DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks announced today they have signed free agents Josh Akognon, Tu Holloway and DJ Mbenga to complete their training camp roster. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Akognon (5-11, 185) is a Petaluma, Calif., native who started his collegiate career at Washington StateUniversity before transferring to California State University, Fullerton. As a junior, he led the Titans to a Big West regular season title, Big West Tournament Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time in 30 years. As a senior, Akognon was named Big West Conference Player of the Year after averaging 23.9 points per game.
Holloway (6-0, 190) played collegiately at Xavier University and went undrafted in the 2012 NBA Draft. In his four years as a Musketeer, he played in 134 games and held career averages of 13.7 points, 4.1 assists and 1.2 steals per contest. As a junior, Holloway was Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and earned Third Team All-America honors from the Associated Press while averaging 19.7 points and 5.4 assists a game.
Mbenga (7-0, 240) is native of Congo who was originally signed by Dallas as a rookie free agent on July 14, 2004 after playing with the Mavericks summer league squad. In his first stint with Dallas he saw action in 79 games averaging 1.3 points and 0.9 rebounds. Mbenga was waived by Dallas on Oct. 30, 2007. Since his time inDallas, Mbenga has played for Golden State, L.A. Lakers and New Orleans. He holds career averages of 1.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 234 games (4 starts).
Below is the Mavericks’ training camp roster:
No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate Prior to NBA/Home Country NBA Exp
10 Josh Akognon G 5-11 185 2/10/86 California State, Fullerton R
3 Rodrigue Beaubois G 6-2 182 2/24/88 Cholet/Guadeloupe 3
42 Elton Brand F 6-9 255 3/11/79 Duke/USA 13
25 Vince Carter G/F 6-6 220 1/26/77 North Carolina/USA 14
4 Darren Collison G 6-0 160 8/23/87 UCLA/USA 3
9 Jae Crowder F 6-6 235 7/6/90 Marquette/USA R
1 Jared Cunningham G 6-4 194 5/22/91 Oregon State/USA R
52 Tu Holloway G 6-0 190 8/21/89 Xavier/USA R
5 Bernard James F/C 6-10 240 2/7/85 Florida State/USA R
30 Dahntay Jones G/F 6-6 225 12/27/80 Duke/USA 9
20 Dominique Jones G 6-5 215 10/15/88 South Florida/USA 2
35 Chris Kaman C 7-0 265 4/28/82 Central Michigan/USA 9
0 Shawn Marion F 6-7 228 5/7/78 UNLV/USA 13
32 O.J. Mayo G 6-4 210 11/5/87 USC/USA 4
28 DJ Mbenga C 7-0 240 12/30/80 Pallacanestro Varese/Congo 7
41 Dirk Nowitzki F 7-0 245 6/19/78 Würzburg/Germany 14
13 Delonte West G 6-3 180 7/26/83 St. Joseph’s/USA 8
34 Brandan Wright F/C 6-10 210 10/5/87 North Carolina/USA 4
© 2012 Dallas Mavericks
by Matt Silverston
