Dallas Mavericks waive Onuaku with plans to add Harris

Despite the Dallas Mavericks not receiving any other players in the deal or sending any players away, the team has decided to waive Chinanu Onuaku to make room for Devin Harris to sign back with the team. This deal is confusing but not altogether surprising for the Mavs.

When the Dallas Mavericks made the deal to trade for Chinanu Onuaku with the Houston Rockets, my first reaction was confusion. Not only was the Dallas roster getting more and more full as time went on, this deal also gave the Mavs three traditional centers in a league where traditional centers need to be really good to get on the court.

I was also confused as to why Dallas would trade for a guy just to get a 2nd round pick swap in the future. It seemed weird for the Mavs to make the deal, especially since it helped out one of the team’s biggest rivals in the league. Houston was able to clear some cap space to help set up the potential of adding Carmelo Anthony.

Onuaku is a player with some potential that was put in a situation where he had no chance to succeed. As opposed to seeing his potentially high ceiling, the Mavs saw him as just a player to help them get a little more spending money. We wish Onuaku the best of luck as he moves forward, even though he never got on the court for the Mavs.

By doing this, Dallas is now able to sign Devin Harris back on his one-year, minimum deal. Harris was traded away to the Denver Nuggets last year right before the deadline in exchange for Doug McDermott. Although that didn’t amount to much for the Mavs, we now have Harris back, who is a longtime fan favorite.

Dallas will look to utilized Devin regularly in the rotation once again this year and then they will likely re-evaluate at the end of next season. Harris will see sometime at both guard positions but will likely be primarily a shooting guard for the team. His defense and energy level make him a sold backup 2 for the team.