Vince Carter leaving Dallas for Memphis

DALLAS -- The Mavs were hoping to bring back Vince Carter under the terms of what would've been a Room MLE two-year, $5.6-million deal. The Grizzlies' three-year, $12-million deal obviously trumps that. ... and off he goes, Dallas losing the scoring, leadership and class of their 37-year-old future Hall-of-Famer.

There was a two-year price Carter would've waited for in Dallas, we are told, but it was too large to pull off while the Mavs' money is locked up in the Chandler Parsons bid.

So the Mavs - still hoping that late Sunday night Houston will decline to match on Parsons, freeing him to become the Mavs' starting small forward, remain in need of shooters. An assortment of Plan C's remain on the greaseboard. They include a low-priced shooting point guard like Mo Williams and a high-priced second-tier star small forward like Trevor Ariza and lots of guys in between, including Shawn Marion, unless he follows Carter's lead and accepts to sort of offers that are about to flow in now that the LeBron Logjam (to Cleveland) is opened up.