Each week, ESPNDallas.com will take a look at the Texas Legends, the D-League affiliate for the Dallas Mavericks, in order to see how the two are working hand in hand to improve one another.

For second-year guard Ricky Ledo, the back-and-forth movement that was very prevalent last season is once again in full swing.

Just four days after being assigned to the Texas Legends, Dallas Mavericks guard Ricky Ledo was recalled back to the varsity club this past Monday. Without seeing any action with the Mavs, he was then reassigned back to the Legends on Thursday.

Ledo averaged 12.5 points in the two games he played with the Legends last weekend. To this point, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle is pleased with the maturation and development of the young guard, who turned 22 this past September.

“He’s improving all of the time,” Carlisle said. “We’re really pleased with everything he did this summer and training camp up through now.”

One of the more telling signs of Ledo’s commitment this summer and part of what impressed Carlisle was the fact that Ledo dropped nearly 25 pounds.

The assignments to Frisco may seem tedious, but the trips to the Legends provide much-needed playing time for the young guard.

“We tell him, ‘Go get your minutes, go get your experience and come back and be ready,’” Mavs owner Mark Cuban said in regards to the assignments to play with the Legends.

The Mavs showed a healthy commitment to Ledo by signing him to a four-year deal, rare at the time but a quickly emerging trend in today’s NBA landscape. To this point, the Mavs feel like they’re getting a nice return on their investment.

“We knew this was going to be a long-term development situation,” Carlisle continued. “He’s made real strides and in the big picture, for what we envisioned, he’s on schedule and maybe even ahead of schedule.”

While Ledo isn’t getting time with the Mavs, they’re doing what they can to show they recognize the work the young guard has put in early in his career.

“Last year was challenging for him because it’s such a massive change in procedure going from college to an NBA life,” Carlisle said. “And then he was going back-and-forth in the D-League last year.

“He was traveling on a lot of the trips last year. This year we’re going to try to keep it so he plays home games and doesn’t have to go out on some of those long road trips to some of those obscure places as a reward for everything that he’s done. We’re pleased.”

Added Cuban: “He’s gotten dramatically better. He still needs to slow down a little, but he’s got a great upside or he wouldn’t be here.”

The trips up and down the Tollway may be continuing for Ledo, but the work he's put in is not going unnoticed.

Mark your calendars

Ledo will be with the Legends as they wrap up their four-game homestand with back-to-back games against the Bakersfield Jam at Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco. Both games start at 7 p.m. CT and can be seen live on the D-League's YouTube Channel.

But not least ...

The Legends announced last week that, for the second year straight, 24 charitable partnerships will be displayed across the 24 home games in 2014-15. Each home game, the team will wear a different jersey representing a local, regional or national charity or cause -- providing a tremendous amount of exposure and awareness to the charity.

The Legends are the only team in NBA Development League history to host 24 specialty jersey nights, all of which are charitably themed.