This seems an odd fit on the court and a challenge financially, but we pass it along anyway.
Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 tweets he has “heard from multiple angles” that new Minnesota GM Flip Saunders is interested in free agent O.J. Mayo.
That would be the same Mayo the Mavericks really didn’t want back — and he didn’t want to be back, so he’s opting to become a free agent. Mayo’s up and down performances game to game drove coach Rick Carlisle crazy. And he faded badly last season — in his final 21 games he averaged 9.3 points on 39.9 percent shooting from the field, 33.3 percent on three-pointers.
Minnesota may want to get stronger at the two, but does a ball dominating gunner really fit with Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love?
Then there is the money issue — Mayo wants more than the $4.2 million he was supposed to make next season in Dallas. The Timberwolves already have $58 million on the books for next season and they want to bring back free agent Chase Budinger and give a nice raise to Nikola Pekovic (both of whom fit nicely in future plans). With all that, would the Timberwolves really use their mid-level on Mayo? Would he even take it?
I don’t know. It seems an odd fit all around. But it’s out there.
