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MAVERICKS SIGN FORWARD-CENTER DREW GOODEN

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks announced today they have signed forward/center Drew Gooden. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gooden (6-10, 230) has seen action in 510 games with 396 starts. He holds career averages of 12.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 28.1 minutes per game while shooting .471 from the field and .732 from the foul line. Gooden played the final 19 games of last season with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds in just 16.8 minutes per contest.

The seven-year veteran was originally selected in the first round (fourth overall pick) of the 2002 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies and has seen action with six different teams (Memphis, Orlando, Cleveland, Chicago, Sacramento and San Antonio). Statistically, Gooden saw his best season in 2004-05 when we nearly averaged a double-double for Cleveland generating 14.4 points and 9.2 rebounds while playing in all 82 games (80 starts).

A native of Oakland, Calif., Gooden is a former standout at the University of Kansas where he was named Big 12 Player of the Year and First Team All-America by The Associated Press as a junior. In just three seasons at KU, Gooden was only the second player in school history (Danny Manning) to record 1,500 points, 900 rebounds, 100 blocks and 100 steals.

"We are very pleased to add Drew to our front line for the upcoming season," President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Donnie Nelson said. "Drew is a veteran player with NBA Finals experience that is entering the prime of his career at 27 years old. He will provide valuable minutes at both the center and power forward positions with his tenacity in the paint, rebounding and ability to knock down shots."