The Dallas Mavericks have had an interesting offseason when it comes to the center position. In the beginning of free agency they thought they signed DeAndre Jordan but he ended up backing out of his verbal agreement so they brought in a bunch of middling centers hoping someone would step up. On Monday night there were reports that former Milwaukee Bucks center Larry Sanders was getting interest from a Western Conference team, according to Gary Woelfel of the Journal Times, so many people assumed it was the Mavericks that were interested.
As of right now the Mavericks starting center is set to be Zaza Pachulia with Samuel Dalembert and JaVale McGee as his backups. All of those guys are serviceable NBA players but McGee is dealing with an injury, Dalembert is reportedly out of shape and Pachulia is someone who is probably better suited to come off the bench.
Sanders is a guy that has started in the NBA before and been very productive but he has had his share of off the court issues. He's been involved in a bar fight, not gotten along with coaches, gotten suspended for drugs several times and underwent treatment for depression among other things. Despite Dallas' clear need for an upgrade at center it is being reported that the Mavericks have "nothing brewing with Larry Sanders," according to Tim McMahon of ESPN.
McMahon did later go on to say that if Sanders were ready to come back and play the Mavericks would be at the front of the line but there are many basketball people that think he is not ready just yet. Sanders agreed to a buyout with the Bucks earlier this year which will pay him more than $1.8 million every year until 2022 so Sanders does not need to play for monetary reasons.
If Sanders does decide to come back the 26 year old 6 foot-11 center could be a huge help for a team. Sanders was one of the best defenders in the NBA as he averaged 1.8 blocks per game in his five NBA seasons. The former Buck had his best season in 2012-13 when he averaged 9.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in just 27.3 minutes per game. Sanders is a game changer who many teams would love to have but as of right now he likely isn't ready to come back into the league as he deals with issues much bigger than basketball.
