The Mavericks have spent the offseason stockpiling options, and the result is a roster that looks crowded in several places before a single game has even tipped off. Dallas has 16 players on standard contracts right now, which means one move has to come before opening night just to get down to the required 15.
That churn started in the draft and kept rolling. With the ninth overall pick, Dallas added Morez Johnson Jr., a versatile big from Michigan.
The Mavericks also moved up late in the first round to take Spanish guard Sergio De Larrea. Later, they swung a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies for Santi Aldama and the draft rights to Tarik Biberović, who has since signed to come over to the NBA.
There was another twist when Ryan Nembhard was sent to the Atlanta Hawks in a deal headlined by the Oklahoma City Thunder moving on from Luguentz Dort. That trade brought Zaccharie Risacher to the Mavericks.
All of that leaves Dallas with a lot of moving parts around Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving. A way-too-early look at the depth chart makes the congestion obvious:
G: Kyrie Irving, Marcus Sasser, Sergio De Larrea
G: Max Christie, Naji Marshall, Tarik Biberović
F: Cooper Flagg, Zaccharie Risacher, Klay Thompson, Caleb Martin
F: P.J. Washington, Santi Aldama, Morez Johnson Jr.
The biggest question is how the minutes get sorted out. Flagg and Irving are expected to play major roles, but the rest of the roster has to fit around them. How big Dallas wants to play on a given night will matter, and May has already described Flagg as a player who can play anywhere from point guard to power forward.
That flexibility helps, but it also creates a logjam. P.J. Washington, Santi Aldama, and Morez Johnson Jr. all spent most of their minutes at power forward, and even with position switching, it’s hard to see all three being easy fits every night.
Dallas also didn’t bring in Aldama and Risacher by accident. The Mavericks used salary cap flexibility to acquire both, and teams usually don’t trade for players earning over $17 million apiece in non-salary-dump deals without a clear plan to use them.
The center spot is just as layered. Daniel Gafford is still the most established option there and would be the logical starter if he remains on the roster, though he has been mentioned in plenty of trade rumors.
Dereck Lively II is coming off season-ending foot surgery. Johnson logged a lot of time at center during the Las Vegas Summer League.
Aldama can play stretch-five when needed. Cissé was productive in limited minutes.
Behind Irving, the Mavericks also have choices. Marcus Sasser brings shooting, De Larrea offers passing and a chance to help organize the offense, and Naji Marshall can even initiate things in the backcourt the way former head coach Jason Kidd used him in stretches.
If Dallas decides to trim the roster through trade rather than simply eating dead money, there are a few names that stand out. Caleb Martin makes sense from a financial and positional standpoint.
He played 58 games in 2025-26 and averaged 3.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.3 blocks in 14.8 minutes per game. He is set to make just over $10 million next season, with a final-year player option for 2027-28 worth under $9.4 million.
With so many wings on hand, moving him could open a roster spot.
Klay Thompson is another player to watch. The perimeter is crowded, and it’s fair to wonder how much he fits in the current setup.
He came to Dallas wanting to chase championships with Luka Dončić and Irving, but circumstances have changed. Because he’ll make over $17.4 million this season, a deal to a contender could require a buyout, especially with many teams filling out their benches with veterans on lower-cost exceptions.
Gafford remains a name to keep in the mix if the Mavericks decide they want to clear the center rotation. Another path would be to open space at power forward by moving Washington.
For now, Dallas has time. Plenty of it. The roster still needs one more cut, and the front office has several different ways it can go.
In Other News...
How The Mavericks Landed Zaccharie Risacher Is Raising Eyebrows
The Mavericks kept working the edges of the trade market and came away with a notable swing, landing former first overall pick Zaccharie Risacher in a three-team deal with Atlanta and Oklahoma City. Dallas had to get creative to make it happen, sending Lu Dort and Ryan Nembhard to the Hawks while the Thunder picked up three second-round picks as the mechanism that helped the whole thing fit.
What makes the move stand out is how little margin Dallas had to operate with and how aggressively the front office pursued Risacher anyway. The Mavericks have been leaning on the kind of asset management that can open one door while closing another, and this deal only adds to the sense that they are willing to keep spending draft capital to chase the right young talent, even if it leaves them searching for more flexibility later. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Are Flirting With A Problem Fans Know Too Well
ESPNs offseason grades landed on a B- for the Mavericks, and the number itself is almost beside the point. The bigger issue in the breakdown is the shape of the roster, which still looks lopsided after Dallas added pieces this summer. The frontcourt is crowded enough to create real questions about how the rotation will sort itself out, while the backcourt remains thin enough to leave the team exposed if the guard play does not hold up.
For Dallas, the concern is not just depth in the abstract, but how hard it is to patch the problem from here. The Mavericks are short on true ball-handlers, and the roster math makes another addition difficult unless they create room first. That leaves the team trying to balance a heavy front line with a limited group of guards, a familiar kind of construction issue that can become a lot more obvious once the season starts. [Read more 🡒]