Dallas and Orlando had exploratory talks last week regarding Dwight Howard and "will probably talk again,'' Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson confirmed.

Terms of a potential deal have not moved beyond the preliminary stage.

"There's just not much there,'' Nelson said.

One source indicated the Mavericks are holding out hope that Howard stays in Orlando through next season, or goes to Houston as a one-year rental.

Dallas could have enough cap space next summer to sign Howard to a max-level deal.

The Mavericks signed rookie forward Bernard James to a one-year contract worth $473,604.

James was selected with the 33rd overall pick in last month’s draft after averaging 10.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game during his senior season at Florida State.

James, 27, served six years in the Air Force, including tours to Iraq, Afghanistan and Qatar.

Delonte West has agreed to re-sign with the Mavericks.

West signed with Dallas last offseason.

The following 36 NBA players are currently under contract for the 12-13 season and are on their respective country's Olympic rosters:

Atlanta Hawks - no players

Boston Celtics - no players

Brooklyn Nets - Deron Williams (USA)

Charlotte Bobcats - no players

Chicago Bulls - Luol Deng (Great Britain)

Cleveland Cavaliers - Anderson Varejao (Brazil)

Dallas Mavericks - no players

Denver Nuggets - Timofey Mozgov (Russia)

Detroit Pistons - no players

Golden State Warriors - no players

Houston Rockets - no players

Indiana Pacers - no players

Los Angeles Clippers - Chris Paul (USA)

Los Angeles Lakers - Kobe Bryant (USA), Pau Gasol (Spain)

Memphis Grizzlies - Marc Gasol (Spain) 

Miami Heat - LeBron James (USA)

Milwaukee Bucks - no players

Minnesota Timberwolves - Kevin Love (USA), Alexey Shved (Russia)

New Orleans Hornets - Anthony Davis (USA), Al-Farouq Aminu (Nigeria)

New York Knicks - Carmelo Anthony (USA), Tyson Chandler (USA), Pablo Prigioni (Argentina)

Oklahoma City Thunder - Kevin Durant (USA), Russell Westbrook (USA), James Harden (USA), Serge Ibaka (Spain)

Orlando Magic - no players

Philadelphia 76ers - Andre Iguodala (USA)

Phoenix Suns - Luis Scola (Argentina)

Portland Trail Blazers - Nicolas Batum (France), Victor Claver (Spain), Joel Freeland (Great Britain)

Sacramento Kings - no players

San Antonio Spurs - Tony Parker (France), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Boris Diaw (France), Tiago Splitter (Brazil), Patty Mills (Australia), Nando De Colo (France)

Toronto Raptors - Jose Calderon (Spain), Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania), Linas Klezia (Lithuania)

Utah Jazz - no players

Washington Wizards - Nene (Brazil), Kevin Seraphin (France)

• Click here to view the full Olympic rosters.

While teams over the luxury tax will be hurt financially with a punitive penalty, the limitations of sign-and-trades for those teams will be even more of an issue in the eyes of Mark Cuban.

"The financial side isn't the big hurdle," Cuban said. "That's just money. It's the flexibility. I don't want to be in a position where I can't do a sign-and-trade for somebody if that can help my team. I can't get a free agent because I have no cap room -- all I have is $3 million -- and I can't do a sign-and-trade. The trades are limited to 125 percent [in matching salary], so you can't be that team that takes on a bunch of bad contracts. ... That's how we've always done it, taking somebody else's mistakes."

Under the previous CBA, the Mavericks frequently agreed to sign-and-trades while already being over the tax threshold.

"It's tougher to put finishing pieces in place," Cuban said. "And it's tougher to trade your way to a championship team if you're over the tax. You're going to have to take a step back and create flexibility in order to do the trades because otherwise, if you're already over the tax, you're stuck.

"Everybody's saying, 'Oh, there's all these people spending all this money,' " Cuban said. "There's what, seven teams that went crazy early on and spent all the money, and 23 did nothing except re-sign their own guys or a little play here or there? So I think it's dramatically changed the activities. Maybe we're all wrong and the seven teams that went crazy are right. We'll see."

Donnie Nelson believes the Mavericks would have been able to re-sign Jason Terry and Jason Kidd had they been able to reach an agreement with Deron Williams.

Nelson described the stretch of losing out on Williams, followed by the departures of Terry and Kidd as the toughest since he has been with the Mavericks.

“It was really a difficult time for us,'' Nelson told the Arlington-based radio network. “We were really hopeful that we would be able to bang home the D-Will thing, in which case I think [Terry and Kidd] would probably be back.''

The Mavericks, with two spaces to fill on their roster, are hoping to fill one of them with Delonte West.

“We’ve got 15 spots and 13 players are under contract,’’ general manager Donnie Nelson said. “We’ve got a little work to do yet, hopefully Delonte will slide into one of those spots.

“If that’s the case that’ll be great.’’

West averaged 9.6 points and 3.2 assists in 44 games for the Mavericks this past season.

“We’re still in negotiations with his agent and we’re hopeful that we can work something out,’’ Nelson said. “Obviously he’s got options and he’s got to sort through those.

“Some of those are timing issues there. We’ve just got to continue to negotiate and talk and see if there’s a fit there.’’

Joel Przybilla is considering overtures from the Blazers, Mavericks and Bucks.

A 12-year veteran, Przybilla spent last season in Portland, where he averaged 2 points and 5.1 rebounds in 16.6 minutes per game.

Terry Stotts has emerged as a candidate for Portland’s coaching vacancy, a source confirmed.

Stotts currently serves as the Mavericks’ offensive coordinator.

"Of all the coaches presently in play, Terry is by far the best available," Rick Carlisle said. "He's a professional and understands the process of NBA coaching and how to communicate and teach young players."

The Mavericks have signed first-round draft pick Jared Cunningham, according to an ESPN.com report.

Terms were not disclosed. 

Cunningham was the 24th overall selection in the NBA draft by the Cavaliers He was acquired by the Mavericks last month, along with the draft rights to Bernard James, the 33rd overall pick, and 34th overall pick Jae Crowder, in exchange for guard Kelenna Azubukie and the draft rights to the 17th overall pick in the draft, Tyler Zeller.