Mavericks: the offseason so far
the record
The desk keeps a day-by-day record of everything that happens to the Dallas Mavericks: results with the players who decided them, injury changes, roster moves, reports, milestones and the schedule ahead. The story of the offseason is written from that record every week; the timeline below is the record itself, each line linked to the page that proves it.
The projection
all 30 teams →The season depends most on Santi Aldama (3.7 wins without him), Dwight Powell (3.3 wins without him) and Naji Marshall (1.4 wins without him): on/off from 2025-26, details under Injuries. Computed Thu, Sep 10; the method is on the methods page.
Day by day
the record starts with the first news of the seasonThe franchise today
Updated 2026-09-09Now
Dusty May takes over as head coach for a Mavericks team still finding its shape after last season's rebuild around Cooper Flagg, the top pick in the 2025 draft. The roster mixes that young core, Flagg, Zaccharie Risacher, Max Christie, John Poulakidas, with veterans added over the past two years: P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford arrived in trades before the February 2024 deadline, Klay Thompson came in a July 2024 sign-and-trade, Kyrie Irving arrived at the 2023 trade deadline, and Christie was part of the February 2025 trade that sent Luka Dončić to the Lakers. Last season Dallas finished 26-56, 22nd in net rating at -5.2, with the league's 27th-ranked offense and 19th-ranked defense. The payroll sits at $197.9 million across 18 contracts, over the $165.0 million salary cap but under the $200.4 million tax, with Irving's $39.5 million, Washington's $19.8 million, Thompson's $17.5 million and Gafford's $17.3 million the biggest numbers on the books. Dallas controls almost none of its own first-round picks outright through 2030: the 2027 first is protected to Charlotte, the 2028, 2029 and 2030 firsts are all swaps, and second-round picks are owed to the Clippers and the Nets. The summer brought no new moves, leaving this 20-man roster, averaging 24.7 years old, to open training camp as built.
Identity and rivalries
Mavericks basketball right now is defined by what general manager Nico Harrison said out loud when he reshaped this roster: "I believe that defense wins championships." That is the identity Dallas is building under Dusty May, a team trying to win with stops first while Cooper Flagg and the rest of the young perimeter grow into a real offense. The rivalries that still matter run in-state. San Antonio has eliminated Dallas in the playoffs before, in a seven-game series that got away from the Mavericks late. Houston did the same in 2015, taking a five-game series after the Mavericks clawed back to force one home win. Every meeting with either team still carries the weight of that shared Texas history, and for a Mavericks team trying to rebuild its credibility, beating either rival matters as much for the standings as for the argument about who owns Texas basketball.
Home, owners and numbers
The Mavericks play out of Dallas, the city that has been their home since the franchise's 1980 expansion season. Ownership has changed hands more than once: Don Carter, the franchise's original owner, sold to a group led by H. Ross Perot Jr. in 1996. Mark Cuban later owned the team through the 2022 Voyager Digital lawsuit era, and the current team governor is Dumont, who backed general manager Nico Harrison's "tough decisions" with the full support of Mavericks ownership. Dirk Nowitzki remains the name against which every Maverick is measured, his 21 seasons in Dallas stand as the longest tenure any player has spent with a single NBA franchise.
What they are chasing
The most concrete thing the Mavericks are chasing right now is a return to the playoffs, with Cooper Flagg, the top pick in the 2025 draft, as the centerpiece of how they get there. Financially, Dallas has room to operate before real restrictions bite, sitting well below the $209.0 million first apron and the $221.7 million second apron. The bigger, messier question hanging over the franchise is one of trust: general manager Nico Harrison drew heavy criticism for trading Dončić, the team's former franchise player, and fans are still arguing over whether the roster and picks brought back in return will ever be judged worth it.
The Dallas Mavericks joined the NBA as an expansion team for the 1980-81 season. Don Carter provided half of the 12.5 million dollar expansion fee, working with Norm Sonju and lawyer Doug Adkins; the name came from the 1957-1962 TV western Maverick, chosen by fans over Wranglers and Express, and the show's star, James Garner, was part of the ownership group. Dick Motta was the first head coach. The Mavericks opened at Reunion Arena, beating the San Antonio Spurs 103-92, but finished their debut season 15-67. Guard Brad Davis, signed out of the Anchorage Northern Knights in December of that first season, played twelve years in Dallas and had his number 15 retired.
The 1981 draft brought Mark Aguirre (24.6 points per game over seven years), Rolando Blackman (19.2 points per game over eleven years) and Jay Vincent, who led the team in scoring as a rookie. Derek Harper, drafted in 1983, averaged 15 points and 6.1 assists over a decade. The Mavericks posted their first winning record in 1983-84 at 43-39 and made the playoffs for the first time, with Aguirre making his first All-Star team. Sam Perkins, drafted fourth overall in 1984, averaged 14.4 points and 8.0 rebounds over six seasons, and James Donaldson became the first Mavericks center named to the All-Star Game, in 1988. The team won its first Midwest Division title in 1986-87 at 55-27 under coach John MacLeod, and Roy Tarpley won the NBA Sixth Man Award in 1988. The Mavericks reached the Western Conference finals in 1987-88 but lost to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. Donaldson's ruptured patella tendon in March 1989 preceded a decline, and after a 47-35 season and playoff loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in 1989-90, the team did not have another winning season or playoff trip until 2001.
The acquisition of Dirk Nowitzki in 1998 turned the franchise around. Nowitzki led Dallas to its first NBA Finals in 2006 and its only NBA championship in 2011. He retired after his 21st season in Dallas, a record, following three straight missed playoffs from 2017 to 2019. Luka Doncic then took over as the franchise player, leading the Mavericks back to the playoffs in 2020, to the Western Conference finals in 2022, and to a third NBA Finals in 2024. In February 2025 the Mavericks traded Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, receiving Anthony Davis as the centerpiece in return.
Since their 1980-81 debut, the Mavericks have won five division titles, in 1987, 2007, 2010, 2021 and 2024, three conference championships, in 2006, 2011 and 2024, and the 2011 NBA championship. The team plays at American Airlines Center, sharing the arena with the NHL's Dallas Stars. The franchise fans recognize runs from Aguirre and Blackman in the 1980s, through the lean 1990s, to the Nowitzki era that delivered the 2011 title, and the Doncic years that ended with his trade to the Lakers for Davis in 2025.