Dallas kept Ryan Nembhard and Moussa Cisse in place for next season, giving the front office two affordable young pieces before bigger roster decisions arrive.
The Dallas Mavericks made two roster decisions official Monday and Tuesday, exercising their team options on Ryan Nembhard and Moussa Cisse for the 2026-27 season. Dallas confirmed the Nembhard move, while Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News reported the Cisse news.
Both decisions were closer to formalities than tough calls given how each player performed last season, but locking them in now removes uncertainty heading into an offseason already filled with bigger headlines around the coaching change and the draft.
Nembhard’s option carried a price tag of roughly $2.2 million, a minimal cost for what he provided as an undrafted rookie. The younger brother of Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard went undrafted out of Gonzaga, where he led the nation with 9.8 assists per game as a senior and signed with Dallas as a two-way player before earning a promotion to the standard roster in February.
He appeared in 60 games with 27 starts, averaging 6.6 points, 5.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game while shooting 41.5% from the field and 35.6% from 3-point range.
According to Marc Stein, Nembhard is currently with Team Canada for an upcoming FIBA World Cup qualifying window and will join Dallas for Summer League once that stint ends. He figures to compete for the backup point guard role behind a returning Kyrie Irving.
Cisse’s option came in even cheaper at roughly $2.1 million, continuing what has been one of the great value finds of the past year. With the Mavericks picking up his option he becomes a restricted free agent. Also undrafted in 2025, he signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Dallas over the summer and converted to a two-way contract in October.
He appeared in 38 games, shooting 57.4% from the field and protecting the rim with his 7-foot-5 wingspan, giving Dallas a legitimate physical presence behind Daniel Gafford during a season ravaged by frontcourt injuries.
With Dereck Lively II still working back from a season-ending foot surgery and Gafford’s situation in flux amid trade speculation, retaining Cisse as affordable depth at center is a genuinely valuable piece of business at minimal cost.
Combined, the two options will cost Dallas roughly $4.3 million next season, a minimal commitment relative to the rest of the roster’s payroll. For a front office still in its first weeks of real roster-building decisions, retaining two players who simply outperformed their contracts is a low-cost, easy call to get right.
