DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks expect to sign Italian League star Antoine Rigaudeau on Monday and could have him in uniform for their game Wednesday with the Sacramento Kings.

Assistant coach Donnie Nelson will skip a game in Los Angeles on Sunday to remain in Dallas to finalize the deal.

"From what I've heard, he's coming Monday,'' said Don Nelson, the Mavs' coach and general manager. "We'll get him signed, then he and Donnie will fly out and meet us in Sacramento. That's the plan.''

The Mavericks have the NBA's best record, but they still consider the Kings the league's best team. Sacramento ousted Dallas from the playoffs in the second round last season.

One of the Kings' strengths is their bench, and that's an area the Mavericks would like to improve. Rigaudeau (pronounced Rig-uh'-dough) should help.

The 6-foot-6 swingman helped Virtus Bologna win two European championships and was part of France's silver medal squad at the 2000 Olympics. He averaged 13.9 points this season for Virtus, making 43 percent of his 3-pointers. He played his farewell game Wednesday.

After buying out his contract with Virtus, which lasted through June 2004, he's expected to sign a deal with Dallas that runs for at least two seasons.

Nelson wants to use the 31-year-old Rigaudeau in the unique role of point forward.

Although Nelson has great floor leaders in Steve Nash and Nick Van Exel, he likes a bigger player to control the ball at times to free up those guards to shoot and to try to create mismatches. Nelson has used the hybrid position many times throughout his long coaching career.

Rigaudeau has never done that, but Nelson thinks he can because "he's a forward that has a good handle and gets a lot of assists.''

"I don't know how long it's going to take,'' Nelson said. "If he's ready by playoff time I'd be happy, but I think it'll happen way before then because he's a good player.''

Nelson hasn't had much luck developing or acquiring a point forward this season. Obstacles prevented him from getting the player he wanted most domestically, so the Mavs started looking overseas.

"We never assumed he was available,'' Nelson said. "Just by talking to people we learned there was a chance something could happen because his team was losing, was in financial problems.

"There was going to be something that had to be done anyway over there. So it was a perfect scenario.''

Because Rigaudeau has been playing, he's already in shape. What he's lacking is knowledge of the Mavs' system. And his English is rusty, at best.

Grasping the role of point forward will make his learning curve even more steep.

"We have a pretty complicated half-court system. It'll take some time to get used to it,'' Nelson said. "He doesn't have to just know the 3 position. There's another step to running the show, knowing all the options and that kind of stuff.''

Nelson already has a possible solution.

"I have a way to simplify things, limit what he does,'' he said. "Maybe instead of going with five or six sets we'll go with one or two.''