MEXICO CITY -- Through 14 seasons, the unlikely journey of the Dallas Mavericks' J.J. Barea has seen the 5-foot-10 guard scrap his way onto an NBA roster as an undrafted free agent, transform into a key contributor on a championship team and seize the attention of budding superstars.
"No one gave him a snowball's chance in hell to be an NBA player," said Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey, an assistant in Dallas from 2008-11. "But his work ethic was key, and he worked harder than anybody I've ever seen."
The journey's most recent leg has Barea well into his second stint in Dallas as a wily veteran on a talented squad making a run at this season's stacked Western Conference.