Dallas Mavericks Guard Monta Ellis Opts Out Of Contract; Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers Interested

Veteran NBA guard Monta Ellis has opted out of the final year of his contract with the Dallas Mavericks and is now a free agent. According to reports, two teams -- the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers -- are interested in acquiring Ellis.

Chris Broussard of ESPN reported the development on Twitter.

The 29-year-old Ellis was a second-round pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, but proved himself a worthy starter in the league in his second year with the Golden State Warriors, where he played from 2005 to 2012. He remained a potent scorer after moving on to the Milwaukee Bucks (2011 to 2013) and Mavericks (2013 to 2015).

Ellis, who has career regular season averages of 19.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game, chose to let go of a $8.7 million salary for 2015 with hopes that he gets a long-term deal either with the Mavericks or another NBA team.

The Pacers and Heat are most likely to give him the starting shooting guard spot or the sixth man spot. With the Pacers, he can start alongside star forward Paul George, point guard George Hill, power forward David West and possibly Roy Hibbert, if he stays in Indiana. With the Heat, he will either be a starter or be the primary guard off the bench with the team still in negotiations with its previous starting backcourt of Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade.