The Dallas Mavericks announced yesterday that they have assigned rookie shooting guard Josh Green to the NBA G-League’s Salt Lake City Stars.
Green has seen his NBA career get off to a rocky start thus far with inconsistent play and COVID-19 restrictions resulting in him being shuffled out of the Mav’s rotation.
After regularly seeing playing time—sometimes a significant amount—at the start of the season, rookie Josh Green has fallen out of the Dallas Mavericks’ rotation. He has appeared in just one of the team’s eight games in February, playing just over five minutes. Green, the 18th pick in the 2020 draft has averaged a paltry 2.5 points and 2.3 rebounds over 12.5 minutes in 17 games this year.
With both Josh Richardson and Jalen Brunson playing well, Dallas has a reduced need for Green who barring injury doesn’t look set to see an increase in minutes any time soon.
The G-League is currently playing in a hub based in Orlando where the 20-year-old will be able to receive consistent playing time and look to force Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle to get him back into the rotation.
“He was playing when we had four of our best defenders out on Covid protocols, but with those guys back, the rotation minutes have not been there,” said.
“I talked to Mark [Cuban] after the Portland game and I said, ‘If there’s a way to get Josh some playing time in the G League bubble, I think it’d be a good thing.’ I talked to [Green] about it yesterday. He was appreciative. I think he realizes that being on the floor and playing is something that’s important at this stage of his career.”
A Sydney native, Josh Green’s prowess as a 3-and-D player put him on the map in the United States and made him a coveted prospect coming out of the University of Arizona. At such a young age Green is bound to experience a few growing pains in the NBA, and with any luck this demotion will prove to be a mere bump in the road on the path to a highly successful career.
Green scored a career-high eight points in a win over the Indiana Pacers on the road on January 20. He has recorded a career-high six rebounds twice, doing so against the Pacers as well as the San Antonio Spurs on January 22.
“He’s a hard worker, he does good things, he’s going to be a terrific player,” Carlisle said.
“But right now, [Tyrell] Terry, [Nate] Hinton and Bey are having good learning experiences and good playing experiences in the G League. For me, right now, this makes a lot of sense.”
Green was recently named to the Australian Boomers squad for the 2020 Olympics. Green faces stiff competition to get a spot in the Boomers backcourt with Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Chris Goulding, Dante Exum and all vying for minutes at the same position. The squad’s versatility may make it even tougher with Ben Simmons and Joe Ingles potentially players playing backcourt minutes in Japan as well.
A tough situation for Green, but a nice problem for Boomers coach Brian Goorjian to have as he looks to finalise what could be Australia’s most talented Boomers squad.
Green will play with Salt Lake City, the G-League affiliate of the Utah Jazz, due to Dallas not having a G-League affiliate participating in Orlando. Teams without a G-League affiliated team have the option of assigning players and transferring two-way contract players to G League teams in the bubble using the flexible assignment and two-way rules.
Ethan Pechersky is a Philadelphia-based sportswriter with a deep love for Australia. Standing 5'10" with absolutely zero basketball talent to his name, he spends his time thinking he knows more than every coach and GM in the league, and being disappointed year in and year out by his beloved Jazz's early playoff exits.
