[ESPN] Terry re-ups with Mavs

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2506660

Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry made it as close to official as the rules allow Saturday, telling ESPN.com that he has accepted the Mavericks' contract offer.

"Yes sir," Terry said. "I'm not going anywhere. I just want to stay with the team and the city that's been faithful to me."

Terry and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban have both made it clear in recent days that they expected a quick resolution to the negotiations. Negotiations began one minute past midnight Saturday and a verbal agreement was reached by lunchtime on a six-year deal believed to be worth more than $50 million.

Terry can't officially sign his new contract until July 12 and the Mavs are precluded by league rules from commenting before that date. But the 28-year-old struggled to contain his glee over the phone from his hometown of Seattle.

"I was very fortunate when this team got me out of Atlanta," Terry said of the August 2004 trade that brought him to the Mavs as their replacement for Steve Nash.

"The city of Dallas embraced me right away and I'll never forget that. This is where I've always wanted to be. I was not going to go around and search for offers or make visits or anything like that."

Terry was also motivated to sign quickly because of his previous free-agent experience. In the summer of 2003, as a restricted free agent, he signed a three-year offer sheet with Utah that the Hawks ultimately matched, but those steps didn't take place until late in the offseason.

"That was the longest summer of my life," Terry said. "That whole process went down to the last possible day. This summer, I wanted to get it over as quickly as possible."