Larry Sanders bowed out of the NBA spotlight faster than his sudden rise with the Milwaukee Bucks.
It's scary to conceive the current Bucks roster with its rising stars and Sanders at the middle. However, that possibility shattered when Sanders suddenly quit on the game and agreed to a buyout.
Still, centers are hard to come by in the NBA, ask the Dallas Mavericks who lost out on one of the young defensive centers (DeAndre Jordan) in the offseason.
The Mavericks filled their roster with stopgap solutions and risky solutions for the slotman position but there is still no clarity for them. Enter the Larry Sanders rumors via
a tweet from Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times.
"You knew this was inevitable: A source tells me a Western Conference team has had internal talks about possibly signing Larry Sanders."
While this sounded like a reasonable possibility, NBC Sports remained skeptical on whether it will work.
"Sanders was facing issues bigger than basketball when he accepted his buyout, and I'm not sure he's ready to return to the NBA," Dan Feldman of NBC wrote. "Any team considering signing him must also weigh the locker-room factors that led to his exit from Milwaukee. With guaranteed money from the Bucks still coming in, how motivated is he to stay within the lines?"
He also asked: "And what's the upside? Sanders wasn't the same player the last couple years. I'm not sure sitting out has done him any favors."
The Mavericks were already considering Javale McGee and Samuel Dalembert as possible options, so Sanders wasn't quite a shocker for a desperate team willing to try anything.
The Mavs would look beyond the conflicts with the coach, barfights, marijuana possession and other off-court issues of Sanders and focus on the promising potential of this derailed star on the rise.
If he is in condition, Sanders could still be a force since he's just 26 years old. He could still carve a meaningful career in the NBA-if he is focused enough.