The Dallas Mavericks have spent the offseason tearing down and rebuilding the look of the roster, and the front office has already attacked one of the most obvious problems. Three-point shooting, which had been a major issue, got a real boost with the additions of Santi Aldama, Marcus Sasser, Zaccharie Risacher, and the draft rights to Tarik Biberovic, who signed an NBA contract shortly after. Kyrie Irving is also on the way back from injury, which should help with both playmaking and ball-handling.
That part of the job looks much cleaner now. The Mavericks added several players who can space the floor, and Biberovic comes with real confidence from the organization after being one of the world’s best shooters in Turkey last year. Irving’s return matters just as much for handling the offense, and the arrivals of Sasser and Sergio De Larrea should help there too.
But one issue still hangs over the roster: defending the league’s fastest, most dangerous guards. Dallas has plenty of wings who can do a job on bigger creators, but not many who look built to chase down the elite quick ones.
Cooper Flagg, Naji Marshall, P.J. Washington, and Morez Johnson Jr. all bring defensive value, but none of them are ideally suited to staying in front of the likes of Tyrese Maxey, Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell, or Trae Young. Marcus Sasser came out of a strong defensive program at Houston, but if he had been an elite 3&D guard with real ball-handling, he likely would have seen more run with the Detroit Pistons.
Klay Thompson is no longer the stopper he once was after the ACL and Achilles tears in 2019 and 2020, and there’s a real chance he won’t even still be on the roster in a month. Max Christie can help, but he does not quite bring the speed or strength to solve the problem on his own. Caleb Martin is another option, though Mavericks fans would not be thrilled if he ends up with meaningful minutes after how rough he has been since coming over in the Quentin Grimes trade.
That leaves Dusty May with a puzzle to solve. The new head coach can try to build a scheme that steers those quick guards into the length of Dallas’ wings, and that may be the more realistic answer than expecting a perfect one-on-one stopper to appear. If the Mavericks have to live with elite guards being defended straight up, the season could get ugly in a hurry.
Players like Washington and Marshall can at least bother bigger stars such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic, but those guys are still going to get their points. That reality is part of why a trade idea has already picked up steam: packaging salaries such as P.J.
Washington and Klay Thompson to send to the Portland Trail Blazers for Jrue Holiday, one of the NBA’s best defenders. There’s also a familiar connection there, since Mike Schmitz spent the last few years as an assistant GM in Portland.
For now, though, Portland does not appear eager to move Holiday, even with a backcourt plan that includes Ja Morant and Damian Lillard. If Dallas wants to chase that kind of fix, the trade deadline may be the place to do it.
In Other News...
Mavericks Face A Klay Thompson Decision Heat Fans Will Love
Klay Thompsons situation has become one of the more interesting offseason holdovers for Dallas, with Miami showing the most aggressive interest and reportedly keeping its bi-annual exception available for a possible deal. The Heat have already passed on veteran-minimum talks with Bradley Beal and DeMar DeRozan, which says plenty about how carefully they are targeting the market as they look for a proven perimeter piece.
For the Mavericks, the wrinkle is less about whether Thompson still has appeal and more about how the team ultimately chooses to handle his future. Dallas would prefer to work out a trade, but the path could change if the front office decides a buyout makes more sense as roster decisions loom, leaving this as one of the more closely watched personnel calls on the teams calendar. [Read more 🡒]
Klay Thompson Just Added More Tension To An Unsettled Mavs Situation
Klay Thompsons place in Dallas has already been one of the offseasons more delicate topics, and his latest response only added another layer to it. After a fan drew a comparison between Thompson and Ray Allen, he pushed back by pointing to the scoring load he carried on Golden State championship teams before Kevin Durant arrived, reminding everyone that his rsum was built on more than just a catch-and-shoot reputation.
For the Mavericks, the timing matters because Thompsons future remains unsettled and the front office still has decisions to make about how to handle it. Reports have suggested that a trade could still be on the table rather than a buyout, with the Miami Heat among the teams keeping an eye on the situation, which leaves Dallas with a situation that feels far from resolved. [Read more 🡒]
Mavs Front Office Just Sent A Clear Message About This Roster
The Mavericks are taking a clear step into a different phase, one centered less on veteran names and more on what the roster can grow into from within. General manager Mike Schmitz framed the shift as a chance to lean into internal competition and give younger players a bigger runway, while also thanking Klay Thompson for what he brought during his time in Dallas.
For a team trying to sort out its next look, the move matters because it changes the texture of the roster as much as the rotation. Thompsons next stop is already lining up elsewhere, but in Dallas the bigger story is the message being sent to the rest of the locker room: the opportunities ahead will have to be earned, and the front office is clearly willing to let that process play out. [Read more 🡒]