Heading into Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks had a midnight deadline to make a decision on Reggie Bullock's contract. Bullock signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Mavs in the summer of 2021, and the final year of that deal, worth $10.5 million, wasn't fully guaranteed until now.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Mavs are fully guaranteeing the final year of Bullock's contract ahead of free agency. Although his production was inconsistent last season on both ends of the court, having Bullock on a $10.5 million expiring contract is worth more to the Mavs than letting him go for nothing.
Bullock is coming off a season where he averaged 7.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 38 percent from deep. That points average was Bullock's lowest since his 2016-17 season with the Detroit Pistons.
Perhaps he can have a bounce-back season in what will be a contract year for him, or perhaps the Mavs will be able to use his expiring contract in a trade package – for example, Dallas had discussions with the Phoenix Suns about Deandre Ayton on draft night that fell apart, and those talks could be revisited at some point.
Bullock was a vital part of the Mavs' run to the Western Conference Finals in the 2021-22 season. After Dallas missed the postseason entirely last season, maybe the longer-than-usual offseason is what Bullock needs to get back to being that 3-and-D wing we saw during that WCF run.
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