DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks have stayed active throughout the offseason as they reconfigure the roster around Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving. The team currently has 16 players signed to a standard contract and must get to 15 by opening night.

Beginning with the NBA Draft, the Mavericks used the ninth overall selection to add Morez Johnson Jr., a versatile big from Michigan, along with trading up in the late first round to draft Spanish guard Sergio De Larrea.

Dallas later traded with the Memphis Grizzlies to acquire Santi Aldama and the draft rights to Tarik Biberović, who has since signed to come over to the NBA. 

The Mavericks re-signed Moussa Cissé after matching a two-year, minimum offer sheet he signed with the New York Knicks. 

Ryan Nembhard was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in a deal that was headlined by the Oklahoma City Thunder moving on from Luguentz Dort. The trade brought Zaccharie Risacher to the Mavericks. 

May has a significant number of options at his disposal depending on what style he wants to play on a given night. Until the roster rebalances, it'll be challenging to narrow it down. As it stands, here's a possible look at the depth chart below.

G: Kyrie Irving, Marcus Sasser, Sergio De Larrea

G: Max Christie, Naji Marshall, Tarik Biberović

F:  Cooper Flagg, Zaccharie Risacher, Klay Thompson, Caleb Martin

F: P.J. Washington, Santi Aldama, Morez Johnson Jr. 

C: Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II, Moussa Cissé

With Flagg and Irving typically playing big minutes, the Mavericks will need to find complementary roles for the rest of the roster.

How big the Mavericks want to play on the typical night during the season will be an important factor in how minutes get distributed. May has already described Flagg as a player who can play anywhere from point guard to power forward. Dallas now has many players who spent the majority of their minutes at power forward, including P.J. Washington, Santi Aldama, and Morez Johnson Jr. With all three on the roster, it appears challenging to factor them all in, even when sliding players across positions.

Two players the Mavericks went out of their way to buy into using salary cap flexibility in the trade market include Aldama and Risacher. A team doesn't tend to trade for players earning over $17 million each in non-salary-dump acquisition deals without a plan to utilize those players. 

The center position is a layered situation. As long as Daniel Gafford is on the roster, he has the most established equity with the Mavericks and is a reasonable projection to start, barring a change of scenery. However, he has surfaced in no shortage of trade rumors. Dereck Lively II is coming off a season-ending foot surgery. Johnson spent a lot of time at center at the Las Vegas Summer League. Aldama can serve as a stretch-five when necessary. Cissé also was productive in limited minutes. 

The bench guard behind Irving is another area to watch. They have options, whether they need a shooter like Sasser or a talented passer in De Larrea to help run the offense. They can even have Naji Marshall initiate the offense, as former head coach Jason Kidd previously did in stretches. 

Unless the Mavericks are content to move on from a player by eating dead money, moving on from a standard contract will need to happen via trade. There are different directions they can go. 

From a financial perspective, when evaluating the production per dollar and positional overlap, Caleb Martin is another logical trade candidate at some point. He played 58 games in 2025-26, averaging 3.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.3 blocks in 14.8 minutes per game. 

Martin will earn just over $10 million for the upcoming season with a final-year player option for 2027-28 worth under $9.4 million. Given how many wing players there are on the Mavericks, clearing a roster spot by moving on could be advantageous. 

It's unclear how much Klay Thompson currently factors into the equation, given how crowded the perimeter has become for the Mavericks. He originally arrived in Dallas intent on competing for championships alongside Luka Dončić and Irving. With how circumstances have changed, it's reasonable that he would be viewed as a trade candidate to land in a more immediately built-to-win situation.

The complication is that Thompson will earn over $17.4 million this season, meaning it could require an eventual buyout to land with a contender. Many contending teams are adding role-player veterans using taxpayer mid-level exception mechanisms at lower numbers. Regardless, if a mutually beneficial deal arises, Thompson is a name that could land elsewhere.

If the Mavericks front office becomes determined to free up playing time at the center position, Gafford is naturally a player to keep an eye on, as previously mentioned. The frontcourt becomes much clearer if Johnson and Aldama can spend time at the five, considering Washington has typically played heavy minutes at power forward. However, another option could be to clear room at the four by moving Washington. 

The Mavericks have plenty of time to sort through all of their options.