After trading Luka Doncic, the Mavericks have been sent a gift from the heavens (or Adam Silver), the number one overall pick. All signs point to the selection of Cooper Flagg, the two-way player of the year from Duke. To the annoyance of many, Nico Harrison has repeated that this Mavericks team will be built on defense. These trades reflect that.

Mavericks: Herb Jones

Pelicans: PJ Washington, '29 FRP (LAL) (Top 14 Protected)

Herb Jones has proven himself as one of the best defenders in the league. At 6'8", Jones can guard 1-5 effectively, earning all-defensive honors in the 2024 season. He took a minor step back last year in 3P%, all the way from 41% to 30%. Getting Jones to guard on the perimeter would be a huge addition to the Mavericks' defense. On the other side of the trade, the Pelicans continue to surround Zion Williamson with effective shooters, Washington shooting 38% last year, a noticeable jump from the past.

Mavericks: Keon Ellis

Kings: Jaden Hardy, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, '30 SRP (PHI), '31 SRP (NOP/ORL)

Another gritty defender, Keon Ellis, also joins the Dallas defense with this trade. The Mavs are in need of a guard after losing Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL late last year. Kyrie will likely be out for much of the 2026 season. Ellis can work as both a primary ball handler and a very talented asset on defense. Another note is how good Ellis' contract is, being only $2.3 million, effectively a minimum deal for a great role player. On the Kings' side, they take two flyers on players that have shown flashes, Jaden Hardy and O-Max. This sets them up with many promising assets, possibly to make a larger trade down the line for a star on the market, or to continue stacking up role players.

Mavericks: Jonathan Kuminga (S&T, 4 yrs - $102.2M), #41

Warriors: Daniel Gafford, #42

This trade is not for a defender, but instead a talented young player whose team has clearly lost faith in his development, Jonathan Kuminga. The 7th pick in the 2021 draft, Kuminga, has been a significant bench scorer for the Warriors for the past two years. Steve Kerr proved in the 2025 playoffs that he has lost trust in Kuminga, leaving him out of the rotation for much of the playoffs. In this trade, the Mavericks get a talented scorer off the bench for a large but fair 4 year $102 million contract. The Warriors get a much-needed rim-running and protecting center in Daniel Gafford. They could run a very scary lineup of Curry, Moody/Podz, Butler, Green, and Gafford.

With the first pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks select Cooper Flagg, Forward, Duke University

With the forty-second pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Dallas Mavericks select Tyrese Proctor, Guard, Duke University

With this draft, the Mavs pick a duo from the 2025 Blue Devils that made the final four. Flagg has been the presumptive number one pick for months, one of the best defensive prospects of the century. Again, adding to this defensive core, Flagg is an amazing interior for his 6'9" frame, able to alter shots from anyone challenging him on the interior. He and Anthony Davis are a scary duo for any offense in the league looking to score in the paint. With a mid-second-round pick, the Mavs get Flagg's point guard from last year, Tyrese Proctor. Proctor's efficiency took a jump in his junior year, a good sign for his development as a scorer. While he has more to prove on the offensive end, what he showed at Duke is worth a second-round flyer.

Free Agency

Dante Exum - 2 years $9.2 million

Spencer Dinwiddie - 1 year $3.6 million

Kevon Looney - 1 year $3.6 million

Kessler Edwards - 2 years $4.8 million

Without making a big splash in free agency, the Mavericks re-sign proven role players with this free agency class. Without Kyrie Irving and after trading Jaden Hardy, they need some guard depth, which they get in Dante Exum and Spencer Dinwiddie. Exum has shown he can handle bench minutes as a primary guard during his 2 year return to the NBA with the Mavericks, and Dinwiddie is a veteran point guard who, at one point in his career, was a sixth man of the year candidate. After trading Daniel Gafford, the Mavs also need center depth, signing proven backup center Kevon Looney, a very good rebounder who played a significant role on a championship roster. They also resigned young end-of-bench player Kessler Edwards, who showed flashes with the Nets as a potentially good forward, and it is worth it to resign Edwards for a cheap 2 year deal.

Optimal Starting Lineup: Irving, Jones, Flagg, Davis, Lively

Bench: Kuminga, Ellis, Marshall, Christie, Thompson, Looney, Exum, Martin, Proctor

While Irving will be out for a significant portion of the year, Ellis can fill in that role for the foreseeable future. I would expect this team at full strength to be a top-3 seed in a very rough Western conference. This would most likely be the best defensive team in the league, setting them up for a strong playoff run, redeeming Nico Harrison for trading the franchise, Luka Doncic.

Thanks for reading all this yap, please like, flame, and I beg of you to leave your opinion on this in the comments. What teams decline? What deals are bad? What would you do better?