Dallas Mavericks: Ding likely to spend season with Legends

The Dallas Mavericks will be making cuts to get down to the regular season roster and it looks like a couple of the players will likely be the first to drop.

As reported by Tim MacMahon today of ESPN, the Dallas Mavericks are expecting Ding Yanyuhang to play for their G-League affiliate the Texas Legends this coming season. Ding has spent the last few years playing in the Chinese League but the offer for him to play here in the US this year seems like a possibility.

Ding played for the Mavs Summer League team last year and was an instant fan favorite. Although he did not go on to make the roster, people remembered him, both fans and members of the Mavs front office. Ding returned to Dallas this year and made the roster for preseason play.

This Mavs preseason has been centered around the NBA’s push to diversify and bring the game to other countries worldwide. In the Mavs case, they played their first preseason game against the Beijing Ducks before playing the last two preseason games against the 76ers in China.

This was an exciting time for Ding as he was going to get the chance to play in front of a huge crowd where he was maybe the biggest star. Sadly, Ding had an injury flare up in his knee which caused him to miss the first two preseason games and most of the third one.

When Ding did enter the game for the first time in front of the Shenzhen crowd, a standing ovation ensued. Ding was perhaps the only player in the NBA that could have caused a larger cheer than when Dirk Nowitzki showed up.

Ding was given the game ball after his lone performance with the Mavs team this preseason, but it will be exciting to hopefully see the wing playing for the Legends going forward.

Ding may be out of his prime too soon to make any splash in the NBA, but the experience of having him on the summer league team and the preseason team has been entertaining. He is a Mavs fan favorite and will continue to be for years to come.

There was never really enough room on the roster from Ding from the day he was signed by Dallas and everyone knew it. Even still, it has been a blast watching Ding play and the Legends will be a great spot for him going forward.