The Dallas Mavericks have been able to make the most of some overlooked players, but they will have to decide who's worth keeping around and who isn't worth the cap space.
Despite horrid mismanagement by Nico Harrison, the Dallas Mavericks aren't all doom and gloom. They lucked out in the 2025 NBA Draft lottery, landing Cooper Flagg, who was billed as a franchise savior.
Of course, Flagg is freshly 19, still adjusting to the NBA, and basketball is a team sport. The Mavericks need to surround him and Dereck Lively II with age-appropriate talent. The team seems committed to Kyrie Irving as their point guard moving forward, but it remains to be seen how many prime years he has left as he rehabs a torn ACL.
The Mavericks signed D'Angelo Russell to be their stopgap floor general, although he was quickly replaced by Brandon Williams and Ryan Nembhard after a slow start to the season. All three players are on fairly low-stakes contracts, although Williams will be a free agent this summer.
Dallas Mavericks Need to Cement the Backcourt
Williams, after spending the last two seasons on two-way contracts, will be a restricted free agent after this season. That means the Mavericks can match any offer sheet he signs with another team, but they might instead want to save money for more win-now free agents instead of key depth pieces.
That sort of short-sightedness is what lost them Luka Doncic in the first place!
Despite being cold from deep this season, Williams is averaging career-highs across the board, and his turnovers per 36 minutes have remained the same from last season. He is only 26 years old, so he and Nembhard are expected to battle for the backup job once Irving returns.
Of course, Nembhard should be cheaper to keep around, although depth behind an aging Irving is key. If the Mavericks trade away Russell in a possible Anthony Davis deal, there is a clear path for the Mavericks to keep Irving, Williams, and Nembhard.
If an on-the-rise team like the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, or Minnesota Timberwolves all offer Williams a bigger deal than the Mavericks think he's worth, then he's as good as gone. However, he has risen to the occasion time and time again for the shorthanded Mavericks, proving his value and worth to the franchise. The point-Flagg experiment was a bust, and in order to maximize their young stars, the Mavericks always need a capable point guard on the floor.
Williams has proiven that he is just that. Expect the Mavericks to be willing to overpay to keep him in town.