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Just four games into the Zaccharie Risacher Experience, the Dallas Mavericks seem to be having a good time.
A good enough time that the team announced on Wednesday, before the team’s 120-96 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, that they would pick up the fourth-year team option on Risacher’s rookie deal. After the announcement, Dallas is on the hook for just over $17.4 million for Risacher next year, or just over nine percent of the salary cap. His $13.8 million this season accounts for just over 8.3 percent of the cap.
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The deadline to extend Risacher at that number was Friday.
It’s just your standard rookie scale fourth-year extension, but it shows that the Mavericks have confidence that Risacher is worth developing. He’s in his third year in the NBA, so he may feel like more of a finished product than he really is, but it’s important to remember that he’s still just 21 years old. It’s certainly possible that a huge leap in production is in the cards for the Frenchman picked No. 1 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks.
The offensive production entering Wednesday’s game was hit-or-miss through the first four games of Risacher’s tenure with the Mavs, but his defensive presence has been undeniable. He averaged eight points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots per game in the small sample to begin the year. His career averages entering this season were 11.1 points and 3.8 boards per game.
“It’s his motor and his conditioning,” Mavericks head coach Dusty May said in his pregame comments before the matchup against the Thunder, when asked what makes Risacher a good fit alongside Cooper Flagg. “The guy never gets tired. He’s a cyborg. … As his intensity and motor [have] improved, his defensive rebounding — the extra possessions he gives us just by getting a fingertip on the ball. Obviously, the weak-side blocks — there’s a residual effect of those. So he’s kind of reinventing himself where, even though he’s not shooting nearly as well as he always has, he’s found a lot of value in other parts of the game.”
It’s true. His shooting splits have been abysmal to start the season….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cyborg-mavericks-don-t-mind-110800134.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-29 11:08:00
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