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The Big D Breakdown · Player focus

P.J. Washington's Job: Space the Floor, Not Carry It

A -7.3 net rating and 19.4 percent usage say it plainly: he is a complementary piece, not a focal point.

-7.3Net RatingOffensive and defensive marks combined
19.4%Usage RateFar below a primary scorer's load
4.2 attempts3-Point VolumeHit 32.5% of them last season
$19.8M2026-27 SalaryRises to $24.6M by 2029-30
By the Mavericks Nightly Desk · Friday, September 18

P.J. Washington logged a -7.3 net rating across 56 games last season, his defense giving back more than his offense produced. Healthy now and earning $19.8 million, his assignment is spacing and low-mistake defense, not shot creation.

P.J. Washington of the Mavericks
P.J. Washington. Photo: TonyTheTiger, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What He Actually Did

Washington played 56 games last season, averaging 31.0 minutes, 14.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He shot 45.0% overall and 32.5% from deep on 4.2 attempts a night, with a 68.7% free-throw mark and a true shooting number of 53.7%. His assist rate sat at just 8.2%, and his rebound rate at 10.5%: this is a finisher's stat line, built on catches and cuts, not a shot creator's.

Where the Minus Comes From

The overall picture reads worse than the box score: a 107.0 offensive rating against a 114.4 defensive mark, a net of -7.3. Lineup data explains some of it. With Gafford, Marshall, Christie and Flagg alongside him, Dallas went -0.6 over 16 games and 92 minutes; swap Gafford for B. Williams in that same group and it flipped to +2.2 across 14 games. A six-game, 47-minute look that paired him with Anthony Davis instead of Gafford produced a +30.5 net, a small sample but a signal worth tracking once the games start counting.

The Stakes Around Him

Washington is not on the injury report, which matters given how thin Dallas is up front elsewhere. His deal runs $19.8 million this season and climbs to $24.6 million by 2029-30, a long runway the front office is betting will pay off. The Smoking Cuban's Noah Weber has framed him as able to "make or break the Mavericks' ideal starting five," and argued separately that Dallas needs his physical edge to protect its new era. Both point to the same job: hold the frontcourt together while younger pieces develop.

Is P.J. Washington injured to start the season?

No. He is not on the injury report heading into camp.

What is Washington's role for the Mavericks this season?

A complementary one: he spaces the floor on low usage and needs his defense to stop dragging down otherwise positive lineups.

By the Mavericks Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.

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