worker, he does good things, he’s going to be a terrific player,” Carlisle said. “But right now, [Tyrell] Terry, [Nate] Hinton and Bey are having good learning experiences and good playing experiences in the G League. For me, right now, this makes a lot of sense.”