Get to know your 2025-2026 Dallas Mavericks NBA team
The 2025-2026 Dallas Mavericks have plenty of returning faces and could make some noise in a crowded Western Conference—assuming they can stay healthy.
Ask any fan their thoughts on the upcoming 2025-2026 Dallas Mavericks season, and you’ll likely hear some choice words about general manager Nico Harrison. The fanbase is still reeling from Harrison trading franchise superstar Luka Doncic in the middle of the night on a Saturday in February.
The rage is understandable: Doncic had just led the team to an NBA Finals appearance, was the league leader in scoring the previous year, and had made five All-NBA First Teams and five All-Star appearances. Just as importantly, he was happy in Dallas and a pillar in the community. Franchise superstars like that are hard to come by. Alas, Doncic is now with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 2025-2026 Dallas Mavericks will be stepping onto the court without him.
But the team also lucked into the first pick of the NBA Draft, despite having only a 1.8% chance of doing so. They used that pick on Cooper Flagg, a forward out of Duke who just might be a generational superstar.
Let’s dive into how the Mavs will look this season.
The 2025-2026 Dallas Mavericks Starting Lineup
When healthy, the Mavericks have a pretty solid starting lineup. Of course, the health situation is a key component of the equation, and everyone here has battled some level of injury since joining the team. Here’s what the starting lineup should project to be:
Kyrie Irving/D’Angelo Russell, PG
Kyrie Irving will be the team’s starting point guard in most situations, though he’ll likely miss at least the first couple months of the season after tearing his ACL in March. When he’s on the court, Irving has been a strong contributor for the Mavs. He’s a nine-time NBA All-Star and made another appearance last season before his injury. He also has NBA championship experience, winning the title with Cleveland in 2016.
As Irving recovers, newcomer D’Angelo Russell should handle starting point guard duties. DLo has bounced around the league in his 10 seasons; the Mavs will be his eighth stop and sixth different team. He’s coming off some of the worst shooting of his career last season, so the Mavs hope a change of scenery will do him good.
Klay Thompson, SG
One of the chillest players in the NBA, Klay Thompson signed with the Mavericks last summer after 11 seasons and four championships with the Golden State Warriors. Playing with Doncic was a big reason Thompson headed to the Lone Star State, so imagine his shock when the franchise cornerpiece was traded.
Nevertheless, Thompson still played in 72 games last year. His numbers dipped a bit, and he’s certainly not as strong defensively as he once was—tearing your ACL and your Achilles in back-to-back years will do that to you—but he’s still among the best shooters on the team. Expect him to knock down multiple threes per game.
Cooper Flagg, SF
Cooper Flagg was the consensus No. 1 draft pick from the moment he set foot on Duke’s campus last year. Fans of bad teams would utter phrases like “Drag for Flagg” or “Be Poop for Coop” to encourage their squads to tank and have a better chance of receiving the top pick. The Mavs swooping in with extremely long odds to win the pick and select Flagg is a delightful twist.
Flagg looked like a star in college, winning the national college player of the year award. The Mavs hope that star power can translate to the NBA. He’s 6’8”, a solid scorer and playmaker, and will likely dabble as a point guard.
And in case you don’t feel old today, Flagg’s birthday is December 21, 2006. His rookie contract is worth about $62.7 million. I wish I were that productive when I was 18.
Anthony Davis, PF
Anthony Davis is in one of the most challenging situations an NBA player can experience. He was the other centerpiece of the Doncic trade. He’s still a star in his own right, but he’s older and doesn’t have the built-in love of the fanbase. It doesn’t help that Davis immediately got hurt in his first game in Dallas and only played in nine games after the trade. He also saw a decline in almost every major statistical category compared to his time in Los Angeles.
But a new season is nearly upon us, and Davis has a chance to win over fans. That’s assuming he gets back on the court; he still hasn’t been fully cleared to play after offseason eye surgery. Davis is a 10-time All-Star and has made five All-NBA teams throughout his career. Though he’s past his prime, he can be a great presence in Dallas. He just needs to avoid the injury bug.
Dereck Lively II, C
Dereck Lively III might become good friends with Cooper Flagg, since both attended Duke. Lively was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder and traded to Dallas on draft night. He’s only spent two seasons in the league but has already missed quite a bit of time due to injuries, including more than half of last year with a stress fracture in his right ankle.
On the court, Lively is, ahem, a lively jumper. He averages a block-and-a-half per game and alters several other shots, and he’s no stranger to high-flying dunks, particularly off of alley-oops. Expect to see several highlight plays from Flagg to Lively this year.
The Bench Squad
The 2025-2026 Dallas Mavericks have several key bench players returning. Two frontcourt guys are the most notable, with center Daniel Gafford and forward PJ Washington offering productive minutes on the second unit. Both Gafford and Washington escaped significantly worse basketball situations—Gafford with the Washington Wizards and Washington with the Charlotte Hornets—after the Mavericks traded for both on February 8, 2024. The duo has generally been more productive in the new environment.
In the backcourt, the Mavs are relying on a few youngsters to take another leap this year. Guards Max Christie and Jaden Hardy are both entering their fourth season and should get more time on the court; alongside Davis, Christie was the other part of the Doncic trade. Fifth-year forward Naji Marshall had career-highs in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, and steals per game last season and will look to build on that solid play.
Dallas also hopes Caleb Martin can return to the quality shooting he showed during his final two seasons with Miami. The team traded for him mid-season last year, and he promptly put up the worst numbers of his career across the board. Veteran Dante Exum should also get plenty of run at point guard, especially with Irving injured.
The Head Coach
Jason Kidd returns for his fifth season as head coach of the Mavericks. The team has won at least 50 games twice with him at the helm, and he’s one of only three coaches to lead the Mavs to the NBA Finals (Avery Johnson and Rick Carlisle are the others, for the trivia heads out there). Kidd was also a player on the Mavericks team that won the 2011 NBA Finals, the only title in franchise history.
To date with the Mavs, Kidd hasn’t done anything as funny as when he was head coach of the Brooklyn Nets and asked a player to bump into him so he could spill his drink on the court. Thus, he earned a free timeout when the team had none remaining. It was a very clever move.
And here’s a fun pattern: Kidd’s Mavericks lost in the conference finals in his first season, then missed the playoffs the following season. The next year, the team lost in the NBA Finals, then missed the playoffs the following season.
So, if you believe in multi-year trends, congratulations to the 2025-2026 Dallas Mavericks, this season’s NBA champions.
Hey, there’s no better time than the preseason to be eternally optimistic.
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