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Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will be signing with the Dallas Mavericks upon clearing waivers. No surprise there. They’ve been linked with him for awhile.
Forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has agreed to sign with the Dallas Mavericks, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 11, 2020
According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon of ESPN, the Charlotte Hornets are finalizing a buyout with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Reporting with @espn_macmahon: Charlotte is finalizing a contract buyout with F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Dallas has emerged as a possible destination once MKG clears waivers.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2020
As Wojanrowski notes in the Tweet, the Dallas Mavericks look to be the front runners to acquire Kidd-Gilchrist’s services.
It’s somewhat odd that the Hornets weren’t able to work out a trade with the Mavericks considering they were rumored to have interest last week and they have an expiring contract that easily matches up with MKG’s. Maybe the Mavericks figured they could wait it out with the expectation that the Hornets would buy out MKG after the deadline.
Kidd-Gilchrist had spent all eight of his NBA seasons with the Bobcats/Hornets since he was selected second overall in 2012. A broken jump shot has prevented him from becoming the long term high-impact player he was pegged to be coming out of Kentucky. His playing time had been cut drastically under head coach James Borrego and he never looked to be in the long term plans of the new front office.
He’ll try to latch on with a contending team as a hybrid forward that can give good defensive minutes off the bench.