Dallas Mavericks: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Phil Watson
Re-signing Dwight Powell
Who knew that the lasting remnant for the Dallas Mavericks from the trade nearly five years ago to bring in former All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics would be Dwight Powell?
Powell, who was considered nothing more than a throw-in for a deal that sent three players and two draft picks to Boston for Rondo, has made the leap from fringe guy on the G League shuffle to established NBA player.
The Mavericks rewarded Powell for his progress, signing the former second-round pick to a three-year, $33.24 million extension that will keep him in Dallas through 2022-23.
Powell enters the season as the projected starter at the 5 for the Mavericks after manning that role in 22 of the team’s final 23 games last season.
Over that stretch, Powell averaged 14.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 30.9 minutes per game, putting up outlanding shooting numbers of 64.6 percent overall and 44.4 percent on 2.0 3-point attempts per night.
But it’s his inside play — including 99 dunks last season — where Powell makes his dough.
For the season, which included 55 appearances as a reserve before Powell took over the starting job, he put up 10.6 points and 5.3 boards in 21.6 minutes, shooting 59.7 percent overall and 30.7 percent on 1.6 deep tries a game.
Yes, Powell was 20-for-45 from 3-point land as a starter after going just 19-for-82 (23.2 percent) prior to that.
Powell is a hard worker and a solid rotation guy, but it remains to be seen if Dallas can be a playoff team with him playing the bulk of the minutes at the 5 spot.
If the shooting touch he showed from deep over the season’s final seven weeks is not a mirage, Powell will force opposing 5s out of the paint to honor his jumper, which will open up things for Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. to penetrate.
It was nice to see Powell get rewarded, but he feels like a placeholder until the Mavericks can upgrade.