BYU Basketball: Kyle Collinsworth to play for Dallas summer league team

Kyle Collinsworth will play for the Dallas Mavericks in this year’s summer league, and he has a lot riding on a successful showing in Sin City.

Former BYU Basketball star Kyle Collinsworth is no stranger to the summer league.

In 2016, he played in the Las Vegas Summer League for the Dallas Mavericks after his senior season for the Cougars, and it jumpstarted his professional career.

Thanks to his play in Vegas, he signed with Dallas’ G-League affiliate, the Texas Legends. From there, he earned a two-way NBA contract in 2017, and signed a guaranteed NBA contract with the Mavericks late last season.

Now he’s back at the beginning.

Collinsworth is a late addition to Dallas’ summer league team. As a player with NBA experience, he’ll be expected to dominate the game, not just contribute.

When Collinsworth signed his NBA contract earlier this year, it guaranteed his salary for the rest of the season, but his salary and spot on the Mavericks’ roster for 2018-19 wasn’t guaranteed.

It’s a near certainty that Dallas will waive Collinsworth. They don’t have much choice, since they need to shed salary to make room for newly signed DeAndre Jordan.

So Collinsworth needs to use this summer league opportunity to make a statement. He’ll need to impress another team enough to earn an NBA contract. Otherwise, he’ll be sliding backwards in his career and have to start at least part of the journey again.

In all likelihood, he’ll be able to find another two-way NBA contract, similar to what he signed with the Mavericks heading into the 2017-18 season. It will be a slight step back, but it still keeps his foot in the NBA’s door.

If he’s not able to sign with an NBA team, he’ll face two choices if he wants to remain a professional basketball player: return to the G-League full-time or head overseas to play.

There’s a lot riding on these next couple of weeks in Sin City for the former Cougar star.

Dallas Mavericks’ summer league schedule:

• vs. Phoenix Suns (Friday, July 6th at 9:30pm ET, ESPN)
• vs. Milwaukee Bucks (Sunday, July 8th at 7:00pm ET, NBAtv)
• vs. Golden State Warriors (Monday, July 9th at 7:30pm ET, NBAtv)