- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- O.J. Mayo returns to Memphis tonight.
The Dallas Mavericks have lost four of five and come into Memphis on a second night of a back-to-back following a 110-95 home loss to the Heat on Thursday night.
Three things on my mind about tonight’s game:
1. The Return of O.J. Mayo: The first appearance by Mayo at FedExForum in a different uniform is a storyline that threatens to obscure the rest of the game. Mayo’s played at a borderline All-Star level for the Mavericks — leading his new team with 20.2 points per game and leading the NBA with 50% three-point shooting — this season, becoming the latest in a now disturbingly long screen of recent, young ex-Grizzlies to depart the team and play better, following Kyle Lowry, DeMarre Carroll, and Greivis Vasquez and joining Jeremy Pargo, who’s also demanding entry in that club this season.
A litany of things went wrong with Mayo in Memphis: Getting cut from Team USA in favor of both teammate Rudy Gay and positional rival Eric Gordon. The move to the bench. (Which made sense based on the roster, but with which Mayo, despite saying the right things, never seemed really comfortable.) The fight with Tony Allen. The suspension. The oft-stated desire to play point guard, which was followed with a dismissive reaction from his coach and an utter failure to play the position when opportunities nonetheless presented themselves. A shifting pecking order based on performance, usage, and order of impending free agency that made it clear that a big contract extension from the Grizzlies would never be forthcoming.
All of this seemed to create a situation where a one-time presumed star morphed into an unhappy if generally professional-about-it role player. Even if the financial picture made retaining Mayo unlikely (and he certainly would never have returned to Memphis for the money Dallas paid), clearly the Grizzlies witnessed a major asset decline in value precipitously
