The Mavericks have been very active in their first offseason under new president Masai Ujiri and general manager Mike Schmitz as they look to build their roster around reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft.
After selecting big man Morez Johnson Jr. with the ninth pick in last month’s draft, Dallas moved up from No. 30 to No. 25 to acquire Sergio de Larrea, a Spanish guard who grew up a fan of the team because of former Mavs superstar Luka Doncic.
In addition to giving up the 30th pick, the Mavericks sent New York two second-rounders to move up five spots. The Mavs added Tobi Lawal (two-way deal) with the 48th pick, then made another trade in the second round, sending the Lakers cash to acquire the rights to Vsevolod Ishchenko (No. 56). The Russian wing is currently unsigned.
After their draft trades, the Mavericks were involved in a six-team mega-deal, acquiring Santi Aldama and the draft rights to Tarik Biberovic from Memphis and Marcus Sasser from Detroit. Dallas sent Khris Middleton and a 2033 second-round pick to Washington and AJ Johnson, a top-20 protected 2030 first-round pick (via Golden State) and a 2029 second-rounder (via Houston) to Memphis to complete its parts of that blockbuster agreement.
The Mavericks later signed former Fenerbahce star Biberovic to a two-year, $6MM contract that includes a team option for 2027/28. Dallas used part of its non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Biberovic to a starting salary ($3MM) well above the rookie minimum ($1.4MM) and used its bi-annual exception to add Sasser.
On Saturday night, the Mavs matched a two-year, minimum-salary offer sheet for Moussa Cisse that is currently non-guaranteed. Then they agreed to another trade on Sunday, acquiring 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher from Atlanta for Ryan Nembhard and second-round pick (to OKC).
In total, the Mavericks have sent out (or will send out):
- Middleton
- AJ Johnson
- Nembhard
- The No. 30 pick in 2026 (Koa Peat; New York traded his rights to Phoenix)
- The Warriors’ 2030 first-round pick (top-20 protected)
- Five second-round picks
- Cash
The returns from all of those transactions have been (or will be):
- De Larrea
- Ischchenko (unsigned)
- Aldama
- Sasser
- Biberovic
- Risacher
The Mavericks have an interesting roster construction, notes Christian Clark of The Athletic (via Twitter), with several bigger wings and forwards. They currently have 16 players on the standard roster, with 15 guaranteed, and are reportedly looking to trade Daniel Gafford. For what it’s worth, Klay Thompson is said to be a prime target for the Heat, though he’s still under contract for $17.5MM in 2026/27.
Lottery pick Johnson looked great in two Summer League outings and should be a long-term fixture in Dallas under new head coach Dusty May, his college coach at Michigan. The Mavs will have star guard Kyrie Irving back from a torn ACL in ’26/27 and also have Flagg, De Larrea, Biberovic, Aldama, Sasser, Cisse, Gafford, Thompson, Max Christie, Caleb Martin, Naji Marshall, P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II on standard contracts.
It’s worth noting that the Mavericks have a pair of unsigned free agents as well: Dwight Powell and Brandon Williams. Canadian big man Powell has spent the past 12 years in Dallas after he was traded to the Mavs as a rookie. Williams emerged a rotation regular last season and averaged 13.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 66 games (22.2 minutes per contest).
We want to know what you think. What do you make of the Mavs’ moves thus far under the new front office regime? Could additional trades could be coming? The Mavs are close to the luxury tax line, don’t have control of their own first-round pick until 2031, and will have zero second-rounders remaining after the Risacher deal, per RealGM.
The Mavs went just 26-56 last season and have aggressively added young international players with size to a roster that lacked shooting. Head to the comment section to let us know what you think of Dallas’ offseason to this point.
Irving, Thompson, Washington, Gafford and Caleb Martin next. Trade out for young talent and draft picks
I love bringing Marcus Sasser back home. de Larrea should fit in nice w/ Coop & co down the line but Sasser should bring some toughness to their backcourt. I don’t see why they would be so eager to let Gafford go unless they really believe in Lively. To me Lively seems like the guy they should be looking to trade. With Gafford you know what you’re getting. Eventually Morez is gonna be the guy at the 5 or at least that should be the goal. If they can trade Lively & Klay to Denver for Christian Braun that might help both teams… link to youtube.com
They should keep Gafford so he can help develop Morez Johnson Jr. and also Gafford is a center that can help you make a deep playoff run.
They don’t need Gafford to serve as a player development coach. They have Tyson Chandler in that role already. Players play, coaches coach
Given they seem like they are high on Lively and he improved in year 1 I dont see them trading him. Gafford is a true 5 and I wanted him in GS when he was being moved last time. Klay would help a contender coming odd the bench and stretching the floor spacing. Miami sounds good on paper given how heavy they are in the front court minutes. I would also keep Lively if I were them. Go all youth and let them grow together. I think more moves are coming mid season and next year rather than now.
The Risacher has now taken that last (!) second rounder. They have none left.
Good catch, thanks.
Risacher is gonna break out in Dallas
They have to move a player or two. Gafford would bring a good return though I would hate to lose him since he is a Razorback. Lively has a big impact on the game but I think he has a bad foot or something, so he may miss a lot of games. PJ would also bring back value and he is solid. Klay would have been a good fit if he were 10 years younger.
Klay would be a good fit for Miami. 10 years ago Klay was exactly what every single team was looking for.
Is there a large Eastern European population in Dallas? The Mavs always seem to have a handful of them rostered and it’s now spanned multiple ownership groups.
This is vintage Masai
I’d expect Pj to be moved ( this summer likely ) knowing Masai
Gaff if there’s value but tbh I don’t think there is much today and probably a wait till trade deadline with him.
If nothing shakes via trade I can see Klay just being bought out possibly giving back 5 mill to Dallas as a tax buffer while getting a new 5 mill elsewhere ( Mia )
Gafford or PJ to Portland for Scoot or Sharpe. Give Lively the chance to prove he can make it though a full season healthy before making a decision on whether he’ll be in the future plans. They’ll likely have to buy out Klay, but I hope he gets to play in Miami or GSW. If there’s any way they can move Caleb Martin and bring in a solid PG, I’ll be very happy with this off-season.
Risacher is a very good buy low pick up
10-4-1 in about 20 minutes.
He’s efficient enough (career 46% from the field and 36% from deep), the rebounds are alright, he’s basically 1:1 assists to turnovers, just not used on ball and has 1.5 stocks which is kinda good.
At 21 years old and with 2 season’s experience he’s clearly only going to get better. I don’t think he’s ever going to live up to being the number 1 pick, but that’s fine. I’d just try mould him into being a 3 and D forward, get that 3 ball from 36% to 39%, and just be active defensively and you’ll have a good career kid. Especially if he can fit in playing beside Cooper Flag
Last season towards the 2nd half of the year, he was very aggressive on defense and on the glass. He has been working on building muscle and improving ball handling this offseason. He should be very motivated
Ujiri is going to take a little while to make this a fun team that Flagg can take deep into the playoffs…
It’s just a pity the team has such terrible owners… Makes them hard to root for… Was bad enough when it was Mark from Cuba…