Dallas Mavericks Rumors

Stein/Fischer’s Latest: Beal, Suns, CP3, Bucks, Lillard, Heat

July 3rd, 2025 at 10:48pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns and Heat had exploratory talks this week about the possibility of a Bradley Beal trade, according to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link). However, those discussions “ultimately collapsed,” resulting in a rising belief that the veteran guard will ultimately be bought out by Phoenix.

If the two sides do end up working out a buyout agreement, expect the Heat to show interest in signing Beal as a free agent, per Fischer and Stein, who say the Bucks would also be interested in adding the three-time All-Star if he reaches free agency.

Here’s more from The Stein Line duo:

In addition to looking more seriously at a possible Beal buyout, the Suns have also engaged in conversations with teams about various trade scenarios involving center Nick Richards and wings Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale, Stein and Fischer say.
After turning away interest from the Mavericks and Hornets earlier in free agency, Chris Paul continues to consider the Suns and Clippers. Stein and Fischer confirm he’s also receiving interest from the Bucks, who have been on the lookout for another point guard in the hopes of filling the sizable hole left by Damian Lillard‘s Achilles injury (and impending release). ESPN’s Shams Charania said during a Thursday SportsCenter appearance that Paul, who is known to prefer playing closer to his family in Los Angeles, spoke to Bucks officials on Wednesday (hat tip to Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report).
Speaking of Lillard, Stein and Fischer classify the Heat‘s interest in signing the Oakland native as “serious,” but acknowledge that the injured star will likely be in no rush to sign his next contract.
The Pacers, Kings, and Pelicans are among the other teams who remain on the hunt for another point guard, Stein and Fischer write.

Nuggets To Hire Jared Dudley As Top Assistant Coach

July 3rd, 2025 at 12:16pm CST by Rory Maher

Former NBA forward Jared Dudley has agreed to a contract with the Nuggets that will make him the top assistant coach on David Adelman‘s staff, agent Andy Miller tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

Marc Stein of The Stein Line first reported that Dudley was drawing interest from Memphis, Cleveland and Denver, and also reported over the weekend that the Nuggets were granted permission to Dudley.

A 14-year veteran as a player who won a title with the Lakers in 2020, Dudley has been an assistant with the Mavericks for the past four seasons, including acting in a front-of-bench role in 2024/25.

As Stein notes (via Twitter), all three of Dallas’ top assistants from last season have found new jobs in recent months, with Sean Sweeney joining the division-rival Spurs as associate head coach, Alex Jensen becoming the head coach at the University of Utah, and Dudley heading to Denver. Player development assistant God Shammgod, who has been with the Mavs since 2019, was also hired away by the Magic.

The Mavericks replaced Sweeney with new associate head coach Frank Vogel, a longtime former head coach, while ex-Raptors and Suns coach Jay Triano is the new No. 2 assistant. Stein reported that Dallas is eyeing veteran assistants Phil Handy and Mike Penberthy to join Jason Kidd‘s staff, though Handy is also drawing interest from New York.

According to Adam Mares of ALLCITY (Twitter link), Dudley is well liked and respected by coaches and players around the NBA, including several of the league’s top stars. The former first-round pick turns 40 years old next week.

Mavericks Notes: Jones, Prosper, Broghamer, Handy, Russell

July 3rd, 2025 at 10:50am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks have shown interest in re-signing big man Kai Jones, according to Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com, but they’ll have to perform some roster gymnastics to make that happen.

The Mavericks will have 16 players on standard contracts once they re-sign Dante Exum, who was a higher priority for Dallas’ front office than Jones. The former Hornets center appeared in a dozen games with Dallas after the Clippers waived him at the beginning of March.

Olivier-Maxence Prosper is considered to have the most tradable contract among the Mavericks’ expendable margin players, Afseth adds. He’s earning about $3MM in 2025/26 and isn’t owed any guaranteed money beyond the coming season.

We have more on the Mavericks:

Josh Broghamer will coach the Mavs’ Summer League team, a roster that includes top pick Cooper Flagg, Afseth reports. Jared Dudley has coached the Summer League team in recent years, but appears on the verge of finding work elsewhere.
Updating his own report that Phil Handy is a candidate for the Mavericks’ coaching staff, Marc Stein tweets that the Knicks also have interest in Handy for Mike Brown‘s new staff in New York. Handy worked for Brown with the Lakers and Cavaliers.
After Stein mentioned Mike Penberthy as a potential target for the Mavericks’ staff on Wednesday, Afseth classifies the Mavs’ interest in the veteran assistant as “serious,” labeling him a strong candidate to join Jason Kidd‘s staff. Penberthy, who was an assistant alongside Kidd with the Lakers during their championship season, is known as a shooting coach and has earned praise from Mavericks star Anthony Davis for helping him improve as a shooter, Afseth adds.
The Mavs were looking for a player to bridge the gap until Kyrie Irving returns from his knee injury and D’Angelo Russell can fit the bill, Christian Clark of The Athletic writes. Russell is coming off one of his worst seasons but he played well for the Lakers the previous year. Russell agreed to a two-year deal in the $12MM range, a very reasonable price for a rotation player.

Coaching Rumors: Knicks, Borrego, Shammgod, Magic, Mavs, More

July 2nd, 2025 at 8:49pm CST by Luke Adams

After being denied permission to speak to five NBA head coaches already under contract with rival teams, the Knicks shifted their focus to Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins, with Jenkins falling behind after “projecting less enthusiasm for the job,” writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.

The team spoke to other candidates, including James Borrego and Micah Nori, and Ian Begley of SNY.tv confirms that South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley did, in fact, formally interview for the job as well. However, as Begley writes, the search was always expected to result in the Knicks hiring an experienced NBA head coach.

The Knicks ultimately decided Brown was their man in large part because they believe he’ll bring “leadership and collaboration” to the organization, tweets Steve Popper of Newsday. Casey Powell (aka CP The Fanchise) of Knicks Fan TV (Twitter link) notes that the club is also confident in Brown’s ability to maximize the talent on the roster.

While Brown won’t be forced to retain any of the assistants who worked under Tom Thibodeau, the expectation is that a few will be back, according to Begley, who specifically identifies Rick Brunson, Darren Ermann, Mark Bryant, and Maurice Cheeks as strong candidates to remain in New York.

Brown is targeting Borrego for his lead assistant role, viewing him as an ideal offensive coordinator, Begley writes. However, as Marc Stein of The Stein Line notes (via Twitter), the Pelicans want to keep Borrego as their associate head coach and don’t necessarily have to let him leave for what would be a lateral move in terms of his title.

According to Stein (Twitter link), New Orleans previously denied permission to the Nuggets, who wanted to speak to Borrego about their lead assistant role under David Adelman.

Here are a few more coaching-related notes and rumors from around the NBA:

As expected, Mavericks player development coach God Shammgod has reached a deal with the Magic to become an assistant on Jamahl Mosley‘s staff, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Rumors about Orlando’s interest in Shammgod, who had been in Dallas since 2019, had circulated since mid-June.
With Shammgod departing, keep an eye on Phil Handy and Mike Penberthy as possible candidates to join the Mavericks‘ staff under Jason Kidd, according to Stein (Twitter links). Both Handy and Penberthy were part of the Lakers’ staff alongside Kidd when Frank Vogel – Dallas’ new lead assistant – was the head coach in Los Angeles.
Omar Cooper Jr., the twin brother of former NBA guard Sharife Cooper and the son of Ace Bailey‘s agent Omar Cooper, is serving as a guest coach for the Jazz during Summer League, per Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. Cooper Jr. is looking to get into coaching after wrapping up his college playing career at McNeese State this past season.
In announcing its 15-man roster for EuroBasket 2025, the Spanish national team confirmed that former Raptors assistant Sergio Scariolo will be stepping down from his role as Spain’s head coach after the event. BasketNews.com has the story, along with Spain’s roster, which includes Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama.

Mavs To Name Frank Vogel Associate Head Coach

July 2nd, 2025 at 5:49pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Mavericks intend to make Frank Vogel their associate head coach under Jason Kidd, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Vogel served as a coaching consultant for the team last season.

Generally considered a defense-oriented coach, Vogel has had a good deal of success during prior stops with the Pacers (2011-16), the Lakers (2019-22), and even the Suns (2023-24), although he did spend two seasons (2016-18) struggling to make a misaligned Magic roster soluble.

All told, he boasts a 480-422 (.532) regular season coaching record and a 49-43 playoff mark. Vogel lead the Lakers to a championship in 2020 with Kidd on his staff as an assistant.

As Marc Stein of The Stein Line observes (via Twitter), Vogel is the second former NBA head coach to reach a deal with the Mavs this offseason, joining Jay Triano. Kidd’s staff is undergoing some changes, with lead assistant Sean Sweeney having departed for San Antonio in June after Alex Jensen left for the University of Utah in March.

Another Mavs assistant, Jared Dudley, is in advanced talks to join the rival Nuggets as the lead assistant under David Adelman, Stein notes, while God Shammgod may also end up leaving Dallas for Orlando.

The Mavs’ new-look staff will be tasked with maximizing the potential of a team incorporating No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg to a roster headlined by aging stars Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving (who will be rehabbing an ACL injury for much of the year), and Klay Thompson.

Mavericks To Re-Sign Dante Exum

July 2nd, 2025 at 3:28pm CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks and Dante Exum have reached an agreement on a one-year deal that will extend the veteran guard’s stay in Dallas, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, Exum considered two other contenders before agreeing to re-sign with the Mavericks. The expectation is that he’ll take on some added ball-handling responsibilities alongside D’Angelo Russell, with Kyrie Irving expected to miss the start of the season while recovering from a torn ACL.

Exum, who will turn 30 later this month, spent the first seven years of his professional career in the NBA, playing for Utah and Cleveland after being selected fifth overall in the 2014 draft. However, he struggled to establish himself as a reliable rotation player, due in part to his lack of offensive production.

Exum played in Europe for two seasons from 2021-23, developing a reliable three-point shot during his time with Barcelona and Partizan Belgrade, then returned stateside during the 2023 offseason and has played in Dallas since then.

Injuries, which hampered Exum’s development earlier in his career, have continued to be an issue during his second NBA stint, limiting him to 75 total appearances across the past two seasons, including just 20 last season due to right wrist surgery and a broken left hand.

But he has been a very effective role player for the Mavs when healthy, averaging 8.0 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .516/.472/.768.

Once Irving’s new deal is done and Russell officially signs, the Mavs won’t have enough room below a hard cap at the second tax apron to re-sign Exum on a minimum-salary deal, so they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move at some point to finalize all those moves, as cap expert Yossi Gozlan notes (via Twitter).

Waiving Brandon Williams, whose salary is mostly non-guaranteed, would be the easiest path to creating that space below the second apron, but he was productive in a rotation role during the second half of last season. Olivier-Maxence Prosper, a 2023 first-round pick, has been considered a trade candidate.

Mavericks Sign Cooper Flagg To Rookie Contract

July 2nd, 2025 at 2:11pm CST by Luke Adams

No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg has officially signed his first NBA contract, the Mavericks announced on Wednesday (via Twitter).

The rookie scale deal will pay Flagg a $13.8MM salary in his rookie year and a total of $62.7MM across his first four NBA seasons.

The top prize of the 2025 NBA draft class, Flagg is coming off a wildly successful freshman season at Duke, where he was earned ACC Player of the Year and AP Player of the Year honors, among several others awards. The 6’9″ forward was the driving force behind the Blue Devils’ 35-4 record and helped the team reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.

Flagg stuffed the stat sheet in his first and only college season, leading a stacked Duke team in points (19.2), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.2), steals (1.4) and blocks (1.4) per game, with a strong shooting line of .481/.385/.840. He made 37 appearances in 2024/25, averaging 30.7 minutes per contest.

Dallas had just a 1.8% chance of claiming this year’s top pick, jumping up from No. 11 to No. 1 when the team won the draft lottery in May.

Western Notes: Kidd, Collins, Bailey, Harper

July 1st, 2025 at 9:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks are expected to extend head coach Jason Kidd‘s contract again before the start of next season, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line report (via Substack). Kidd received an extension after last season and general manager Nico Harrison indicated last week that Kidd would remain the team’s head coach next season.

Of course, the Knicks were interested in talking to Kidd about their head coaching vacancy. Although the Mavericks denied the Knicks’ request to speak to their head coach, there has been persistent speculation that Kidd would wind up in New York unless he received an extension.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Jazz big man John Collins picked up his $26.5MM option last week. That probably means he’ll remain on Utah’s roster entering next season, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic, who tweets that there doesn’t seem to be much of a market for Collins, who averaged 19.0 points and 8.2 rebounds this past season, but he was limited to 40 games and didn’t return after suffering a left ankle sprain on March 12.
Jazz lottery pick Ace Bailey didn’t work out for the team amid reports that his preferred destination was Washington. Bailey expressed surprise when Utah drafted him but he claims he never considered not reporting to the club. “Not at all,” Bailey said in a press conference on Sunday, per Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune. “I mean, just blessed to be in this position. Not a lot of people sit in these chairs and have great teammates as I got on (here). So I’m just blessed to be here.”
No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper, Bailey’s teammate at Rutgers, predicts the Spurs will make the postseason next season, according to ESPN’s Michael C Wright. “That’s going to change really quick,” Harper said of San Antonio’s recent struggles. “We’re going to make the playoffs. I think for the Spurs fans and everyone else, our group is very exciting. There’s a lot to look forward to. The sky’s the limit for this group we’ve got.” Harper could become the team’s third consecutive Rookie of the Year Award winner. “I don’t think I feel no pressure [to win ROY], but I definitely want to keep that going,” Harper said. “That’s definitely a goal of mine.”

Mavericks, D’Angelo Russell Agree To Two-Year Contract

June 30th, 2025 at 6:12pm CST by Rory Maher

The Mavericks are signing free agent guard D’Angelo Russell to a two-year contract, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The second year will be a player option, Charania notes (via Twitter).

While Charania states that Russell’s deal is worth $13MM, veteran reporter Marc Stein hears (via Twitter) it’s just shy of $12MM.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks confirms (Twitter links) that Russell will be signed using the taxpayer mid-level exception, which will hard-cap the Mavs at the second tax apron. Dallas is about $1.6MM below the second apron, Marks adds.

Stein reported multiple times leading up to free agency that Dallas was the frontrunner to sign Russell to a two-year deal using the taxpayer version of the MLE. Assuming he received the full amount, he will earn $11,654,250 over the next two years.

Russell is a one-time All-Star who is taking a steep pay cut, having earned $18.7MM in 2024/25.

The second overall pick of the 2015 draft, Russell is coming off a down season in which he averaged 12.6 points, 5.1 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 58 combined appearances with the Lakers and Nets (25.5 minutes per game). 12.6 PPG and 25.5 MPG represented career lows for Russell, who also posted career-worst percentages from the field (39.0%) and from three-point range (31.4%).

While he is a talented scorer and play-maker who is capable of carrying an offense for stretches, Russell tends to be quite streaky and is a subpar defender. The 29-year-old will likely be the starting point guard for the Mavs until Kyrie Irving is able to return from the torn ACL he sustained in early March.

Stein/Fischer’s Latest: Jerome, Kennard, Capela, Lakers, Bulls, More

June 30th, 2025 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

In their latest round-up of scuttlebutt ahead of the start of free agency on Monday, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) reiterate or confirm a few of the rumors that have been percolating in recent days, writing that Dennis Schröder appears to be on track to join the Kings on a two-year deal worth the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while D’Angelo Russell is widely expected to join the Mavericks on a two-year deal that utilizes the taxpayer mid-level.

Stein and Fischer also stress that the Grizzlies are increasingly regarded as the favorites to land free agent guard Ty Jerome, with rival teams expecting him to sign for a deal in the neighborhood of $9-10MM annually (Twitter link).

Additionally, Stein and Fischer confirm that the Rockets are now eyeing Luke Kennard in addition to Dorian Finney-Smith. Besides Houston, the Hawks and Nuggets are considered potential suitors for Kennard, one of the league’s best outside shooters, according to The Stein Line duo.

Here are a few more fresh pieces of intel from Stein and Fischer:

The Clippers are viewed as a viable candidate to land free agent center Clint Capela. Los Angeles is known to be in the market for an Ivica Zubac backup, with Drew Eubanks not expected to return.
If the Lakers end up losing Finney-Smith in free agency, they’re expected to express interest in another talented perimeter defender, De’Anthony Melton, Stein and Fischer report. Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link) has also heard that there’s mutual interest between Melton and the Lakers. The veteran guard signed for the full non-taxpayer mid-level a year ago, but seems unlikely to land another deal in that range after missing nearly the entire season with a torn ACL.
There’s a “strong expectation” that free agent point guard Tre Jones will remain with the Bulls, Stein and Fischer say. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network previously reported that the odds of a reunion between the two sides were rising following the team’s Lonzo Ball trade.
The Bucks are working on potential Pat Connaughton trade scenarios and have a couple possible pathways to a deal, per Stein and Fischer. Milwaukee would likely have to attach a sweetener to move Connaughton, but perhaps could acquire a player in return who would upgrade the rotation.
The Wizards have been gauging the trade market for a pair of veterans on expiring contracts, guard Marcus Smart and big man Kelly Olynyk, Stein and Fischer write. Olynyk technically isn’t even a Wizard yet, as the deal sending him from New Orleans to Washington will become official after the July moratorium — it sounds like there’s a chance he’s flipped to another team.
DeMarre Carroll and former Wizards assistant Brian Randle are expected to have two of the front-of-bench spots on Jordan Ott‘s coaching staff, but the new Suns coach is still seeking a lead assistant who has previous head coaching experience, according to Stein and Fischer.