Klay Thompson's Mavs Departure Opens Doors for Young Dallas Guards

Klay Thompson's time with the Dallas Mavericks ended Friday when he and the team agreed to a buyout of the final year of his contract.

It's a move that now reduces the Mavs to the maximum of 15 standard NBA contracts, and outside of Thompson's leadership and professionalism during his tenure in Dallas, there's now a void in shooting guard depth that's even bigger than before.

READ MORE: 'Culture of Competition': Mavs GM Speaks Out on Klay Thompson Decision

Kyrie Irving, 34, remains on the team as an elder statesman, but his backcourt mate will likely be a figure more fitting with the long-term future of the franchise next to star forward Cooper Flagg.

Dallas has several intriguing pieces that can fill Thompson's role as a knockdown shooter and potentially develop into something more

Christie started 68 of the 77 games he played in his first full season with the Mavericks. The soon-to-be 24-year-old shot 40 percent from 3-point range on a career-high 5.8 attempts a night.

He and former head coach Jason Kidd even thought he could've shot more often. With floor spacing being limited with the Mavs' size, expect Max to have the brightest green light on the team from the perimeter.

In its early 2026-27 season preview, ESPN named Christie as Dallas' biggest X-factor for next season, pointing to the importance of his shooting and perimeter defense.

"Christie seems ready for a bigger role on a winning team, after scoring a career-high 12.3 PPG last season while making 40% of his 3-pointers," Zach Kram wrote. "But he isn't yet a proven perimeter stopper, and Dallas will need him to fill that role with Kyrie Irving as his backcourt partner. More broadly, Christie is arguably the only traditional shooting guard on the Mavericks' frontcourt-heavy roster. If he doesn't take another step forward in his age-23 season, Dallas could be in trouble on the perimeter."

Sasser comes over from the wild six-team trade earlier in the offseason, and the former Pistons role player is an intriguing addition. He's likely listed as one of the first guards off the bench in the Mavs' current depth chart, but his numbers have regressed each of the three years he's been in the league.

The Mavericks hope a change of scenery - back to his hometown of Dallas - will be beneficial for Sasser, who still managed to post a career-high 41.5 percent from 3, but on just 2.8 attempts per game.

The Spanish rookie comes to Dallas after being drafted in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft.

Training camp later next month will be a good tell of De Larrea's conditioning for the early part of the season; he is busy this summer competing on his national team in FIBA World Cup qualifying.

If his excellence in Summer League was any indication (maybe not, because it's hardly NBA competition) then De Larrea will have a future as a primary distributor on many Mavs teams to come.

In some scenarios, I can even see Dallas starting him at point with Irving playing as an off-ball wing slasher at times this season.

New head coach Dusty May is most known for his big men rotation, but De Larrea has one of the largest opportunities on the roster to make an impact right away.

Lastly, the European rookie Biberovic arguably has the most similar play-style of Thompson in this group.

We've heard his hunger to contribute - and his dynamic scoring ability has been on display with a 40 percent 3-point stroke each of the last three seasons - but there's still some things to figure out.

At 6-6, Biberovic will need to showcase his defensive potential and cognitive grasp of the NBA game as he looks to earn minutes.

If he does, he can seamlessly fill Thompson's bench role as a spark-plug perimeter shooter.