{"id":120187,"date":"2025-01-26T22:08:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T03:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=120187"},"modified":"2025-01-26T22:08:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T03:08:53","slug":"dallas-mavericks-sign-kylor-kelley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/26\/dallas-mavericks-sign-kylor-kelley\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Mavericks Sign 7-Footer Amid Center Injury Struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Dallas Mavericks have signed<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> seven-foot center <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kelleky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kylor Kelley<\/a> to a two-way deal. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/20\/dallas-mavericks-guard-dante-exum-receives-worrisome-injury-update\/\" target=\"_self\">Mavericks&#8217; injury report<\/a> is not looking to get better any time soon. So, this signing is designed to address their depleted frontcourt, which has been caused by a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/16\/mavericks-injury-dereck-lively-ii\/\" target=\"_self\">injuries to key big men<\/a>. To complete the roster transaction, the team will also waive guard <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gortmja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jazian Gortman<\/a>. With this signing, Kelley brings size, athleticism, and rim protection to a Dallas squad that desperately needs reinforcements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed center Kylor Kelley to a Two-Way contract and requested waivers on Two-Way guard Jazian Gortman.<\/p>\n<p>Kelley will wear No. 50 for the Mavericks.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mavs PR (@MavsPR) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MavsPR\/status\/1883658844515316024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Dallas Mavericks Sign 7-Footer Amid Center Injury Struggles<\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Dallas Mavericks Injury Report<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Mavericks have been bitten by the injury bug hard. Currently, they have six players listed as out for Monday\u2019s game against the Washington Wizards. Of these six, three are big men. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/poweldw01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dwight Powell<\/a> has been out for the last four games with a strained hip and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/klebima01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maxi Kleber<\/a> has a fractured right foot. Additionally, the biggest injury to Dallas\u2019 frontcourt however is that to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/livelde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dereck Lively II<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team announced on Wednesday that Lively will be re-evaluated in four weeks for his right ankle stress fracture. Lively has been playing 24 minutes per game and is averaging a career-high 9.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in his sophomore season. The Kelley signing should help replace some of Livley&#8217;s production.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Kylor Kelley Stats<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even though Kelley went undrafted, he has been fighting for his chance to make it to the league. While at Oregon State, the 27-year-old earned Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors in both 2019 and 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/stats.gleague.nba.com\/player\/1630283\/career\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelley played in the G League<\/a> for the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Bay Lakers this season<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and is averaging 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game across nine appearances. Last season, he was named to the NBA G League All-Defensive Team while leading the league in blocks with the Maine Celtics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For his G League career, Kelley has played 73 total games, starting in 38. His career averages are 7.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks. Although these numbers may not jump out, they aren\u2019t so different from Lively\u2019s rookie year numbers. Those earned him a starting spot on the Mavericks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Kylor Kelley-Mavericks Fit<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelley certainly won\u2019t be winning the Mavericks any games on his own. That being said, his skills are well-suited to replace some of what Lively does at the center spot. Kelley will be able to protect the rim and be a vertical lob threat on the offensive end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An added benefit to the Kelley signing is that Dallas won\u2019t have to rely as heavily on <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gaffoda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daniel Gafford<\/a>. His addition allows the Mavericks not to overplay Gafford and keep him producing at a high level. For Kelley, this opportunity marks a golden chance to establish himself in the NBA, and with Dallas in need of consistent contributions, he could become a key piece moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Mavericks have signed seven-foot center Kylor Kelley to a two-way deal. The Mavericks&#8217; injury report is not looking to get better any time soon. So, this signing is designed to address their depleted frontcourt, which has been caused by a series of injuries to key big men. To complete the roster transaction, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":120193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,30,62,3],"tags":[1453,4840,159,49958,2057],"class_list":["post-120187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-nba","category-news","tag-daniel-gafford","tag-dereck-lively-ii","tag-dwight-powell","tag-kylor-kelley","tag-maxi-kleber"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120194,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120187\/revisions\/120194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}