NBA's Dallas Mavericks is considering offering two-time CBA MVP Ding Yanyuhang a contract for the team's training camp in autumn so Ding can play for Dallas against the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA China Games in Shanghai and Shenzhen on October 5 and 8 respectively, wrote Mike Fisher for 247 Sports on Sunday.
A contract for training camp only allows a player to join the team before the NBA's regular season starts. If he plays well enough, the team may offer another contract that allows him to play in the regular season. However, since such a contract is not guaranteed, the player can get cut any time during the season with no compensation.
Ding played for Dallas in the 2017 NBA Summer League in both Orlando and Las Vegas. He got 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in the game against the Detroit Pistons and helped his teammate make a buzzer beater with a pass. However, his time on court was reduced in Las Vegas and became marginalized. After the Summer League, the Mavericks offered a two-way contract, which is also not guaranteed and was turned down by Ding.
Before departing for the United States, Ding hired a team to make contact with multiple NBA teams, giving him more options than sticking to Dallas alone. He came to the NBA to earn a spot as a real player, instead of as a poster boy for the Chinese market.
According to ESPN's analysis of the likely picks, odds and stakes for every team in the coming 2018 NBA Draft, the Mavericks has a 42.6-percent chance to get a Top-3 pick and is likely to pick between a quartet of big men in Jaren Jackson Jr., Marvin Bagley III, Mohamed Bamba and Wendell Carter Jr. All of these are centers and thus should have no direct competition with Ding. If he stays in Dallas in the end, he may have a chance to stay there longer.
