Rest Easy, Mavs Fans: Devean George Is Not Getting Traded

Yesterday Matt Watson discussed the ridiculous fact that a couple of players buried deep on their respective teams' benches were asking to be traded. Jerome James of the Knicks and Devean George of the Mavericks both feel that they would actually receive playing time somewhere else, even though conventional wisdom says otherwise.

While James' motivation to do such a thing is unclear, George's is simple: he's playing out a one-year, $2.4M contract, and hopes to boost his value as a free agent this summer. And he can't do that while sitting on the bench. His recent plea for minutes and/or a trade was heard by team president Donnie Nelson, but it was also rejected.

"We wish we had 40 minutes for everybody," team president Donnie Nelson said. "But this is the price you pay for being a deep team. Devean's an important piece for us, and we're not actively seeking any sort of move. I know he's frustrated, and we empathize with him. But there's still a lot of season left, and we all know that anything can happen."

Translation: you're not going anywhere, dude. The reality is that George, while not exactly a stat sheet stuffer, has more value as a long and athletic defender coming off the bench than he does in terms of what any team would give Dallas for him in a trade. The squeaky wheel gets the grease though I guess, and George got himself greased up for 25 minutes in last night's win over the Magic. (Now there's a visual!) Although when Devin Harris and Jerry Stackhouse both return from injuries, I'm guessing Devean will go back to his rightful place on the bench.