Dallas Mavericks Rumors

Mavs’ Gafford Back In Action, Lively Close To Returning

April 1st, 2025 at 12:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks big man Daniel Gafford returned to action on Monday night against Brooklyn after missing 21 straight games due to a sprained knee and showed no signs of rust in his first game since February 10. In just under 19 minutes on the floor, Gafford racked up 17 points, seven rebounds, and a pair of assists.

It wasn’t all good news for Dallas, as the team dropped a very winnable game against a lottery-bound Nets team. Gafford also wasn’t entirely thrilled with his performance, though he said it felt good to be back in action, adding that he thought he improved over the course of the night.

“It was real important to me (to get back in the lineup). I’ve got a big heart for the game,” Gafford said, per Greg Riddle of The Dallas Morning News. “There were times when I was down, and the people around me kept me motivated. It was a bunch of mess-ups from me early on, but throughout the course of the game, it just started to feel kind of natural again.”

As dispiriting as the Mavericks’ loss was, it didn’t hurt them much in the play-in race, since Sacramento also lost on Monday. The Suns gained a half-game as a result of having the night off, but they have the NBA’s most difficult remaining schedule and will be without their top scorer for at least the next three games.

The 37-39 Mavs currently hold the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference, with a half-game lead on the No. 10 Kings and a 1.5-game cushion on No. 11 Phoenix. And after getting Gafford back on Monday, they should have another key contributor available soon — big man Dereck Lively, sidelined since January 14 with a stress fracture in his ankle, was listed as questionable vs. Brooklyn before being ruled out. Head coach Jason Kidd said the second-year center is “trending” toward returning this week, according to Riddle.

Assuming they have Anthony Davis, Gafford, and Lively available during the home stretch of the regular season, the Mavericks figure to lean pretty heavily on lineups featuring multiple big men. As Christian Clark of The Athletic writes, Davis said after Monday’s loss that it was the first time he has been part of a two-big lineup for an entire game and that he still needs to get used to it. However, he and Gafford are both excited about the possibilities.

“It’s an advantage we have, having two bigs,” Davis said, according to Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “They’re going to switch or blitz and with his ability to jump and put pressure on the rim, it’s going to be open.”

“The thing that excites me is when it comes to certain parts of the game defensively, we are going to go through the roof,” Gafford added, per Clark. “Offensively, I need to be in the right spot at the right time. It makes my job easier. I just have to get better at guarding guys on the perimeter.”

Stein/Fischer’s Latest: Kings, White, Grimes, Mavs

March 31st, 2025 at 1:29pm CST by Luke Adams

A number of people around the NBA view Wes Wilcox‘s decision to leave his position as the assistant general manager in Sacramento for a college job with the Utah Utes as a sign that the Kings‘ front office is on shaky ground entering the 2025 offseason, according to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).

Whether or not the Kings make major changes to their basketball operations department could depend in part on how the rest of the season plays out, Stein and Fischer note — a number of scenarios remain in play in Sacramento, ranging from the team claiming a playoff spot to missing the play-in tournament altogether.

However, there’s “considerable angst in the air” in Sacramento, given how the team’s season has played out, Stein and Fischer write. Interim head coach Doug Christie is a favorite of team owner Vivek Ranadive, but after winning 10 of his first 12 games on the job, he’s just 13-18 since then.

At the very least, Stein and Fischer say, the Kings’ front office will likely operate much differently without Wilcox in the picture, since he frequently communicated with agents, as well as with rival teams during trade talks. His personality and his experience as a front office executive were among the reasons why Sacramento initially wanted him to pair him with McNair, Stein and Fischer add.

Here’s more from The Stein Line:

Coby White generated a significant amount of trade interest prior to last month’s deadline, according to Stein and Fischer, who say that the Bulls “swatted away” that interest. That decision has paid major dividends, as White has been on a tear in recent weeks, averaging 29.1 points per game on .496/.377/.875 shooting in 14 March outings. He’ll be extension-eligible this offseason, but without cap room available, Chicago may not be in position to make him a competitive offer prior to free agency due to restrictions on veteran extensions.
Quentin Grimes didn’t explicitly request a trade out of Dallas last month, despite some rumors to the contrary, Stein and Fischer report. But the move from the Mavericks to the Sixers has certainly worked out for Grimes, who was among March’s standouts along with White, averaging 26.6 PPG on .504/.403/.738 shooting for the month. Despite the team’s high projected payroll, Philadelphia is hoping to re-sign Grimes this summer as a restricted free agent, per Stein and Fischer.
Unsurprisingly, Stein and Fischer say the Mavericks would “love” to promote two-way players Kessler Edwards and Brandon Williams to their standard roster immediately if they had the ability to do so. Both Edwards and Williams have reached their two-way limit of 50 active games and Dallas doesn’t have enough room below its hard cap to elevate either player and reactivate them at this point.

Checking In On Starter Criteria, Traded Draft Picks, Mavs’ Two-Ways, More

March 31st, 2025 at 12:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The months on the calendar between the NBA's in-season trade deadline and the start of the offseason represent the only time of year in which teams aren't permitted to make trades.

Still, while the possibility of Shams Charania dropping shocking trade news in the middle of the night is off the table during this final stretch of the regular season, there's plenty going on around the league that will impact future roster decisions and trade talks.

We're checking in on a few of those subplots today. Let's dive right in...

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Mavericks’ Brandon Williams Reaches 50-Game Limit

March 31st, 2025 at 12:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Point guard Brandon Williams, who helped the Mavericks survive a severe player shortage over the past few weeks, has reached the 50-game limit on his two-way contract, writes Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.

Two-way players who have been with their teams since the start of the season can only be on the active roster for 50 games, regardless of how often they play. Williams made an impact while appearing in 31 games, averaging 8.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 14.8 minutes per night with .511/.379/.857 shooting numbers.

“I’ve just learned how to play with All-Star caliber players, and how to contribute to winning basketball,” he said. “Ultimately, just doing all that stuff and the learning comes with it. Game reps. It’s a lot different than practice. It’s not only going to help me now, but it’ll help me in the future.”

The Mavericks never expected Williams to be a key figure in their fight for a postseason spot when they re-signed him to a two-way contract in July. His role increased following the surprise trade of Luka Doncic in early February and Kyrie Irving‘s season-ending ACL tear a month later. With Dante Exum breaking a bone in his hand in mid-March and Jaden Hardy dealing with a sprained right ankle, Dallas was suddenly short on healthy backcourt players.

Williams came to the rescue, allowing the Mavs to stay in the race for the play-in tournament. He scored 16.6 PPG in 11 games after Irving’s injury while adding 3.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists per night.

“It’s easy to say be patient, to wait, you’re going to get a turn,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Sometimes it takes weeks, months. For a situation that we’ve been in all season with injuries, he’s had that opportunity come a little bit sooner. He’s taken full advantage of it. … He has shown that he can play at a high level.”

Dallas has won three straight games with Anthony Davis back in the lineup and is holding onto the ninth spot in the West at 37-38. However, it’s still a tight race with Sacramento only a half-game back and Phoenix two games behind, and the Mavs are starting to face another roster crunch. Kessler Edwards reached his active-game limit last week, leaving Kai Jones as the only available two-way player.

The deadline for signing two-way contracts has already passed, and the Mavericks can’t fill their open roster spot until April 10 because of hard-cap restrictions. Williams, Edwards and Jones may all receive consideration for that standard deal, but the team will have to find a way to get by until one of them can be added.

“I really wish he could stick with us because B-Will has been such a pleasant surprise, such a great energy off the bench or in the starting lineup,” Klay Thompson said. “It sucks he can’t keep going because he’s made a huge impact.”

Southwest Notes: Gafford, Lively, Morant, Bane, Aldama, Borrego

March 30th, 2025 at 8:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks, who hold the ninth spot in the Western Conference, are getting healthy just in time for a possible postseason berth.

Center Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain) has been upgraded to probable for Monday’s matchup against the Nets, Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal tweets. Dereck Lively (right ankle stress fracture) is considered questionable to play.

As we noted on Saturday, Gafford, who has shared starting duties with Lively this season, sustained a Grade 3 MCL sprain in his right knee on February 10 and has been on the shelf for the Mavericks’ past 21 games. Lively hasn’t played since January 14, having suffered a stress fracture in his right ankle.

We have more from the Southwest Division:

Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant is no longer listed on the injury report, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets. Memphis faces the red-hot Celtics on Monday. Morant missed two weeks of action due to a hamstring injury before returning on Saturday, when he racked up 22 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in 31 minutes in a loss to the Lakers.
Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane said there’s no lingering effects from his altercation with teammate Santi Aldama during the team’s win over Utah on Tuesday. Bane shoved Aldama during a timeout and reportedly called out the forward for his defensive effort. “Two competitors,” Bane told Jonah Dylan of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “We’re scratching and clawing against a Utah team on the road. We’re trying to push each other to be better. And that was pretty much that. I probably took it too far. I love Santi. He was in my wedding, I’ll be in his wedding. We talked right on the bench right after, hugged it out in the locker room and everything’s great.”
In an ironic twist, James Borrego filled in for head coach Willie Green on Sunday when the Pelicans faced for Hornets, Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer tweets. Green missed the contest due to personal reasons. Borrego was Charlotte’s head coach from 2018-22.

Mavs’ Lively, Gafford Reportedly On Track To Return Next Week

March 29th, 2025 at 3:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Neither Dereck Lively nor Daniel Gafford is expected to play on Saturday in Chicago, but the two Mavericks big men are trending in the right direction in their injury recoveries.

Lively and Gafford were upgraded from “out” to “doubtful” for Saturday’s game, a sign that their returns aren’t far off. According to NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link), both players are on track to be reactivated at some point next week.

Lively, who took over as Dallas’ starting center in November, hasn’t played since January 14, having sustained a stress fracture in his right ankle. Reporting at the time indicated that he would likely be sidelined for two-to-three months, so he’ll fall right in that window if he’s able to make it back in the coming days.

Gafford, who has shared starting duties with Lively this season, sustained a Grade 3 MCL sprain in his right knee on February 10 and has been on the shelf for the Mavericks’ past 20 games. A report on Feb. 13 stated he would likely miss six weeks — it has been six weeks and two days since then.

While Lively’s injury occurred earlier in the year, Gafford’s was part of a wave of health issues that devastated the Mavericks shortly after February’s trade deadline. In addition to missing Lively and Gafford, the Mavs were without Anthony Davis for 18 games due to an adductor strain, rendering the club’s top three big men unavailable for well over a month.

Davis returned to action on Monday and with Lively and Gafford apparently not far behind, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel in Dallas as the team pushes for a play-in spot. Of course, as a result of Kyrie Irving‘s season-ending ACL tear, the championship aspirations the Mavs had at the trade deadline are likely no longer realistic, but they would be a tough out in the play-in tournament if their frontcourt is fully healthy.

After visiting Chicago on Saturday, the Mavericks will host the Nets on Monday and the Hawks on Wednesday before facing the Clippers in Los Angeles next Friday and Saturday. Entering play on Saturday, Dallas holds the No. 10 spot in the West with a 36-38 record. The team is just a half-game behind the No. 9 Kings and one game ahead of the No. 11 Suns.

Mavericks’ Anthony Davis Talks Injury, Trade, More

March 28th, 2025 at 9:36pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Mavericks big man Anthony Davis is loving life with his new team.

The 6’10” pro has only appeared in three games since being traded as the centerpiece in the Lakers’ blockbuster pre-deadline deal for All-NBA guard Luka Doncic. But he’s already enjoying his experience in Dallas, as he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape.

“I don’t feel it, but a lot of people have been coming to me and telling me they haven’t seen me smile like this in a long time,” Davis told Spears. “Family is happy. Everybody is happy.”

Davis acknowledged being caught off guard when he heard news of the deal, especially given how Los Angeles had been playing at the time.

“It’s the nature of the business,” Davis said. “Obviously, the first maybe 48 hours, it was just a shock because I wasn’t expecting it. Nobody was expecting it, so they say. But I know from my side, my team and my family and everybody who works with me, I wasn’t expecting it. Even when I was getting some of the calls [about the trade], I thought guys were playing. But it ended up being true and that first initial [emotion] was more a shock just seeing the position [we were in]; we’re in fifth in the West [Conference], we were rolling…”

Dallas fans were similarly bewildered by the deal, which also saw the Mavericks acquire three-and-D wing Max Christie and L.A.’s first-round pick in 2029 in exchange for the 2024 Western Conference Finals MVP.

“I know what Luka meant to the [Mavericks] organization, to the team,” Davis said. “So, it’s like, what do I say to these guys coming in as a new leader and trying to lead these guys to do something special? And for them it’s like, ‘S–t, he just went through probably the biggest trade in [expletive] sports history. What do we say to him?’ And I wasn’t playing. So, I just tried to feel everybody out and just kind of let it happen organically. And now we got a super-tight bond, man, with all the guys.”

The Kentucky alum had been recuperating from an abdominal injury at the time of the trade. He aggravated the ailment during his Dallas debut, on February 8, and missed the subsequent six weeks of action.

Despite season-ending injuries to nine-time All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, Dante Exum, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper, Davis nevertheless decided to return to the floor for Dallas. The 36-38 club is currently the No. 10 seed in the West, and angling for a play-in tournament berth.

“We were playing with six, seven, eight guys who were coming in after playing a game 40, 42 minutes drained, tired, having to play back-to-backs, having to come in and still [weight] lift and get their shots [up],” Davis said. “That was a motivator for me. I knew I was going [to come back] just because of the amount of games we had left. And not even that, just the position we were in, too. We are half a game behind Phoenix. But we got a chance. [Eight] games left. We are trying to try to make a push to get into these playoffs and just take it from there.”

In his most recent game, a 101-92 victory over Orlando on Thursday, Davis played one minute more than his current 28-minute limit, per Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).

“I put a lot of pressure on myself to be great and everybody was telling me, ‘Bro, you missed six weeks,'” Davis said. “‘It’s your second game back [after February 8].’ Just trying to find a rhythm but most importantly, we got the win… But I feel good. Body’s feeling good.”

In his three healthy contests for the Mavericks, the 32-year-old is averaging 17.7 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.3 BPG and 0.7 BPG.

Jones Exits Thursday's Game With Hip Contusion

March 27th, 2025 at 7:21pm CST by Rory Maher

Mavericks center Kai Jones had an impressive block on Franz Wagner in the first quarter of Thursday’s game in Orlando and immediately followed it up with an alley-oop dunk off an assist from Naji Marshall (Twitter video link via Christian Clark of The Athletic). Unfortunately, Jones was unable to brace himself after the dunk and had a scary-looking fall, with all of his weight landing on his left hip. The Mavericks later ruled him out for the remainder of the contest with a left hip contusion (Twitter link). Jones, who is on a two-way deal with Dallas, has started each of his past four games and played well over that span. He recently missed seven games with a left quad strain.

Mavs’ Irving Undergoes ACL Surgery, Pelicans’ Murphy Gets Shoulder Surgery

March 27th, 2025 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving underwent successful surgery on Wednesday to repair the ACL tear in his left knee, the team announced on its website.

The procedure had been expected since Irving was diagnosed with a torn ACL on March 4 after sustaining that knee injury one day earlier. Typically, ACL surgery is delayed by a few weeks in order to allow the swelling and inflammation in the player’s knee to subside to some extent.

The Mavericks’ announcement doesn’t provide a specific recovery timeline for Irving, simply stating that updates on his status will be provided as appropriate. However, the start of the NBA’s 2025/26 season is less than seven months away and the recovery period for this sort of surgery typically extends beyond that, so it seems relatively safe to assume the star guard won’t be ready for opening night in the fall.

Irving, who turned 33 on Sunday, holds a player option worth nearly $43MM for the 2025/26 season. If the Mavs are interested in working out a longer-term deal while he recovers from his knee surgery, he’ll have multiple contract options, including declining that option to sign a new contract or exercising the option and extending off of it.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Southwest Division, the Pelicans announced in a press release that wing Trey Murphy also went under the knife on Wednesday in order to repair the torn labrum in his right shoulder.

Murphy sustained his injury, which included a partial tear of his rotator cuff, on March 17, ending his season. He becomes the second Pelicans starter to undergo shoulder surgery already this year, joining teammate Herbert Jones.

According to the Pelicans’ release, Murphy is expected to make a full recovery following his surgery. But the team doesn’t specify whether or not he’ll be available for the start of the 2025/26 season, stating – like the Mavs with Irving – that further details will be “appropriately provided.”

As we wrote last week, Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray‘s recovery from an Achilles tear is expected to extend well into ’25/26 and it remains possible that Murphy and/or Jones will also have their season debuts delayed next fall. While it’s too early to pinpoint a return date for either player at this point, it will be worth keeping an eye out for any updates on their respective rehab processes this spring and summer.

Murphy, coming off a breakout year in which he averaged 21.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game on .454/.361/.887 shooting, signed a four-year, $112MM rookie scale extension last fall. That contract will go into effect this July.

Mavs’ Kessler Edwards Reaches Active Game Limit

March 26th, 2025 at 10:33am CST by Luke Adams

As expected, the Mavericks activated Kessler Edwards for Tuesday’s game against the Knicks. With Anthony Davis sitting out the second end of the back-to-back after returning from his adductor injury on Monday, Edwards earned the start in Dallas’ frontcourt and played 19 minutes in the 15-point loss.

While Edwards has seen action in just 40 games this season, he has been a DNP-CD in 10 others, meaning he has now reached the limit of 50 active regular season games for a player on a two-way contract.

In order to play in any additional games this spring for Dallas, Edwards would need to be signed to a standard contract and promoted to the 15-man roster. That’s what the Kings did last week with rookie big man Isaac Jones after he reached his 50-game limit.

However, that’s not an option right now for the Mavericks with Edwards due to their lack of flexibility below the first-apron hard cap. With only about $51K in breathing room under that cap, Dallas can’t fill the 15th spot on its roster until at least April 10, since a minimum-salary deal carries a cap hit of nearly $12K per day.

Edwards has registered modest averages of 4.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 15.2 minutes per game across his 40 total outings for Dallas this season. But he has played a far more significant role since Davis went down with his injury on February 8. In 17 games since then, the 6’7″ forward has made 15 starts and averaged 8.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.7 APG with a .538/.486/.900 shooting line in 24.5 MPG.

Given his importance to the banged-up Mavericks, Edwards is a strong candidate to be promoted during the final week of the season, though the club may have decisions to make on their other two-way players at that point as well. Point guard Brandon Williams is down to just two active games remaining, while center Kai Jones could play in up to seven more. The 35-38 Mavs have nine more games on their regular season schedule.

The Mavs could theoretically promote two – or even all three – of their two-way players to standard contracts if they wait until the last day or two of the regular season to do so, but elevating more than one of them would mean waiving one or more of their current 14 players. It may not make sense for the team to go that route, especially if Dereck Lively (right ankle stress fracture) and Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain) are able to return from their own injuries by that point.

Dallas’ position in the play-in race by that point also figures to be a major factor in any roster decisions — making Edwards, Williams, and/or Jones available for the postseason by promoting them to the 15-man roster wouldn’t be necessary if the team is eliminated from contention. In that scenario, the decision on that 15th roster spot could come down to which player the Mavs can sign to a team-friendly multiyear deal.

In the meantime, Edwards is permitted to continue practicing with the Mavericks after reaching his 50-game limit, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That will also be the case for Williams and/or Jones if and when they run out of games.