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Monta Ellis has decided to opt out of his contract with the Dallas Mavericks and test free agency this coming offseason. It was a move that he made after news broke that the Mavericks would look to trade him if he chose to opt into the final year of his deal with the team. Now that he is set to hit free agency, there are going to be quite a few teams lined up to show interest in signing him.
According to a report from Chris Broussard, the Indiana Pacers are showing interest.
Source: Monta Ellis will not opt-in to the final yr of his contract & will thus become a free agent this summer. Indiana & Miami interested
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) June 24, 2015
During the 2014-15 NBA season with the Mavericks, Ellis ended up averaging 18.9 points, 4.1 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game. He shot 44.5 percent from the field overall and 28.5 percent from behind the three-point arc. Ellis would bring the exact type of scoring threat that the Pacers have been needing to put alongside Paul George for quite some time.
George is coming off of a gruesome broken leg that kept him out for all but six games of last season. It was a brutal injury to say the least, but it was impressive that he worked as hard as he did to come back during the regular season. Despite that fact, the Pacers need to bring in another lethal scorer to help take pressure off of his shoulders and to help take games over late in clutch situations.
Ellis has always been known as being a clutch scorer, but he has also been known as a bit of a ball hog throughout the majority of his career. That perception of him has changed over the past couple of seasons in Dallas, and former Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has done an excellent job in the same position with Dallas. It appeared that Ellis was much more of a playmaker for his teammates than he had been in years past, and that is a good sign for the Pacers.
Obviously the Pacers’ interest will depend quite heavily on what happens with both David West and Roy Hibbert. They are both able to opt into their final contract years as well, and it is likely that they will do so. Perhaps Larry Bird can convince West to opt out and come back for less money in order to sign Ellis, but there is still a chance that Hibbert will choose to leave Indiana with their change in offensive system.
Hearing their interest this early on in Ellis’ free agency process is a very exciting piece of news for Pacers fans. It shows that Bird is truly trying to go out and make some big moves to change the team up from last season. Indiana is going to be very aggressive this offseason, and Ellis would be a perfect addition to their roster.
Evan Massey is a featured writer for www.RantSports.com, and contributes across the NFL, MLB, NCAA and NBA portions of the site. Follow him on Twitter at @Massey_Evan and like him on Facebook.
