Dallas Mavericks: 2018-19 NBA season preview
By Luke Swiatek
The Dallas Mavericks made some important additions to their roster, and will be one of the most interesting teams to watch this year.
In the 2017-18 season, the Dallas Mavericks didn’t have a ton to look forward to. Dennis Smith Jr. was an exciting rookie, but the team was far away from contention. Forcing longtime face of the franchise Dirk Nowitzki to spend the twilight of his career on a team at the bottom of the league was sub-optimal.
Unfortunately, the Mavericks weren’t quite bad enough. Coach Rick Carlisle never embraced tanking, playing dependable vets like Salah Mejri over youngsters with higher upside like Nerlens Noel. The team only ended up with No. 5 pick in the draft, which likely wouldn’t be high enough to draft one of the two “future cornerstone” players in the draft, Deandre Ayton or Luka Doncic
But then something crazy happened: The Sacramento Kings, being the Sacramento Kings, unconscionably drafted Marvin Bagley III over Doncic, letting him slide to pick No. 3. The Mavericks promptly traded up for him and then added DeAndre Jordan in free agency to round out a surprisingly solid starting five.
This article will look not only at the changes to the Dallas Mavericks’ roster, but also their top three storylines for the season, best-case and worst-case scenarios, and finally a prediction for their final record.