The Dallas Mavericks have signed former Minnesota Timberwolves lottery pick Rashad McCants to a non-guaranteed contract for the rest of the preseason according to the Dallas Morning News' Eddie Sefko. McCants, a 6-foot-4 scorer, didn't play professional basketball last season due to a wealth of problems as chronicled by Tom Ziller here.

ESPN's Marc Stein goes a bit further, reporting that "there is a far better chance McCants winds up playing for the Mavericks' D-League affiliate (Texas Legends) in nearby Frisco than with the parent club."

This, of course, would be a huge coup for the Legends because they'll now be able to bring him in through the new NBA Development League allocation rules instead of having to use their first round draft pick on him when the D-League draft takes place on November 1, a draft McCants was apparently planning to be involved with before the Mavericks called according to Stein.

McCants, according to sources, was planning to submit his name for the D-League draft this month. By signing with Dallas this week, McCants removes himself from the D-League draft pool and must play for the expansion Legends -- co-owned by Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson -- if he wants to be a D-Leaguer this season and they want him.

I'm assuming right about now every D-League team is working hard to develop a better relationship with their NBA affiliates because, if not, they're going to keep falling further behind as the NBA teams take advantage of these loopholes.

Not-so-fun fact: McCants' basketball career has rapidly gone down hill since breaking up with Khloe Kardashian. I'm guessing the quality of his girlfriends has improved, however.