The Dallas Mavericks have had quite an eventful offseason, and they capped it off last week by agreeing to a deal with veteran point guard D’Angelo Russell.
The Mavericks, of course, inexplicably defied the odds and won the NBA’s Draft Lottery, leading to the selection of former Duke Blue Devil Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick.
The Mavericks have been ripped for their midseason trade of Luka Dončić — and perhaps rightfully so — but they did also acquire a future Hall-of-Famer in Anthony Davis. Pairing the 10-time All-Star big man with point guard Kyrie Irving and adding Flagg seems like a great recipe for success, but Irving is coming off a torn ACL. Although he is targeting a midseason return, Irving acknowledged he could miss the entire season.
Despite the signing of Russell, that leaves the Mavericks with a severe lack of depth at guard.
NBA Insider Not Pleased With Dallas Mavericks Offseason After D’Angelo Russell Signing
Speaking on The Hoops Collective with Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps does not think the Mavericks are in a good situation at guard right now.
“Like I said, the fact that D’Angelo Russell is the only guard on the roster basically, it baffles me,” Bontemps said. “It continues to baffle me that in February, when the Mavs made this trade, they then traded Quentin Grimes for Caleb Martin, who couldn’t walk. And they never went and got another guard then, which you could argue helped play a role in what happened with Kyrie later because he’s playing the most minutes in the league over the next month.”
Bontemps wonders why the Mavericks have not addressed their lack of depth at guard and wonders if Flagg is going to run point guard for the Mavericks this season, which is something head coach Jason Kidd has discussed.
“But they still haven’t addressed it now, really,” Bontemps added. “And now they’re going to, in theory, go into next season with Cooper Flag running point. Jason Kidd’s talking about [it]. Like, I think that would be good for Cooper Flag. For a team that’s allegedly got a three-to-four year window and we’re in year two of it, that does not seem like the best way to try to have a contending team this year because they’re going to have to win games.”
As Bontemps points out, letting Flagg run the team could do wonders for his development and make him an even bigger force to deal with in the future, but it could come at the expense of victories, and both Davis, who is 32 years old and has a bit of an injury himself, and Irving, who is now 33, aren’t getting any younger.
Although the Mavericks do have Dante Exum, he’s more of a defensive presence, and if the Mavericks do want to contend this season, it is probably in their best interest to add another guard.
