DALLAS - The Rockets need backcourt bench help, and that is the central reason they will acquire guard Jason Terry, a 2011 Mavs championship hero, in a trade. But the fact that Jet can be a tipping point in the burgeoning rivalry between his future club and his former club merits mention.
The Rockets will reportedly send Alonzo Gee to the Kings in the trade and will also receive a pair of second-round picks, including a pick the Kings, for whom Terry has been a non-issue since being acquired late last season. Terry, in 35 games with Brooklyn last season, averaging just 4.5 points on 36.2-percent shooting.
But Jet is, of course, a Dallas icon for his overflowing-with-confidence work leading up to and including the 2011 NBA title in which he outdueled Miami's LeBron James. Terry, 36, expressed a great deal of interest in rejoining the Mavs. Dallas respectfully declined in reciprocating that interest toward Terry, who lives in the DFW area.
"You never know," Jet recently told "Ben & Skin" on 105.3 The Fan. "But I'd like to come back and finish my career in Dallas and let it end in another hoisting of the banner. Because you know what? Dallas deserves to be a champion."
That's not happening with Jet in an actual uniform. Terry is in the final season of a contract that pays him $5.85 million, another factor in the disinterest of the Mavs, who would nevertheless someday be interested in having Terry be a part of their front office. But for now, he will represent the enemy... in every rivalry also highlighted by the Chandler Parsons acquisition by the Dallas Mavericks.
