Experiencing their first losing season in close to two decades, the Dallas Mavericks only made a few moves this summer, but improved their long-term outlook through the draft. How does their offseason rank overall?
Having experienced a great amount of success for the majority of this century, the Dallas Mavericks found themselves in rather unfamiliar territory at season’s end last year.
After enduring many hardships, numerous roster changes and struggling to compete against the top teams in the Western Conference, the Mavericks fell behind the proverbial 8-ball early on last season and finished the year 33-49, good for 11th in the West.
Taking as big of a step back as they did last season, however, the Mavericks were dealt a solid consolation prize by getting the ninth overall pick in this year’s draft.
Considering the number of top level talents that were regularly projected to go into the top-10, the Mavericks were poised to come away with a potential franchise-changing prospect.
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That ended up coming to be as the Mavs picked arguably the player that possesses the highest variance of superstar-like qualities of any lottery selection in this class: point guard Dennis Smith Jr. out of North Carolina State University.
In addition to the selection of Smith, the Mavericks made quick work with bringing back Dirk Nowitzki for what will be a historic 20th season.
While they mostly stayed on the sidelines during free agency, this summer wasn’t without a little uncertainty and controversy for the Mavericks, as they went through a lengthy contract standoff with big man Nerlens Noel, which finally resolved in late August.
So without further ado, let’s break down each individual move and sum up the overall offseason for the Dallas Mavericks.