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Last week at Las Vegas NBA Summer League, J.J. Barea appeared and spoke to the members of the Dallas press interested in seeing the long time Maverick veteran.
News Mavs fans will be happy to hear: @jjbareapr tells me he’s returning to the Mavs’ organization, role still being defined, but he served in an unofficial assistant-coach capacity today. “I’m going to be involved,” he confirmed, “and I’m definitely excited.”
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) August 14, 2021
Though it’s still unofficial as of this writing, Barea clarified his role more on a YouTube interview with Chente Ydrach (thanks to Tobias for passing this along!).
Don’t speak Spanish? I don’t either. But thanks to Mavs Moneyball contributor Xavier Santos, we have a truncated translation.
In summary, Barea speaks about how he’s cherishing the ability to play in front of friends and family in Puerto Rico along with bringing fans back to their professional league. He promised his eldest sons he would move to Miami when he was done playing basketball, which is where he’ll be living with the PR season is done. He expects to attend games in Miami and be a pro-scout for the Dallas Mavericks. Barea will go to Dallas several times during the season in order to meet with the coaches and get involved in player development. This will be a chance to get his feet wet and gain experience before he goes into coaching full time.
Needless to say this is different from expectations. Given the chatter around Luka Doncic and the clear need for someone to play the role of mentor or at the least buffer for Doncic between he and a given coaching staff, this is a very understated role. Pro scouts absolutely have a role to play within an organization, but considering his history with the Mavericks and connection to Luka, something more public seemed natural. However, with his stated commitment to his sons, it seems unlikely we’ll see J.J. Barea much at all in the coming season.