The Dallas Mavericks head into an off-season with many questions and short on answers. Let me lend them a helping hand and give them a 5-point checklist on what they need to accomplish in terms of roster construction for the upcoming season and beyond.
Re-sign Kyrie Irving
Spoiler Alert: the Dallas Mavericks’ off-season hinges on the decisions of Kyrie Irving. Priority one, option one, and pathway number one all start with Irving for the Mavericks. There’s much debate amongst fans and media members of whether or not Dallas should have traded for Kyrie in the first place, but one thing that is not up for debate is that re-signing him is 100% the right thing to do. You don’t make the trade of two playoff rotation players, one first round draft pick and two second round draft picks for roughly $18 million of cap space (even though Dallas has completed multiple dumbfounding trades in pursuit of cap space in the past.) Whether it be for the full max or not, or for 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 years, the Mavericks HAVE to retain Irving and build around him and Luka for the next 2+ seasons.
Ensure at least 5 of the top 10 rotation enter the season under 27 years old
A common decry amongst many Mavs fans on Twitter has been when Dallas’ front office utters the words “young team” when describing the Mavericks roster in years’ past. For the most part, the Mavericks have been an older team with a few young players for the entirety of Luka Doncic’s tenure. This past season, the average age of Dallas’ roster was 28.7 years old, which tied for 4th oldest in the NBA per Real GM. For the present and future, Dallas would benefit from an influx of youth to the roster. More specifically, they need their core rotation to become younger. With Tim Hardaway Jr. (age 31) likely to be traded and Dwight Powell (age 31) likely to be relegated to an end of bench role if he were to return, the likelihood of Dallas lowering their teams’ average age increases. There are several players under age 27 who Dallas could add to their rotation this off-season, throught the draft, free agency and trade market alike. Thos players include, Jarrett Allen (Cleveland), DeAndre Ayton (Phoenix), Thomas Bryant (Denver), Daniel Gafford (Washington), Jonathan Kuminga (Golden State), Grant Williams (Boston), Taylor Hendricks (UCF), Dereck Lively II (Duke), Jarace Walker (Houston) and several others. Long story short, they have plenty of options to overhaul their aging roster with young prospects and developed young role players alike. They already have three in Doncic, Josh Green & Jaden Hardy who are guaranteed to be in their top 10 rotation. Former two-way players like McKinley Wright IV & A.J. Lawson could see themselves take on larger roles this upcoming season as well if Dallas ultimately decides to trust them. Either way, Dallas has an age issue and it has to be corrected within the next few months.
Make Josh Green enter the season as the 5th best starter
Assuming that Josh Green is not traded this off-season, then he will most likely enter the season as the team’s starting Small Forward. Although the leap that Green made this past season was commendable and much needed, he is not a player you currently want to be your 3rd best starter. It’s no secret that Dallas is searching for a 30+ minute big man, and the names they are rumored to be interested in would fit the bill of being better than Green. I also believe Dallas needs to pursue a bigger four who could be a small ball five when needed, and it would be imperative to ensure that player is at a higher level than Green also. If Dallas were to stay at pick 10 in the upcoming draft and select a lottery-level talented wing, then it’s even possible that we see Green start the season off the bench (my most preferred scenario if possible.) Now, if Josh were to take another leap this off-season and step into the tier of players such as OG Anunoby and Michael Porter Jr. then that’s fantastic and you have yourself an embarrassment of riches. Otherwise, Dallas needs to focus on stocking up on high level role players that exceed the current level of Green.
Give Jaden Hardy the #1 Bench Scoring Option
A primary reason that I am comfortable, and assumedly the Mavericks are, with moving on from Tim Hardaway Jr. is due to the late-season emergence of rookie guard Jaden Hardy. Jaden showed flashes of an elite level scoring ability in several different ways. His multi-dimensional offensive game was a pleasure to see develop throughout the season and one can imagine it will only continue to improve. His on-ball decision making will need to improve and defensively he still a novice, but those things can surely develop with proper coaching and effort, and Hardy doesn’t lack the latter. Hardaway Jr. being traded is one of the quickest ways Dallas can improve other areas of their roster and that is contingent on Hardy being ready to take the next step. Stepping into the THJ role in 2023-2024 would immediately turn up the temperature on expectation for Hardy, and make Dallas reliant on his quick development to have any chance at contending this next season. This isn’t to say Dallas should rely solely on Hardy as the 3rd scoring option on the roster. They still need to add more role players with offensive skillsets outside of the current 3&D guys they have. Hardy provides much more than that and I look for him to contend for a growing role quickly with this team.
Move off one of JaVale McGee or Davis Bertans’ contracts without attaching assets
One of the many anchors to the Mavericks’ ship is a couple of aging veterans who never found a consistent place in the rotation while being on much larger contracts than their open market would supply. Dāvis Bertāns enters the 2023-2024 season set to make $17 million and a $16 million player option in 2024-2025 that only has $5 million guaranteed. JaVale McGee enters year 2 of his contract with Dallas set to make roughly $5.7 million this coming season and a player option for 2024-2025 just above $6 million. Neither player looks to be in any future plans for this roster and are practically dead money on their books. Dallas should look at shedding at least one of their deals in a larger trade without having to attach a draft pick or other asset. If Dallas were to execute some sort of move that trades Bertāns and McGee along with a draft pick to another team for another bad contract that is expiring, then we know that their main motive is to avoid the luxury tax and not productive team-building. Now, would I be on board for salary dumping either one of them at the cost of dropping back 2-3 draft slots in the 1st round? That is something I could stomach. Trading a draft pick entirely or trading back too far would be catastrophic. I have mixed feelings with how I think Dallas will approach this area of their roster building this Summer, but it’s not impossible to think they could pull of a net-positive move for the present and future that involves moving on from either Bertāns and/or McGee.