Dallas Mavericks sign Chris Silva to 10-day contract

The Dallas Mavericks have signed former South Carolina Gamecocks forward Chris Silva to a 10-day contract. The signing is a move by the Mavericks’ front office to bolster their big man depth. Christian Wood is out with a fractured thumb, Maxi Kleber is still recovering from hamstring surgery, and JaVale McGee, the Mavericks’ marquee free agent signing, has not been able to crack the rotation.

Silva, who went undrafted in 2019, began his career on a two-way contract with the Miami Heat for the 2019-20 season. He appeared in 69 games for the Heat, the Sacramento Kings, and Minnesota Timberwolves over the next three seasons. He averaged 2.8 points per game on 61 percent shooting from the floor. Silva also grabbed 2.7 rebounds per game. He was most recently playing with the College Park Skyhawks of the G League.

Silva played four years for the University of South Carolina, scoring 15.2 points per game as a senior in 2018-19. He started all 37 games for the Gamecocks 2017 Final Four team. Silva earned a selection to the First Team All-SEC team in 2018, and was also named co-defensive player of the year the same season.

Current Mavericks two-way player A.J. Lawson was Silva’s teammate at South Carolina in 2018-19. They were also teammates in the G League at College Park.

Silva likely won’t see much time on the floor early in his time with the Mavericks. Dallas is just in need of big men who can function in the NBA until Wood returns. But we’ve seen players signed to 10-day contracts latch on before, so it’s possible Silva carves out a role with the Mavericks.