NBA: Top 5 candidates for 2018-19 Executive of the Year award

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5. Donnie Nelson, Dallas Mavericks

One of the NBA’s best “sneaky good” offseasons belonged to the Dallas Mavericks, who not only added a franchise pillar in the draft, but also got better in the interim by (finally) signing DeAndre Jordan in free agency.

While owner Mark Cuban is the face of the Mavs’ front office, general manager Donnie Nelson would be the one eligible for the award here, and he’s not a bad dark horse candidate after trading up for Luka Doncic, drafting Jalen Brunson and filling the center vacancy with Jordan.

For Nelson to have a legitimate chance, the Mavs would have to click pretty fast under head coach Rick Carlisle and sneak into the postseason. That feels like a long shot, but if Dallas somehow shocks the world and Doncic and DJ are at the center of that charge, this team’s quietly terrific offseason should not go unnoticed.