Mavs Ex Dwight Powell Signs On For New Adventure In EuroLeague

In a move that Kyrie Irving called "heartbreaking,'' the Dallas Mavs this year moved on from long-time stalwart Dwight Powell.

But Powell isn't moving on from pro basketball just yet.

Powell, 35, is now headed to the EuroLeague just a couple of weeks after the Mavs made the difficult decision to eliminate him from the roster.

Where's he going>

Fenerbahçe, the Istanbul club that won the 2025 EuroLeague title, is finalizing a one-year contract with the athletic center, according to a report from BasketNews.

Word is there were a host of other EuroLeague teams who were showing strong interest in signing the classy 6-11 Powell, who spent training camp on a one-year, minimum-salary contract that carried a $1 million partial guarantee.

He played in three of Dallas’ four preseason games and averaged 1.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 12.1 minutes. The Mavericks waived him two days before their season opener against the Houston Rockets and essentially kept second-year center Moussa Cissé over him.

“I think Dwight Powell, in my short stint here this summer, this fall, up until this season, his professionalism, his attitude, he exemplified everything that you want a Maverick to be about,” new Mavs coach Dusty May said. “And so I just want to say thanks to him. He certainly had an impact on all of us as a player here in the organization.”

Masai Ujiri, the Mavericks’ president of basketball operations, called Powell “the consummate professional” in a team statement that day. The statement also covered Powell’s work in the Dallas community, where he was a finalist for the NBA Cares Community Assist Award in 2018-19, and said Dallas will always be a home for him.

Indeed, there is talk of Powell someday going into coaching - maybe back in Dallas. But for now, after a dozen seasons with Dallas, Powell is going overseas to try to help a Fenerbahce team that under coach Šarūnas Jasikevičius has gone to the Final Four in each of the last three seasons.

Powell does offer some "international'' flavor as he was born in Toronto and helped Canada win bronze at the 2023 FIBA World Cup while also having played for Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics.