The Mavericks made one very significant roster addition over the summer, drafting No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg out of Duke. But the club’s starting five has yet to be determined heading into training camp, per Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
“This is competition,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “We’re going to look at a lot of combinations.”
Kidd has indicated that everyone aside from All-Star guard Kyrie Irving is expected to fully participate in practice, tweets Christian Clark of The Athletic. For now, free agent signing D’Angelo Russell is expected to start in Irving’s stead.
There’s more out of Dallas:
- Kyrie Irving continues to improve from the ACL tear he suffered last March. Jason Kidd, however, offered a measured take on his recovery to date, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “He is doing quite well, as we can see, but he’s not ahead of schedule, and so let’s not say that,” Kidd said. “That’s unfair to him and to the Mavs because it’s not true. Is he on schedule? It looks like it.”
- New Mavericks additions Dennis Smith Jr. and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl signed via Exhibit 9 agreements, a source has informed Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). The agreement gives Dallas limited injury protection for both Smith and Robinson-Earl, Smith observes.
- Kidd weighed in on Dallas losing assistant coaches Sean Sweeney, Jared Dudley, and Alex Jensen to other posts this summer, Curtis tweets. “The guys who left will be missed,” Kidd said. “Sweeney, Duds and Alex… It’s a compliment that we must be doing something right. Not wrong.”
- Recently extended Mavericks center Dereck Lively II indicated during his media day session that he has grown this summer, per Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link). Lively, who was listed at 7’1″ last season, claims he is currently 7’2″ or 7’3″.