DALLAS — The Mavericks have re-signed Dwight Powell, extending one of the NBA’s most durable relationships and once again confirming that every Dallas era eventually ends with Powell still sitting in the locker room.
Powell has now survived stars, coaches, executives, rebuilds, retools, emergency retools and several organizational plans that were introduced as permanent.
The franchise has changed identities so many times around him that team employees reportedly stopped updating his onboarding paperwork years ago.
‘At this point Dwight doesn’t re-sign with Dallas,’ one fictional staffer said. ‘Dallas re-signs with Dwight.’
Former cornerstones have arrived, departed and occasionally become opposing cornerstones while Powell has remained in roughly the same place, politely setting screens and waiting for somebody to explain the next phase.
League sources say even the trade deadline has learned not to bother.
‘The trade deadline gets traded around him,’ one executive explained.
Dallas historians are reportedly debating whether Powell should still be listed as a player or simply recognized as a fixed feature of the building, alongside the hardwood, locker stalls and emergency exits.
The veteran has made no public claim that he intends to outlast the next Mavericks core, but nobody inside the organization is willing to rule it out.
One employee reportedly found an old franchise timeline showing several different stars, three coaching staffs and a blank space labeled NEXT ERA.
Powell was already sitting underneath it.
At this point, nobody is entirely sure he can leave.
