After making the Western Conference Finals in 2022, the Dallas Mavericks entered last season with lofty expectations, but after letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they stumbled toward the bottom of the West standings. A midseason trade for Kyrie Irving wasn’t enough to lift them out of their funk, as a lack of roster balance doomed them to being a high-octane offense with an equally flammable defense, ultimately falling to 11th in the West (purposefully to try and hold on to their draft pick).
This summer, there were two focal points for Dallas. One was re-signing Irving, because seeing him walk after giving up a first round pick and a key role player in Dorian Finney-Smith would’ve been catastrophic. The second was figuring out how to build out their roster to have more depth and bring in some players with a defensive focus that could fit alongside Irving and Luka Doncic. They didn’t have a lot of space to make that happen, which forced them to get creative in spots, but as the season approaches, they hope they’ve done enough to put a supporting cast around Doncic and Irving capable of getting them back in the playoff mix in the West.
Here we’ll grade out the Mavericks offseason moves in the Draft, free agency and contract extensions, and on the trade market.
Draft: B+
The Mavs understood that they could not fill out their roster through free agency alone this year, and they needed an influx of young talent on rookie scale deals to avoid having constant turnover in their rotation. That meant making a pair of trades, first moving back from 10th to 12th and unloading Davis Bertans contract in the process, and later using the trade exception created to add Richaun Holmes and the No. 24 pick from the Kings to add another first round rookie. With those picks they added Dereck Lively II out of Duke, who fits the bill as the rim-protecting center they desperately need, and Olivier Maxence-Prosper, who profiles as a 3-and-D wing with considerable defensive upside. Those are two areas they needed to address and our Brad Rowland gave them a B+ for both selections on Draft night.
Things worked out well for Dallas. The Mavericks moved down two spots and picked a guy they could’ve very reasonably taken at No. 10. Lively isn’t a finished product, but he was a defensive monster in the second half of the college season. Dallas needs that kind of defensive presence, and Lively’s offense should be unlocked as a low-usage guy next to Luka Doncic and, perhaps, Kyrie Irving.
Dallas could use a two-way forward, much in the way that most teams could and used their second trade of the Draft to find one. Prosper fits the bill as a high-quality defender who can also space the floor. He also doesn’t need the ball to succeed on offense, which fits nicely with the Mavericks’ system.
Free Agency/Contract Extensions: B+
There is an inherent risk in signing Kyrie Irving to a long-term, big money deal, as you just can’t be guaranteed that he won’t decide at some point he wants to be somewhere else or that he’ll be healthy enough to make the impact you want. That said, once they committed what they did to Kyrie, they had no other options but to give him a long-term deal. At 3 years, $126 million (with a player option in the final year) it’s perfectly fine value on the court given his tremendous talents, but the off court baggage Irving is always threatening to unload is an ever-present concern. If he’s healthy and engaged, it’s a positive value contract. It’s just the possibility for [gestures at recent Kyrie Irving history].
The rest of the Mavs summer signings have been solid as well. Bringing back Seth Curry on a minimum is a very nice add given his success in Dallas years ago alongside Luka Doncic was what vaulted him into some bigger money deals. While he won’t help their defense, the Mavs do still need guys that can knock down spot-up jumpers around Luka and Kyrie, and he’s as good as there is at that in the league. They also re-signed Dwight Powell, who is perfectly good value at 3-years, $12 million. The problem with Powell previously was he was being asked to play a much larger role (and paid as such) than is ideal for him, but he’s a useful player, particularly as a rim-runner alongside a great lob thrower like Doncic. Finally, they signed former lottery pick Dante Exum, who has spent the last two seasons overseas, first with Barcelona and most recently with Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, where he had an excellent 2022-23 campaign (including a very good shooting year from deep which would be quite the development in his game).
Given their resources, the Mavs did well this summer. Any issues with them lie with past decisions, but there weren’t really any better options for Dallas this offseason.
Trades: B+
I’m just going to keep with the B+ trend here, as I think their work on the trade market has been quite good. The draft night deals were done with a plan in mind, landing the player at 12 everyone figured they’d target at 10 while also moving off of a massive contract clogging their books. They then further addressed their center crisis from a year ago by using the exception created by trading Bertans to add Richaun Holmes, who can give them some scoring punch in the frontcourt, alongside another first round pick that they used on a defensive wing — something they very much need.
Then, once the league year started, they moved Reggie Bullock, a pick swap, and some second rounders for Grant Williams in a three-team sign-and-trade, upgrading their power forward spot with a versatile defender who is a capable knockdown shooter. Bullock was a streaky shooter, who certainly had value for Dallas, but Williams has become a very reliable three-point shooter (39.5 percent last year) and is a bigger, stronger defensive presence in the frontcourt.
For a team that didn’t seem to have much of a plan in terms of roster construction a year ago, this summer represents a considerable upgrade in that area. They saw clear needs and went out to try and address them in all phases, rather than trying to rely solely on a big splash in free agency or a mega trade. Instead, they utilized the Draft well, made solid minimum signings, and got a player who has proven capable of playing a sizable role on a contender in the sign-and-trade market. All of that is good work and they come into the 2023-24 season with a roster that’s considerably better than it was at the end of last year. That’s a success. The issue they face is where the roster was at the end of last year was a borderline catastrophe, so solid improvement there might still not be enough to lift them into the contender tier.
