Feb 1, 2025; Coral Gables, Florida, USA; Miami Hurricanes guard Matthew Cleveland (0) looks on against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Watsco Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Mavericks sign former five-star after 2025 NBA Draft

Originally posted on Dallas Mavericks on SI
By Austin Veazey | Last updated Jun 27, 2025 6:45 PM ET

The Dallas Mavericks are in the process of filling out their summer league roster, surrounding their newly drafted top pick, Cooper Flagg. They'd like to find a diamond in the rough or two to place on their last available two-way contract.

They've already signed Auburn's Miles Kelly and Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard to two-way contracts, with Nembhard in particular being great value. Most draft evaluators had him getting drafted in the mid-40s, so to get him as an undrafted guy is huge for a team that needs point guard help. They've also signed Memphis' Moussa Cisse, a former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, to an Exhibit-10 contract.

Matthew Cleveland will begin his pro career on the Dallas Mavericks, per source.

The former five-star recruit and Miami star averaged 17.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while also shooting 38.2% on 3-pointers last season.

Full tracker: https://t.co/52vZfSXubP pic.twitter.com/VuGTo3j180
— Bryan Kalbrosky (@BryanKalbrosky) June 27, 2025

The Mavericks have also now added Matthew Cleveland to an Exhibit-10 contract. Cleveland is a 6'7" guard who started his career at Florida State before transferring and spending his last two seasons at FSU's rival, Miami. Cleveland, a former five-star prospect from Atlanta, won the ACC Sixth Man of the Year award as a freshman, but his teams at FSU weren't great and decimated with injuries.

He decided to transfer to Miami after the Hurricanes made their run to the Final Four, a costly decision, as the two Miami teams he was on were also bad. But it's not exactly a coincidence that Florida State improved (slightly) after he left and that Miami declined significantly once he transferred down.

Cleveland's base stats look great, averaging 17.6 PPG and 4.4 RPG in his senior season while shooting 51.1% from the floor and 38.2% from three. However, he doesn't handle physicality well, especially for someone who is 6'7" and an above-average athlete, and teams wanted him to shoot jumpshots. He may have shot 38%, but a decent amount of those were wide-open shots with the defense daring him to shoot.

Miami was a mess of a team last season that didn't believe in playing defense, seeing their head coach resign midseason. Cleveland has always had the tools to be a great defender and showed glimpses of it at FSU, but it hasn't shown up in full yet.

This article first appeared on Dallas Mavericks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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