The Mavericks are reportedly eyeing former Timberwolves shooting Jaylen Nowell, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North suggests on a new episode of his podcast The Scoop.
“No, he’s not coming back to the Wolves,” Wolfson said. “There’s a mutual understanding that, ‘Hey, time for Jaylen to move on.’ But here’s a new team in on Jaylen Nowell: the Dallas Mavericks. They need to create some roster flexibility, they are looking into doing some stuff is the word and it may not come to fruition. But Jaylen Nowell is on Dallas’ radar. The Nowell camp is still also awaiting finality on the Damian Lillard situation.”
The 6’4″ Nowell, now an unrestricted free agent, had been with Minnesota since being selected in the second round of the 2019 draft out of Washington. He enjoyed his most prolific season yet in 2022/23, averaging 10.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 2.0 APG and 0.6 SPG in 65 contests.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- The Mavericks made some major offseason moves to reconfigure their roster following a disappointing end to the 2022/23 season, but will they be enough in a talented West? In a new reader mailbag, Tim Cato of The Athletic asserts that, while Dallas may not be quite a legitimate contender yet, the team made some solid new veteran and rookie additions while replenishing some future draft equity.
- New Grizzlies shooting guard Josh Christopher could yet emerge as a helpful rotation piece for Memphis, in part due to a minor shortage at the position, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Memphis acquired the 6’5″ swingman as part of the five-team sign-and-trade that shipped Dillon Brooks to the Rockets — the team still has 17 players on standard guaranteed contracts, so it’s unclear whether or not Christopher will be on the regular season roster.
- In case you missed it, we took stock of the offseasons of two lowly 2022/23 Southwest clubs, the Rockets and Spurs, and asked you which club they thought would have a better record in 2023/24.
Grizzlies need to make another trade to cut down the roster. Adams, Jake and Tillman for Ayton
Add GG Jackson to the trade too
Camara to Memphis
Since brilliantly stealing Luka Doncic on draft night, the moves made by Mark Cuban with the Dallas Mavericks have you wondering why he hasn’t had his Shark Tank credentials revoked.
Dallas starting lineup is Luka, Kyrie, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Grant Williams and Dwight Powell.
Defensively, who are Luka, Kyrie and an aging Tim Hardaway gonna stop on the perimeter??? For defensive help off the bench, your best option is to put Dante Exum on the floor??? If you play Luka, Kyrie and Seth Curry together … Is Curry the best defender of the trio??? Would he be the only one actually even trying to defend? How many points do Booker, Beal and Durant drop?? Can they keep Phoenix under 150 points???
Grant Williams and Dwight Powell vs. Jokic???? How does this work with Jamal Murray, MPJ and Aaron Gordon on the floor??
Grant Williams and Dwight Powell both averaged 4 rebounds per game last year. Williams in about 26 minutes per night. Powell in about 20 minutes per night. Maxi Kleber got you 3.6 boards in 25 minutes per night. Yikes!!!
No real rim protection on the roster that you can put on the floor. Derrick Lively is at least 2 years away from seeing reserve minutes. Dwight Powell and Richaun Holmes both averaged 0.3 blocked shots per game last year. Maxi Kleber is your best rim protector??
This is going to be as bad as what it looked like last year in the small sample size. Taking on the risk of Kyrie for a team that is not going to even make the playoffs. Watching Mark “Shark Tank” Cuban fumble away the Luka bag in real time.
I think we forget that Jalen Brunson was among Luka’s best friends on the team. Brunson even delivered with big efforts when Luka was out, and the team would roll on. Yet, you don’t give him the offer he wants, and leave the door open for the Knicks to steal him. The Knicks figured out how good he was, and went all in. He was their top target. Mark Cuban????
1000%
Usually when reading most the comments on here I might agree with 1 or 2 point but never anything top to bottom like this.
Couldn’t agree more.
Mavs had Brunson Luka KP and a bunch of good depth. Gave away KP for Dinwiddie, then gave away Dinwiddie and DFS for Kyrie and let Brunson walk for nothing creating multiple holes to fill in the roster.
The guards they have now play no defence, the bigs they have don’t rebound or protect the rim that well. And overall they lack quality depth.
I don’t understand why you draft in Lively with the 10th pick who is atleast a year away before he offers anything. You have Hardy and Green who you refuse to trade but don’t give them much of an opportunity on the court.
Not that my opinion matters at all but what I’d like to see would be as follows…
– Kyrie and Holmes for Gobert and Anderson
– Christian Wood for Royce ONeale (sign&trade)
Luka THJ ONeale Williams Gobert
Curry Green Anderson Kleber Powell
Hardy OMP Lively
Hood rim protection and rebounding from Gobert, hood 3 and D role player in Royce makes you play abit bigger, Luka at the 1 and THJ the 2. Anderson also off the bench another good experienced 3 and D role player. Lively can get plenty of reps in the GLeague and be learning from Gobert aswell.
Come up against Pheonix, Grant on KD, Royce on Booker, THJ on Beal and Gobert helping out from the inside too. Good height and size clogs up the mid range game. Come up against Denver, Gobert can do a job on Jokic, Grant Royce etc you can work it out.
TWolves would look cool Kyrie and ANT together in the backcourt, Conley leading the bench unit. Holmes at PF helps Towns on the inside, McDaniels at the 3. Gets them out of Goberts huge contract that’s massive.
Brooklyn can absorb Wood using inc rod their trade exceptions. Add a completely different style behind Claxton and could fit in well with Ben Simmons and needing that spacing
Gobert is absolutely a fit for Dallas.
It looks like a predictable disaster as of now, but I guess we gotta see the final product before making any final decisions.
The Mavs tried to build a contender using B, and C players. Mostly C’s.
Shark tank is a show about rich idiots making decisions and being lucky enough to be where they are…
He fits right in…
Luck has far more to do with how they made their grift… Mark from Cuba is a shining light on that front…
New position- just “shooting”. Let’s see if that is better than guard next year.
He’s been pretty solid and deserves to be on a roster. His D and speed on transition I think could use some improvement on the NBA level. Not terrible off rebounds.
The Mavs do look real bad Beyond KI and Luka. Byombo would be a good signing for them.
He would be. They should also take a look at Wenyen Gabriel, because they just need more big energetic bodies. Quality defender even if he doesn’t have the deepest offensive bag. He’s better at switching and contesting on the perimeter than Biyombo, but he’s not as strong at defending the paint, so it’s kind of a trade-off which they want more.
Trendon Watford could also give them a boost off the bench. He can shoot and attack off the catch and he can play both forward spots. Worth a flyer if they need more punch.
Ky and luka were putting up historic offense numbers together. They took 2 steps back and move 3 steps forward.
If Brunson signed his extension. Kyrie nor grant williams would be on this team so it comes down to this.
Who would you rather have on your team:
Kyrie or Brunson or dinwiddie?
The 30 year olds Dorian finney Smith and bullock or Grant williams and the rookie Olivier-Maxence Prosper?
Off-season is over yet. Still have thj, Mcgee, Holmes (Sept 4th can be traded) as trade pieces and maybe Christian wood.
As I said before Kyrie and luka were putting up historic offense numbers. Now couple that with better 3andD players and Yourelooking at a 5th seed team. Maybe 4 if grizzles and morant breakup or if sun’s lose kd,booker or Beal to injury
I would take Jalen Brunson over Kyrie All Day, Every Day. I am also taking Dorian Finley-Smith over Grant Williams. Grant Williams is a reserve (starter for Dallas).
Finley-Smith is a starter.
Kyrie is just a name now. He is only interested in getting paid, and getting buckets. Nothing else. No defense. No real care if the team wins, or loses.
Dallas lost to Golden State in the 2022 Western Conference Finals. They went to the WCF with a starting lineup of Doncic, Brunson, Finney-Smith, Reggie Bullock and Dwight Powell.
Putting up historic Offensive Numbers mean nothing when you give up historic defensive numbers. Do a google search for the name “Paul Westhead”. While you are searching look up the Denver Nuggets with Alex English and Kiki Vandeweigh.
You need to put a helmet on. You clearly are very special…. you are delusional if you think Brunson is better than kyrie and if you think williams is a reserve. He will be starting…. now put on a helmet, sit down and go watch paint dry
Kyrie’s also guaranteed to miss a chunk of time next year for some stupid reason.
Stats are not what win games. Brunson actually runs a team. Elevates the play of those on the floor with him. He actually plays defense. A true floor leader.
Kyrie is just interested in his next basket. Whether or not the team wins the game, or loses the game, it will not affect Kyrie in any way, shape or form. Kyrie will completely undermine a team just because. He did it in Boston. He did it in Brooklyn. The coaching staff at Boston was convinced that Kyrie not only quit on them, but was truly trying to be as destructive as possible on his way out the door. That is straight from Micah Shrewsberry, a friend of mine, who was an assistant coach on the team. He has since taken the head coaching job at Penn State.
Actually watch the games Kyrie plays in. Guy is doing nothing but getting his 25 points a night, and is unimpacted by anything else going on.
There is a reason why the Knicks got much better with Brunson, and Dallas got much worse without him.
Did you notice how Brooklyn would win with KD and all role players. They would win with KD and Harden with Kyrie out. They would get BLOWN OUT with KD and Kyrie. Kyrie without KD wasn’t even worth playing the game.
Here are 9 Western Conference teams significantly better than Dallas. Teams they can’t outscore. Luka is a volume 3-point shooter who shot 34% from the 3 last year.
Phoenix
Denver
L.A. Clippers
Sacramento
Memphis
Golden State
New Orleans
L.A. Lakers
Minnesota
Kyrie’a historic offence comes with 40+ missed games, terrible defence and a deflation of the other players stats as his ball hog tendencies kills a teams ball movement…
Brunson will always be the smart choice here… He’s at least got trade value…
The biggest thing with the Mavs is going to be whether or not they can develop synergy between Luka and Kyrie. If they use each other’s offensive gravity to create open looks for themselves and their teammates, they can be good. Not a championship contender, but good enough for a playoff berth. The biggest problem directly after the trade was that they had no experience playing together and thus constantly devolved into either hot potato or taking turns. That’s why this year’s training camp will be so crucial.
They need a true pick-and-roll partner for Luka, though. And unless they think Holmes can return to his prime form overnight or Lively is going to be a stud out of the gate, they still don’t have one. Dwight Powell is a good PnR finisher, but he isn’t good enough otherwise.
At best they are a play in team…
That’s with huge buy in from Kyrie to move the ball and play harder on defence…
Otherwise it’s another wasted season in Dallas for Luka…