Dusty May is walking into his first NBA season with a problem most coaches would love to have: too many playable bigs and not nearly enough minutes to satisfy all of them.
The Dallas Mavericks are still more than two months from their first regular-season game, but the frontcourt picture is already crowded. Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, Moussa Cisse, Santi Aldama, and Morez Johnson Jr. all have a case for rotation time, and that’s before the season even gets rolling. If Dallas doesn’t sort it out with a trade, someone is going to be left waiting.
Each big brings a different skill set. Lively II gives the Mavericks elite defense.
Gafford is the interior finisher. Cisse plays with nonstop energy and hustle.
Aldama stretches the floor better than anyone else in the group. Johnson Jr. adds elite versatility.
All five can help, and all five need reps, which leaves May with a real balancing act in his first year as an NBA head coach.
The top of the pecking order is pretty clear. Lively II and Gafford are the two best centers on the roster, and that’s been true for several years.
But Dallas also has to develop Johnson Jr. and Cisse. The Mavericks took Johnson Jr. with the ninth overall pick this summer, and they signed Cisse to a two-year deal earlier in the offseason.
Both fit Cooper Flagg’s timeline, and the organization clearly sees them as part of what comes next.
Aldama complicates things in a different way. He’s the only center on the roster with elite floor-spacing ability, and Dallas traded for him this summer.
Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz liked him enough to make the move, so he’s not going anywhere either. He should be in the rotation.
The wrinkle is that Aldama and Johnson Jr. can also play power forward, but that doesn’t exactly solve everything. P.J. Washington and Cooper Flagg are already at the four, which only tightens the squeeze.
That’s why a trade before the season starts can’t be ruled out. The Mavericks simply may not have enough minutes for everyone who deserves them, and Gafford is the name that keeps coming up. He’s been in trade rumors for multiple years, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s not on the roster for much longer.
If he stays, though, he’ll probably be the first big off the bench behind Lively II. Dallas can’t afford to bury him, especially if the goal is to keep his trade value strong. That leaves the Mavericks in a tricky spot with his future.
For May, it’s a good headache to have, but it’s still a headache. He’s spent his career developing big men, including at Michigan, and this could end up being the toughest rotation call he has to make before the end of October.
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