The Dallas Mavericks have made major swings to reimagine their roster after making a run to the 2024 NBA Finals. The franchise caused Klay Thompson’s 13-year tenure with the Golden State Warriors to end, as Klay leaves the franchise he won four titles within a sign-and-trade to the Mavericks on a three-year, $50 million contract.
Thompson might be the marquee addition of the offseason, but the Mavericks have been active since the NBA Draft. The team acquired Quentin Grimes from the Pistons and Naji Marshall from the Pelicans. Let’s take a look at how the Mavericks stack up for the 2024-25 season as currently constructed.
Starting Lineup
Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II
The Dallas Mavericks are coming into next season with one of the most offensively potent starting lineups in the NBA. The head of the Snake will be their point guard, Luka Doncic, who averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 9.8 assists last season en route to winning the scoring title and finishing third in MVP voting. His scoring load will reduce with a more offensively polished roster, allowing Doncic to finally commit to the sparks of defensive ability we saw in the Playoffs while remaining one of the best playmakers in the NBA.
Kyrie Irving has mastered the art of being a co-star, effortlessly plugging into the Mavericks’ offense next to Doncic. He averaged 25.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.2 assists last season, playing some of the best defense of his career and serving as the Mavericks’ primary fourth-quarter scoring option. While his age and injury history are a concern, Irving proved that he and Doncic are perfectly complementary and can win at the highest level.
Klay Thompson’s addition is fascinating, as it addresses one of the Mavericks’ biggest failings in the NBA Finals: shooting. Thompson is coming off a career-worst shooting season (38.7% on 9.0 attempts per game), but he was still fourth in the season’s total individual makes while shooting above 43% after February. He averaged 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists over the season.
P.J. Washington proved to be an inspired acquisition last February, emerging as a two-way terror for the Mavericks. While his scoring is inconsistent, averaging 11.7 points and 6.2 rebounds on the Mavs last season, his defensive ability has changed the Mavericks. The same goes for sophomore center Dereck Lively II, who averaged 8.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks last season. He will be expecting to start and continue being a Swiss army knife defender and above-the-rim finisher.
Bench
Jaden Hardy, Quentin Grimes, Dante Exum, Naji Marshall, AJ Lawson, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Maxi Kleber, Daniel Gafford, Dwight Powell, Melvin Ajinca
The Mavericks have extreme depth on their bench heading into next season, having the ability to feasibly play a competent 11-man rotation. This depth also means their starting lineup will be fluid over the season, with Jason Kidd notorious for tinkering with his starting lineups until he has seen multiple combinations.
Naji Marshall averaged 7.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in a limited role on the Pelicans but is a competent three-point shooter with great defensive ability. The Mavericks are taking a bet on Marshall to over-perform from last season given the bigger opportunity he has in Dallas. He’ll likely start over Klay if the team has defensive issues in their starting lineup.
Quentin Grimes is another major addition who will replace what Josh Green brought to the franchise last season as a high-motor defender who can stretch the floor. Grimes is a more polished shooter than Green, averaging 7.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.3 assists last season, shooting 40% from three in his first two seasons in the NBA.
Jaden Hardy will be the team’s x-factor off the bench and the spiritual successor to the outgoing Tim Hardaway Jr’s scoring ability. Hardy is a wild-card scorer who can eviscerate defenses if he gets hot, but he struggles with consistency. He averaged 7.3 points last season.
The myriad of talented players off the bench like Maxi Kleber, Dante Exum, 2023-24 efficiency leader Daniel Gafford, and more shows how deep their roster is and should be a threat in the West.
The Mavericks Are Looking To Remain The Best In The West
The Mavericks earned the crown of the best team in the West in the 2024 Playoffs, beating three 50-win teams to advance to the NBA Finals. Most people didn’t believe they could replicate the feat given their weaker roster compared to rivals, but their offseason has made them genuine contenders on paper as well.
The Nuggets, Clippers, and Warriors have been majorly weakened this offseason already. The Thunder have made active moves to get better, so it’ll be interesting to see if the Mavericks can compete alongside them at the top of the West for the regular season. They’ve been Playoff risers for the entirety of Doncic’s career, so securing a top-two seed in the West should be a primary goal so that they can have an easier route through the Playoffs.
These moves have helped the Mavericks elevate themselves in a West that has been extremely competitive for years. For the first time in the Doncic era, the Mavericks will go into next season with major expectations from the outset, as he finally has a roster everyone can objectively call one of the best in the Conference.
Whether this is enough to overcome the Celtics remains to be seen, as that is the standard everyone is trying to reach. The Mavericks have a young core with title-winning veterans, a top-tier coach, and a generational superstar. They have the ingredients for success, they just need to put it together.
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