The Mavericks’ first-round maneuver in the 2026 NBA Draft brought them Sergio De Larrea at No. 25, a move they made by sending the 30th pick and two future second-rounders to get him.
It was a notable bet on a prospect who stood out as the first European taken in this draft, even with the recent wave of European talent entering the league. At 6-foot-7, De Larrea brings real shooting and passing touch, and he’s the kind of player who can make a clean read off a screen and deliver the ball on time. The rough edges are there too: he turns it over often and struggles from midrange.
The comparison that keeps coming up is Luka Dončić, though De Larrea is nowhere close to that level of dominance. Still, the resemblance is obvious enough that it matters, especially because De Larrea grew up a Mavericks fan because of Dončić.
“I saw Luka when he came from Madrid to here,” De Larrea said on Monday ahead of the NBA Summer League. “He was for me, like, my idol in my younger era. For that reason, I was a Maverick fan a long time ago.”
That connection gives the pick a little extra texture. De Larrea was shaped by Dončić’s rise in Dallas, and now he’s stepping into a Mavericks backcourt that needs a long-term answer. Kyrie Irving is not getting any younger, and the rest of the room doesn’t look like a clear building block.
For now, the focus shifts to Summer League, where Dallas opens Thursday against the Golden State Warriors at 6 p.m. CST. That game also features a matchup between former Michigan Wolverines Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Landeborg.
De Larrea’s role will be one of the biggest things to track. Some evaluators see him as more of a shooting guard at this stage because of his size and shooting, but his background as a ball-handler means he could spend plenty of time running the offense in different lineups.
The real question is whether Dallas pairs him with Ryan Nembhard or lets him take on more of the playmaking burden against athletes fighting to prove they belong in the NBA. However they choose to use him, that should tell plenty about how the Mavericks see him fitting in once the games start to count.
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