DALLAS -- Richard Jefferson has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Rajon Rondo trade.

Without the trade for Rondo -- and the departure of Jae Crowder to Boston in the deal -- Jefferson might have never cracked the Dallas Mavericks’ rotation on a regular basis. The 14-year veteran has been a minimum-salary bargain since he’s been getting consistent minutes, arguably emerging as the Mavs’ best bench player over the past two weeks.

Jefferson has averaged 7.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 20.4 minutes in the past nine games, shooting 58.1 percent from the floor and 58.8 percent from 3-point range. He has the best plus-minus (plus-23) of any Mavs bench player during the span, in which Dallas is 7-2.

“RJ plays with a lot of force,” coach Rick Carlisle said, one of the highest compliments he can pay a role player.

The shooting numbers in particular are quite a contrast from Jefferson’s pre-trade production. He was shooting only 40.5 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from 3-point range before Dallas made the deal.

Jefferson’s perimeter touch -- and the impact it has on spacing -- is one of the primary reasons the Mavs targeted him during him during free agency. Jefferson, who shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range in three of the past four seasons, found it again now that he knows how he fits in Carlisle’s rotation and has been able to get in a comfort zone.

“He didn’t really have me in the rotation,” said Jefferson, who was a DNP-CD five times and played fewer than five minutes in four other games. “It was just a matter of me staying a professional and waiting on the opportunity. It was always tough for me just because I’d never been in that situation. You might get six minutes in the first half with Monta and Devin and Dirk, and then the next time you might get it with Brandan Wright and Jae, so there was never kind of a groove that you can get into.

“Now I’m starting to feel more comfortable and showing that I can do things a little more consistently.”