Dallas Mavericks: Summer drawing to a close with Maxi Kleber signing official

The Dallas Mavericks have been holding off on making the re-signing of all their restricted free agents official in order to maximize cap space, but it looks like the gates are coming to a close as Dallas has put pen-to-paper with Maxi Kleber.

Everyone knew that the Dallas Mavericks summer moves would likely be over as soon as they made the re-signing of their restricted free agents official. Yesterday marked that day as Dallas announced that pen had been put to paper between the Mavs and newly signed forward, Maxi Kleber.

Kleber had a great season for the Mavericks last year, averaging 6.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in 21 minutes of action. He shot the ball fairly well at .453 FG%, .353 3P% and .784 FT%. His role as a glue guy that can contribute on both ends of the court seems to be the best fit for him going forward as well.

The Mavs decision to bring Kleber back for the foreseeable future was one that was clearly made long before free agency and was part of the important steps they wanted to make once free agency began. There were murmurs that other teams were interested in adding Kleber to their roster, but none of those ever seemed to carry too much weight.

Kleber looks to be a backup power forward/center for the Mavs and one of the first men off the bench. He will offer a lot of versatility for the Mavs lineup options as he can play a small ball 5 or a stretch 4 well and can defend most of the 4’s and 5’s in the league without an issue.

The main issue the Mavericks run into with the Kleber on the court is his rebounding needs a lot of help. He is not a bad rebounder, just not a bulk rebounder. He and Kristaps Porzingis on the court together could make for some concerns on the defensive glass. Powell is not a whole lot better, but he has improved year to year in the rebounding department.

This signing is good for the Mavs, but also signals the end of the free agency pursuit. Dallas had cap space to use since Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith and Porzingis were all being signed as restricted free agents, but clearly Dallas did not find the guy that they wanted to spend that extra money on. Instead, they will go into the season with close to $12 million available for a traded player exception.

Dallas had an interesting summer in which they underperformed according to most of the fans. The front office maintains their innocence, saying they did exactly what they intended to this free agency, but the jury is still out on that one.

Dallas has 14 roster spots filled as of now, but all the guys that will be in the regular rotation are signed (other than Kristaps, officially) and are ready to go for another great season. Maxi Kleber is one of those guys ready to make a difference for the team this coming year.