The 2024-2025 NBA season is here! We analyze the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy prospects for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
DALLAS MAVERICKS
End 2023-24
Off-season moves
-
Additions: Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, Quentin Grimes, Spencer Dinwiddie
-
Deductions: Derrick Jones Jr., Josh Green, Tim Hardaway Jr.
-
Complete roster
The big question: can they find the right balance?
For most of last season, the Mavericks looked like a team pulling in opposite directions with equal intensity. A top-10 offense trying to cover a bottom-10 defense; an MVP-caliber superstar in Luka Dončić and an excellent-if-healthy No. 2 in Kyrie Irving trying to carry a roster otherwise light on offensive creation; capable of toppling titans with breathtaking shots, still churning to stay above .500.
You never knew which Mavs you’d see from night to night – a ‘Schrödinger’s contender’ level of uncertainty, compounded by lingering injuries. A half-dozen rotation members missed significant time, prompting coach Jason Kidd to go through 35 starting lineups, ranking him fifth in the league. Then, in early March, Kidd shuffled again, flanking Dončić and Irving with go-go Gadget-armed defenseman Jones and Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington arriving at the trade deadline.
Jackpot:
The Mavs won 16 of their last 20 regular-season games — including two losses that saw them rest their starters — with the NBA’s second-best defense during that span. They broke through the Western playoffs, beating the Clippers, Thunder and Timberwolves, while allowing just 111.1 points per 100 possessions – a mark that would have finished just outside the top three during the regular season. They had found a formula: Luka + Kyrie + a huge, athletic defense = winning at a .757 rate, a 62-win pace, during the stretch run.
The math was no longer correct in the NBA finals. The Celtics aggressively helped out with Dallas’ complementary players, daring them to make Boston pay for loading up to stop Dončić and Irving. That didn’t work: a Dallas team that finished the regular season in the top three in three-point attempts and posted the lowest marks in the league long-term against Joe Mazzulla’s defense, which held the Mavericks to a dismal 106.7 points. per-100 in a gentleman’s sweep, with Washington, Jones, Green and Maxi Kleber combining to shoot 43-for-106 (40.6%) from the field and 16-for-51 (31.3%) from 3-point land.
So: Enter Thompson, who has made the sixth-most three-pointers in NBA history, has made more triples over the past two seasons than anyone except Stephen Curry, has finished first or second in the league in catch-and-shoot 3s eight times in the past 11 seasons, giving Dallas the kind of five-alarm flamethrower opponents like can’t staff.
General manager Nico Harrison (who has almost completely transformed this squad in eighteen months) is betting that by swapping Jones, Green and Hardaway for Thompson, Marshall (one of my favorite signings of the summer), Grimes (a year removed from shooting 39% from 3 for a New York playoff team) and Dinwiddie (who shot 40% from 3 in parts of two seasons in his previous stint in Dallas), he has elevated the team’s shooting prowess and offensive fluidity to the point where paves the way for a top-five offense that can withstand even the NBA’s most vicious defenses. He’s also betting that despite the apparent reduction in point of attack from DJJ to Klay in the starting lineup, the Mavs will still be able to field a top-10 defense — a unit adept enough at getting stops to survive the gauntlet of four. play-off series.
That will ask a lot of Washington, which is now likely responsible for guarding the opponent’s best perimeter scorers; from rising sophomore Dereck Lively II, a revelation as a rookie yet to take a step as a full-time foul eraser; van Kidd, once again tasked with finding the right setups; and, ultimately, from Dončić, who is now acutely aware of how uncomfortable it can feel under the microscope of a championship round.
It’s one big stake. However, if it pays off, the reward can be a large gold trophy.
At best
Klay is proving to be exactly the offensive accelerator Dallas was counting on, who — combined with mostly healthy seasons for Luka and Kyrie — is producing the NBA’s best regular-season offense. Lively jumps into the All-Defensive discussion, which – combined with Kidd effectively mixing and matching his perimeter rotation to cover his stars – makes for a top-10 defense. Dončić wins MVP as Mavs top 50 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2009-10 and 2010-11. Dallas becomes the first Western team since the KD-era Warriors to make back-to-back Finals – and this time has the firepower to get the job done.
When everything falls apart
Thompson struggles with accuracy, shot selection and lateral quickness, grinding through both the offensive and defensive gears of what had become a smooth-running Mavericks machine. Washington can’t replicate Jones’ work at the point of attack, and Kidd has to go rob Peter to pay Paul with his lineup decisions while he searches in vain for workable two-way groups. Irving will once again miss significant time due to injury, once again putting too much of a workload on Dončić and causing him to sputter in the spring. The Mavs still have enough talent to reach the playoffs, but lack the flexibility and physicality they found last season, dropping out early to a more well-rounded favorite.
Fantasy twist
Looking beyond Dončić and Irving, Dereck Lively II is Dallas’ second-best fantasy option. Lively opened training camp as the starting center, and being Luka’s primary rim runner and lob threat has its advantages. More minutes should equal more fantasy production with rebounds and blocked shots.
Speaking of blocking shots, Daniel Gafford is worth drafting even if he sees fewer minutes in the timeshare with Lively. Gafford has shown he can be a viable fantasy asset in 20 minutes a night.
Finally, let’s talk about Klay Thompson’s possible revival with Dallas. Thompson is coming off his worst fantasy performance since his rookie year, but the soon-to-be 35-year-old looks motivated and hyped for what lies ahead. With so much gravity going to Luka and Kyrie, Klay will have plenty of opportunities to be the three-point specialist fantasy managers need at the end of the drafts. — Then Titus
Schedule 2024-25
The Mavs have won more than 50 in two of the past three seasons, and this year’s team feels deeper and more powerful than those models. Even in a busy West I will take over.
