Back in 2023, the Mavericks acquired Kyrie Irving in a trade-deadline blockbuster, missed the postseason, then used a lottery pick that June to draft Dereck Lively, who played a major role on the team that made the NBA Finals in 2024. An injury-plagued Mavs team appears headed for a repeat of their 2023 finish this spring and may need to replicate their ’23 draft lottery success this offseason in order to put themselves in position to bounce back in 2025/26, as Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps write for ESPN.com (Insider link).
“When you have a setback like they’ve suffered, you have to identify what you can control and focus on improvement there,” a league executive told Windhorst. “They don’t control their first-round pick from 2027 to 2030, and this is a good draft.”
While Bontemps advocated on a recent Hoop Collective podcast for the Mavericks to trade Anthony Davis this summer, there’s no indication the organization will consider taking a step back by exploring that possibility.
One league executive told Bontemps that the Mavs are “doubling down” on their current group, while another predicted that the team will sign Irving to a long-term contract this summer even as he recovers from an ACL tear. That exec suggested the deal could start below Irving’s $43MM player option for 2025/26 in order to give the club some extra cap flexibility next season.
As for the Mavs’ outlook for the rest of this season? There’s not much optimism on that front from outside observers, given how thoroughly the roster has been decimated by health issues.
“Dallas is just hopeless right now,” one scout told ESPN. “There’s just no scoring ability without Kyrie. There’s just not enough talent with all these injuries.”
Here’s more from Windhorst and Bontemps:
- Within a discussion about whether or not the Lakers‘ recent defensive performance is sustainable, Windhorst notes that the Luka Doncic trade has had an added benefit in Los Angeles beyond the addition of the 25-year-old superstar. “They didn’t just trade for Luka,” one league executive said. “They also traded for a more engaged LeBron (James).” Head coach J.J. Redick told reporters last week that James has been playing at an All-Defensive level as of late.
- Although Jimmy Butler‘s numbers with Golden State have been modest – his .451 FG% and .143 3PT% are well below his career rates – the Warriors have a +13.5 net rating during his 341 minutes so far and he has transformed the team into a far more dangerous postseason opponent. “No one will want to play them in the playoffs,” one scout told Bontemps. “Jimmy with fresh legs and motivation … honeymoon-phase Jimmy is a motherf—er. … He’s not a franchise player in that he doesn’t do it in the regular season, but when it comes to the playoffs, he’s a franchise player. He’s a superstar when you need to be winning.”
- Rival executives and scouts have been impressed by the Trail Blazers, who have won 15 of their last 22 games and remain in the postseason hunt, just four games back of No. 10 Dallas. Head coach Chauncey Billups has earned praise for how he has handled the rotation. “They have their guys in the right roles now,” one Eastern Conference scout told Bontemps. “It’s not that they don’t believe in [Shaedon] Sharpe now that he’s their scorer off the bench, but that’s the best role for him right now with this current team. … You go up and down the roster, and specifically with the young guys, that’s helped them a lot.”