Mavericks waive-and-stretch Olivier-Maxence Prosper, clearing way for Dante Exum signing
Kyrie Irving will miss most, if not all, of the coming season due to a torn ACL, which has Dallas wanting to bring in some point guard depth behind D’Angelo Russell. Specifically, the Mavericks plan to re-sign Dante Exum, who has been with the team for a couple of seasons but is now a free agent.
To make that happen, the Mavericks are waiving and stretching 2023 first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper, a story broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
This was not a surprise. Dallas is hard-capped at the second apron and was within $1.5 million of that line, it needed to clear cap space to sign Exum, even to a veteran minimum contract. The team had tried to trade Prosper, but other teams wanted a second-round pick attached to take on his $3 million contract. Dallas could create enough space to sign Exum by waiving and stretching Prosper, spreading his $3 million over three seasons on the books.
Once Prosper clears waivers, expect the Mavericks to announce the deal with Exum.
Prosper becomes a free agent and has shown enough flashes in Dallas to garner interest from other NBA teams.
Seahawks South is the weirdest storyline of Seattle's 2025 season
Seattle Seahawks fans are going to be conflicted this year. Sure, 12s are still going to root full-on for their team, but something quite odd is happening this season, too. In a strange twist of fate, the Las Vegas Raiders will basically be Seahawks South in 2025.
Vegas will not just have former long-term Seattle head coach Pete Carroll as their own head coach this year, but three-year starter Geno Smith will have the same role for the Raiders. But the recently departed Seahawks don't stop there. Jamal Adams will be part of Vegas, too.
This is where things get complicated. Pete Carroll is always going to be a beloved person to most 12s. He was an optimistic guy who was a good person, and also just happened to lead the team to its highest sustained level of success. He didn't want to leave when he did; the Seahawks told him he needed to go.
2025 is destined to be a very strange season for Seattle Seahawks fans
Geno Smith wanted out. He was a fairly divisive figure among Seahawks fans anyway. He was a productive quarterback who made far too many errors at crucial times. He led the league in red-zone interceptions in 2024, for instance. But was the team better because Smith was QB1? Absolutely.
Jamal Adams was great for the Seattle Seahawks...for one year. After the team overpaid to acquire him from the New York Jets in 2020, Adams had 9.5 sacks (an NFL record for a defensive back) in year one. He would never have another sack for the team in three more seasons.
A lot of the reason for that might be that the safety was injured so much that he rarely played. Had he played more, maybe he would have supplied more quarterback pressures while being terrible in coverage.
He also had a weird spat with a Jets reporter where Adams rudely posted about the reporter's girlfriend, and the safety also left the stadium (or stayed home) before Week 15 of the 2023 season after being told he wasn't going to play. Not a team-first guy at the time.
Still, watching Carroll roam the sidelines, Smith lead the Raiders' offense, and Adams play inside linebacker (yes, he changed positions) for Las Vegas is going to be a slightly out-of-body experience for Seattle Seahawks fans. 2025 is going to be a very strange season, though hopefully a great one for a 12th person's favorite team.
