Report: Lance Stephenson verbally agreed to join the Dallas Mavericks this offseason

Lance Stephenson and the Dallas Mavericks came to an agreement this offseason, but the deal ultimately died because of Dallas’ dealings with Chandler Parsons.

The Charlotte Hornets made one of the bigger moves of the NBA’s 2014 offseason by signing do-it-all shooting guard Lance Stephenson. However, the Hornets very nearly missed out on Stephenson.

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A few days before Stephenson and the Hornets agreed to terms, the guard verbally agreed to join the Dallas Mavericks, according to Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling.

"By the weekend of July 11, both sides had verbally committed to a two-year contract worth slightly more than Stephenson’s eventual deal with the Hornets, according to Ebanks. But Dallas was in a holding pattern; the Houston Rockets first had to match Chandler Parsons’ Mavericks offer, or it wouldn’t happen.“It was a domino effect,” Ebanks said. “Dallas did not think that Houston was going to let Parsons walk. Lance was very close to being a member of the Mavericks. When you’re a little further along into free agency, people are more in the position to pull the trigger when they see what they’re looking for.”"

In an alternate reality, if the Houston Rockets had matched Dallas’ three-year, $46 million offer to Chandler Parsons, Stephenson would be preparing for his first season playing alongside Dirk Nowitzki.

Instead, the Hornets were the team that got Stephenson at a reasonable price of $27.4 million over three years.

Stephenson averaged 13.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game this past season as a member of the Indiana Pacers.

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