Former Stony Brook Basketball star Jameel Warney has signed a partially guaranteed contract with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, according to multiple sources. Michael Scotto of the Associated Press was the first to report the deal.
Warney, now the first Stony Brook player to ever be listed on an NBA roster, will be under contract through the team’s official training camp prior to the 2016-17 NBA season. According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the deal is two years, hinging on whether the center makes the permanent roster.
During the preseason, which includes six to eight exhibition games, Warney will have an opportunity to win a spot in the team’s regular season rotation.
Warney played six games for the Mavericks at Las Vegas Summer League on June 24. He came off the bench to back up A.J. Hammons — the Mavericks’ second-round draft pick and a former Purdue center — during his stint in Las Vegas.
In that time, Warney outperformed Hammons, averaging 6.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game to Hammons’s 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Hammons signed a guaranteed three-year deal with Dallas on July 8.
“I learned a lot from [Las Vegas Summer League],” Warney said. “I learned a lot playing against great competition and it was a great confidence booster for me to just know I can play against guys like this.”
Warney grabbed 27 offensive rebounds throughout his six games in the league, averaging 9.8 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes.
Warney’s competition pool has swelled to include the likes of Quincy Acy and Salah Mejri, two players on the Mavericks’ roster with NBA experience. The pair are known for their rebounding, which Warney lists as one of his greatest strengths.
“It would be great to be the first to do something — anybody would say that,” Warney said. “It would be a great honor to make an NBA roster but being the first one from Stony Brook, it would mean so much to me. It just shows how far the program has come.”
