The Dallas Mavericks on Friday signed swingman Kelenna Azubuike, who has not played in the NBA in more than a year.
Azubuike played three-plus seasons with the Golden State Warriors before suffering a torn patellar tendon in November 2010. He missed the remainder of that season and that summer was shipped to the New York Knicks as part of the David Lee sign-and-trade deal.
Azubuike became one of the many revolving salary cap slots held by the Knicks over the last couple of years. He was waived Feb. 28, 2011, never playing a game for the Knicks.
When he did play, the 6-5 Azubuike wasn’t bad. In 205 games, he has averaged 10.6 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 46 percent overall and 41 percent from 3-point range. His best season was 2008-09, when he averaged 14.4 points and 5.0 rebounds in 74 games.
The injury to Shawn Marion has left Dallas short at small forward. The Mavericks have been using shooting guard Vince Carter at small forward, and Lamar Odom and Brian Cardinal have played some minutes at the position as well.
The addition of Azubuike maxes out the Mavs’ roster at 15. On Thursday, they cleared room by waiving forward Sean Williams.