BOSTONO.J. Mayo doesn't give much thought to trade talks, so he has no idea exactly how close he was to becoming a Boston Celtic near the trading deadline last spring.
But this summer when he hit the free agent market, he says the C's were indeed one of the teams in the hunt for his services.
"There was definite interest in talking to them (this past summer) and seeing what we could work out," said Mayo, who instead signed a two-year deal with a player option for the second year, with the Dallas Mavericks this past summer.
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Mayo isn't about to play the "what-if" game, but it's clear that the pace in which he wanted to make a decision this past summer and C's timeline for adding players, was not in synch.
"I don't think we moved as fast as they would like and they made some other signings," Mayo said. "It's all good."
As fate would have it, the C's desire to add a player quickly on the perimeter netted them Jason Terry whose departure from Dallas created a need for the Mavericks who later added Mayo.
Mayo has indeed benefited from a change of scenery and to an even greater extent, a more prominent role with the Mavericks.
He has emerged as one of the league's top scorers this season, averaging 20.8 points per game which ranks 10th in the league.
Mayo has been even more lethal from 3-point range where he's shooting a league-best 53 percent with many contested in large part because Dallas is playing without its franchise big man Dirk Nowitzki (right knee).
He is having the kind of season that makes it more likely he will opt out of the second year of his contract that currently pays him 4 million a year.
While Mayo says he has not given any thought to next summer when he could potentially be a free agent once again, he has given it enough thought to not rule out any team - even the Celtics.
"At the end of the day you want to be in the NBA and play for any city," Mayo said. "Obviously Boston has championships, great fan base that it has, history that it has, brings some extra excitement. At the end of the day, I'm blessed being in the NBA playing for any team."