Rashard Lewis Joins The Dallas Mavericks

Add another bench shooter to the Dallas Mavericks and their quest to help Dirk Nowitzki make another deep playoff run.

According to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Mavs have agreed to a one-year deal with unrestricted free agent Rashard Lewis. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed yet, but Lewis should be a decent backup small forward or power forward who won’t demand much money and can contribute spot-up shooting in limited minutes.

Last season with the Miami Heat, Lewis averaged 4.5 points in 16.2 minutes per game and shot 34 percent from three-point range, so it’s not like his 16th year in the league was anything too special for Mavs fans to be excited about. But Lewis stepped up in the playoffs, starting in eight of 18 postseason games and averaging 5.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 37 percent from downtown.

For the Heat, Lewis’ departure doesn’t mean too much. Miami is already hoping Danny Granger will be an upgrade from Lewis as a 3-and-D kind of role player off the bench and other than a few big postseason games where he knocked down a couple of threes, Lewis didn’t really have much of an impact last year.

The Mavericks have had quite an eventful offseason thus far, trading Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert and Shane Larkin to the New York Knicks for Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton. Dallas also extended a three-year, $46 million offer to restricted free agent Chandler Parsons, which the Houston Rockets ended up not matching after missing on Chris Bosh.

A one-year deal leaves the Mavs with flexibility and since it’s likely to be a cheap contract, Lewis is a low-risk, medium-reward kind of bet. According to ESPN’s Tim McMahon, the deal is for the minimum: