Heading into the summer, the Mavericks appeared to have one of the worst long-term situations in the league, with ESPN ranking them 22nd in their future rankings. The list is compiled by Bobby Marks and Kevin Pelton as they project how each team will perform over the next three season.
Dallas made one of the biggest leaps in their latest edition of the power rankings, rising to 17th, fueled by the arrival of Luka Doncic and the signing of DeAndre Jordan, a pair of moves that should make them competitive this season. Marks notes that the team is projected to have $55MM in cap space next summer, so the team could ostensibly move even further up the rankings with a big signing in free agency.
Here’s more from Dallas:
- Dirk Nowitzki plays well with Devin Harris and J.J. Barea, so a move to the second-unit makes sense for the Mavericks, Eddie Sefko of Sports Day opines. Sefko notes that Nowitzki is all but certain to start Game 2 and 81 of the season. Those are the Mavericks’ first and last home games of the season.
- In the same piece, Sefko notes that the Mavs could elect to keep a roster spot open heading into the season. Dallas could be a candidate for a player that gets unexpectedly waived by a rival team.
- The Mavericks‘ reserves are excited to get more playing time with Nowitzki this season, Sefko passes along in a separate piece. “I told him, ‘You’re coming buddy. You’re with us.’ I’ll take him,” Barea said of the future Hall-of-Famer. “He’s all about pick and pop and shoot it. He’s working his butt off, too. Hopefully he stays healthy and can come in and help a little bit. The guys know how to play with him.”
Exciting future with Doncic, just they need to put better guys around him. DSJ is just a good starter, he won’t be a star, Barnes the same, DJ hopefully will only stay this year, so Dallas can improve a lot this year, but they really need more star power to really move forward & try to challenge again.
I think you’re wrong about DSJ and so do a lot of others.
A lot agree to that he won’t be a star up in the air! There’s some real empty stats guy kinda feel to him
“Put better players around doncic”…what makes you even think he’s a franchise player, the kid hasn’t even played a game yet.
May Cuban and Donnie introduce you to a new cutting edge plan called dry powder! It’s a new free agent plan that’s the same as the old plan ! Lol mavs are the biggest lock to strike out in next year’s free agency if they have eyes for any of Durant, kawhi,klay,or butler and they wouldn’t need kyrie either if all goes well !
That’ said if they are realistic about star free agents their cap space can add another good player or two to a interesting young core ! Most likely most of their cap space will go to re-signing Jordan and Barnes if he opts out
Probably lose 1st rounder to Atlanta. Dirk will retire. Deandre will go to a contender and Dallas would be smart to ship him at the deadline to pick up an asset or 2 though they’d have to take back salary. Wesley will move on and that really doesn’t matter. Barnes will pick up his option. Barea might even move on for more playing time. I guess Doncic will be more experienced and maybe DSJ can become more efficient by next year. I think they should’ve throw a big deal at Randle or Parker instead of signing DJ. They would have fit better in the Doncic/DSJ timeline.