Report: Mavericks sign Al-Farouq Aminu to 2-year, $2.1M deal

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The Dallas Mavericks have moved quickly to add another forward after voiding the contract of injured veteran Rashard Lewis on Wednesday, reaching back into the free agent pool for unrestricted free agent Al-Farouq Aminu.

CSNNW is reporting that the deal is in response to the Lewis situation and not a previously-planned addition, and the key difference is a second year, a player option, that Lewis' deal did not have.

From their report:

The versatile forward is one of the league’s top rebounders at his position and will provide instant stability in the Mavericks’ frontcourt. Dallas voided the contract of Rashard Lewis when a physical revealed he required knee surgery. That opened the door for Aminu.

The contract will pay Aminu $2.1 million in total, which represents the league minimum given his experience. That means the Mavericks maintain their room exception, which is reportedly going to Jameer Nelson in the coming days.

This represents quite the low-cost, moderate-upside play on Aminu, who is still just 23 years old and has four years of experience under his belt. The No. 8 pick in the 2010 draft hasn't exactly set the NBA world afire, but he is an excellent rebounder from the wing and a quality, albeit sometimes spacey, defender. At 6-foot-9, he can also help guard both forward positions, as Lewis would have.

In 303 career games, Aminu has averaged 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 23.2 minutes, but he's shot just 44.2 percent from the floor and just 29.2 percent on threes. The Mavericks will surely be hoping to tidy up his jump shot, and you can bet head coach Rick Carlisle has ideas for how to leverage his length on the defensive end.

As far as Plan Bs go, this is a pretty good one.