The Dallas Mavericks have spent this offseason trying to push their roster in the right direction after a 56-loss season, and the moves they’ve made point to a team thinking beyond just next year. Dallas drafted Morez Johnson Jr. and Sergio De Larrea, two players who appear ready to contribute as rookies, and added Santi Aldama, Marcus Sasser, and Zaccharie Risacher through trades. Those additions are built to help now, but they also speak to a longer timeline.
That’s why Bleacher Report’s view of the Mavericks’ future lands so low. Grant Hughes ranked every NBA team for the next three years and slotted Dallas at No. 23, calling them the ninth-worst team in the league over that stretch. For a team that has made youth and flexibility a priority, that’s a harsh read.
Hughes said the Mavericks are “at least a couple of years away from real relevance, and by that time Irving may have aged out.” He also laid out a steep path to contention, saying Kyrie Irving would need to get back to peak form, Dereck Lively II would have to stay healthy, and Cooper Flagg would need a huge leap into All-NBA territory for Dallas to have a great season.
That’s a lot to stack up for a team that has missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. Still, it’s also a higher bar than Dallas needs to clear to beat a No. 23 projection. The roster has shooting, wing depth, and enough talent to make a real step forward as soon as next season.
Irving’s recovery has gone well, and the optimism around him has been strong. The sense is that he’s ready to get back on the floor.
Lively II remains the biggest swing factor. He has appeared in just 98 games across three NBA seasons, and he was limited to seven games last season.
But when he’s healthy, he changes games. He finishes lobs, protects the rim, and switches defensively with the kind of impact that makes him an elite anchor.
A careful recovery process could help him move past the lower-body injuries that have slowed him down, and if that happens, he still has a chance to become one of the better young bigs in the Western Conference.
Then there’s Flagg, who may end up deciding the entire direction of this team. He already looks like a future face of the NBA, and if he grows into one of the league’s best players, that changes everything for Dallas.
As a rookie, he stood out as one of the NBA’s best off-ball disruptors, and the offense is coming along too. Last season, he averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists while shooting 46.8 percent from the field, and he closed the year with multiple 45-point games in April.
Dallas may not look like a finished product, but it also doesn’t look like a team doomed to live near the bottom of the league for the next three years. With Flagg’s upside, Irving’s talent, and a deeper young roster, the Mavericks have more going for them than Bleacher Report’s ranking suggests.
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Kyrie Irving Could Solve The Mavs Problem That Kept Costing Wins
The Mavericks spent much of last season right there in the fight, only to see too many tight games slip away before the finish. A 26-win year left plenty of room for improvement, but it also gave a young roster a seasons worth of lessons in how little margin there is when games tighten late, and why late possessions often decide the difference between a decent record and a frustrating one.
Kyrie Irving changes the equation in a way Dallas has not had before. His reputation as a steadying force in clutch moments is exactly the kind of presence that can help a group that has already been through the grind of close games, and the hope inside the organization is that his veteran feel for those situations can turn all that near-miss experience into actual wins before the season gets away from them. [Read more 🡒]
Santi Aldama Gives Dallas A Frontcourt Wrinkle Fans Will Notice Fast
Santi Aldama gives the Mavericks a different kind of look in the frontcourt, one that is easy to spot even before he settles in. At 7 feet, he is not just a spacer on the perimeter, but a player who can stretch defenses with his shooting and move the ball well enough to keep an offense flowing from multiple spots on the floor.
Last season offered the blueprint for why Dallas sees him as more than a simple floor stretcher. Aldama took a varied shot diet, got into the paint with real purpose, and showed enough feel as a playmaker to make defenses pay when they overreacted. The broader question now is how quickly that blend of size, touch and decision-making translates into the kind of lineup wrinkle the Mavericks can actually lean on. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Fans May Be Missing What Makes Morez Johnson Jr. Matter
Morez Johnson Jr. arrived with enough draft pedigree to get immediate attention, but the early read on his game in Summer League suggested the Mavericks may have landed something a little more layered than a quick scoring fix. The rookie showed the kind of defensive activity, physicality and extra-effort play that tends to translate well once the games start counting, even if his offense still looks like work in progress.
For Dallas, the important part may be resisting the urge to judge him by points alone in his first season. Players who carve out value with hustle, switching and toughness can earn minutes long before the shot comes around, and Johnson Jr. already looks like the sort of young piece whose impact could grow in ways that do not show up right away on the box score. [Read more 🡒]