O.J. Mayo has been an enigma during his basketball career. Mayo was the
phenom that came to prominence when some of his high school games were
televised on ESPN. In his one season collegiately with The USC Trojans,
Mayo earned All Pac-10 First Team honors before he was deemed ineligible
by The NCAA for accepting improper benefits. Mayo was the third overall
pick of The 2008 National Basketball Association by The Minnesota
Timberwolves only to be traded later that night to The Memphis Grizzlies
for fellow Pac-10 standout Kevin Love. Mayo had four problematic years
in Memphis which saw him on the verge of being traded to The Indiana
Pacers at one time. Mayo had an altercation with teammate Tony Allen
which stemmed from an alleged debt by Mayo over a card game. Mayo was
suspended by The NBA in 2011 for 10 games as a result of a positive test
for dehydroepiandrosterone.
After The Grizzlies failed to give Mayo a qualifying offer last
summer, he became an unrestricted free-agent. Mayo appears to have found
a home in The Lone Star State after he signed a two-year, $8.5 million
deal with The Dallas Mavericks. Mayo was expected to be the sidekick to
11-time NBA All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki, but after the 7-foot German
had arthroscopic knee surgery in October which has kept him out of
action so far this season, Mayo has been the man that has kept The
Mavericks ship afloat.
assists (3.5), rebounds (4.0), and three-point field goal percentage
(.512) which he is leading the league in the latter. The Mavericks have
been hovering around the .500 mark all season without Nowitzki, but Mayo
is keeping the team relevant. Their are currently eight players in The
NBA that are averaging over 20 points per game this season and Mayo is
on that select list. On November 21, The New York Knicks rolled into
Dallas as the hottest team in The NBA. Mayo brought his “A” game that
night as The Mavericks defeated The Knicks 114-111. On December 8
against The Houston Rockets, Mayo went toe-to-toe with Rockets shooting
guard James Harden. Harden had 39 points, but Mayo dropped 40 points
along with 8 assists as The Mavs defeated The Rockets 116-99.
head coach Rick Carlisle for The Mavericks. Without Nowitzki’s presence,
Mayo is showcasing himself for the future. The Mavericks won The NBA
Championship in 2011, but they were the victims of The NBA Lockout and
the new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and owners.
Key players for The Mavs in the 2010-2011 season such as Jason Terry,
Tyson Chandler, DeShawn Stevenson, and Jason Kidd all left in
free-agency as the salary cap made it difficult for Dallas to retain
them. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and general manager Donnie Nelson could
come out of this process smelling like a rose as they appear to have
hit on Mayo. Although Nowitzki is 34-years old, he can still be a
formidable piece to The Mavericks team with Mayo providing a younger
presence. After four rocky years in Memphis, Mayo appears to have landed
on his feet in Dallas with a team that doesn’t appear to be rebuilding,
but retooling.
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