NBA Trade Grades: Dallas Mavericks take flier on Willie Cauley-Stein
By Phil Watson
Mavericks will try and revive WCS
The Dallas Mavericks needed a big body and they got one when they reportedly acquired Willie Cauley-Stein from the Golden State Warriors on Friday.
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Cauley-Stein is still relatively young (26 years old) and is a former lottery pick, though his tenure with the Sacramento Kings and his brief stay with the Warriors did not play to rave reviews.
He signed with Golden State last summer after asking for, and receiving, his unrestricted free agency status from the Kings, who renounced their free-agent exception rights at Cauley-Stein’s request.
But even after starting 81 games and averaging 11.9 points and a career-high 8.4 rebounds per game with Sacramento in 2018-19, Cauley-Stein could only land a one-plus-one deal for slightly above the veteran’s minimum.
His deal is for two years and $4.6 million, with next season being a $2.29 million player option.
It never really worked for Cauley-Stein in San Francisco. Though he started 37 of the 41 games in which he played for Golden State, he averaged just 22.9 minutes per game. WCS put up 7.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals in those minutes, with the blocks figure representing a career-high (he blocked 1.0 per game as a rookie in 2015-16).
Cauley-Stein shot 56 percent overall, getting just 6.3 shots a game, and did not attempt a 3-pointer. His 61.4 percent free throw shooting came on a career-low 1.4 attempts a game and is in line with his 61.2 percent career mark.
Even per-36 minutes, accounting for the reduced playing time, it’s not been stellar for Cauley-Stein this season, who markedly regressed in his new environment.
He went from 15.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 steals per 36 with the Kings last season to just 12.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists, though his steals (1.7) and blocks (1.9) were up.