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Happenings in NBA offseason

The Seattle SuperSonics re-signed center Vitaly Potapenko on Tuesday, filling a void left when Jerome James signed in July with the New York Knicks. Last year, Potapenko played in just 33 games for Seattle after missing the first six weeks of the season with a broken bone in his right hand. He averaged 3.5 points and 2.4 rebounds. Potapenko was acquired by the SuperSonics in July 2002 as part of a five-player trade that sent Vin Baker to Boston. Potapenko has averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in his nine-year career.The 6-foot-10, 285-pound Ukraine native is expected to compete for a starting spot.

"In his three years with the Sonics, Vitaly has given us a tough, physical presence in the middle along with the ability to score," general manager Rick Sund said in a statement.

In other NBA news, Dirk Nowitzki has received permission from the Dallas Mavericks to join the German national team for warm-up games before next month`s European Championships. Nowitzki had been practicing on his own, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has said the forward can start practicing and playing with his national team, the German basketball federation said Tuesday. The NBA star`s insurance against injury covers the Sept. 16-25 tournament in Serbia-Montenegro. Germany is staging a four-nation tournament this weekend that also includes Greece, Georgia and Belarus.

Also, Dale Davis signed a two-year, $7 million contract with the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, giving them addition depth in their frontcourt. Davis has averaged 8.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks with Indiana, Portland and Golden State during his 14-year career. Behind starters Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace, the 6-foot-11, 252-pound center likely will come off the bench after Antonio McDyess and might take away playing time from Darko Milicic. The Pistons were interested in signing free agent Michael Finley and briefly considered free agent Latrell Sprewell to add a scorer behind small forward Tayshaun Prince and shooting guard Richard Hamilton. But Finley made it clear he didn`t want to join the Pistons, and they appear to have decided to not sign Sprewell.