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Also... we discuss a potentially controversial topic. Which player will end up being easier for the Mavs to build a roster around: Cooper Flagg or Luka Doncic?

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With training camp less than two weeks away, the Dallas Mavericks have reached a deal with former point guard Dennis Smith Jr. on a one-year deal, Mavs Step Back learned on Thursday afternoon. Smith will wear No. 8 for the Mavs this time around after wearing No. 1 during his first stint.

Given that Dallas now has 16 players signed to standard contracts, one player will need to be waived or traded before the season begins, meaning Smith will be competing with a few other players–like Brandon Williams and Dante Exum–for the final roster spot.

If you’ve followed my Mavs writing and podcasting over the years, you know that I’ve always had a soft spot for Smith since his first stint in Dallas. The Mavs drafted Smith in 2017, which also happened to be the year I really started to get into the media game as a Mavs Moneyball staff writer at the time. Not only was Smith an electrifying player on the court during his first two years with the Mavs (see the clip below), but he was also generally a good person off of it.

One of the highlights of Mavs seasons for me used to be when I’d get to catch up with him in New Orleans when Dallas would face the Pelicans–one of those times being when he notched the first triple-double of his career on Dec. 29, 2017, with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

So, have I been a little biased over the last several years as I’ve advocated for a reunion between Smith and the Mavs? Just a tad … but with that being said, there’s also never been a better time for the reunion to happen, given the Mavs’ current lack of ballhandling on the roster. The Mavs signed D’Angelo Russell over the summer to bolster their point-guard depth, but more was still needed, considering that star guard Kyrie Irving will likely miss at least half of the season due to tearing his ACL last season.

After being traded from the Mavs to the New York Knicks for a package involving Kristaps Porzingis back in 2019, Smith also had brief stints with the Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, Charlotte Hornets, and, most recently, the Brooklyn Nets during the 2023-24 NBA season, where he showed off his much-improved defensive abilities. Smith quietly became one of the peskiest perimeter defenders in the league during his time in Brooklyn.

Side note: Smith briefly spent some time with Real Madrid overseas last season while waiting on his next NBA opportunity.

Smith is fully capable of being a secondary ballhandler for the Mavs, but his defensive chops could ultimately be the difference in making sure this reunion in Dallas is longer than one month.

A reunion between Smith and the Mavs has been flirted with on a couple of occasions over the last several years, sources told Mavs Step Back. For whatever reason, those potential reunions never materialized, but now, Smith has an opportunity to rekindle his NBA career with the franchise that drafted him, and he plans on taking full advantage of it. In fact, he’s already been establishing chemistry with some Mavs players in open runs over the offseason in preparation for this opportunity.

Given how much of a roller coaster ride last season was for the Mavs, with all the injuries and the shocking trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, adding Smith to the training camp roster is a feel-good story that all MFFLs should be happy about.

Whoever says you can’t speak things into existence should simply search for my Dennis Smith Jr.-related tweets over the last 5-6 years. Anything is possible, baby! Let’s get to hoopin’!

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Bernstein spent over 30 years at ESPN, including 15 years leading the network’s NBA studio programming. He brings deep behind-the-scenes insight, high-performance leadership stories, and sharp NBA analysis to every conversation.

In this episode, we also discuss the Kawhi Leonard / Los Angeles Clippers scandal while also scouting some Mavs’ rivals. Thanks for listening, and be sure to subscribe for more Mavs content to come!

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It has been an insane offseason for the Dallas Mavericks, to say the least. After initially feeling like the franchise only had a two or three-year window to compete with its aging stars following the Luka Doncic trade, the Mavs hit the jackpot by winning the NBA Lottery with just a 1.8% chance. That led to the team drafting 18-year-old phenom Cooper Flagg, who finally made his long-anticipated Mavs debut at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas against Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

In front of a packed and rowdy crowd at Thomas & Mack Center, the Mavs captured an 87-85 win over the Lakers in what was a fun back-and-forth affair. Flagg got his first Summer League bucket in style, as he got a steal and went coast-to-coast for an emphatic dunk on the other end of the floor.

Flagg finished with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and one block in 32 minutes of action. It was his first real game since Duke was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, and that rust showed, as he shot just 5-of-21 from the field and 0-5 from beyond the arc.

“I would say that might be one of the worst games of my life,” Flagg said. “But now we got the win, so that's what really matters to me. My teammates, Miles [Kelly], Ryan [Nembhard], Jordan [Hall], they held it down. They did what they had to do, so I'm just glad we got the win.”

Despite Flagg’s shooting struggles, he displayed his ability to be a winning player when it mattered most. With the Mavs down 85-84 with just 1:09 remaining, Flagg rejected Lakers’ DJ Steward at the rim, then ran down the court and assisted Mavs’ two-way contract player Ryan Nembhard on a go-ahead 3-pointer just six seconds later to seal the win. Flagg only had one turnover in his 32 minutes while bringing the ball up the floor more than he’s used to.

You can check out the full game highlights below, including that closing sequence, courtesy of our Mavs Twitter friend Panda Hank:

“I was looking forward to it,” Flagg said of being on the ball more. “It was fun. It’s new for me, bringing it up, having that full-court pressure. I’m not in full game shape, so I was tired, [but] it was fun to experiment with some new things.”

Two big things that stood out to me while watching Flagg in his first NBA Summer League game were how 1) how big he actually is, and 2) how comfortable he looked despite being in a new environment, playing in a new role bringing the ball up the floor more, and playing in his first real game in nearly four full months. Fans shouldn’t be concerned with his 5-of-21 shooting night, because come October, he’ll have much more high-end talent surrounding him with less burden to create most of the offense.

The Copper Flagg era officially began for the Mavs on Thursday night, and man, did it feel good to see him look the part of a No. 1 overall draft pick with high potential. We’ll see what else No. 32 has in store as the Mavs take on the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday in Las Vegas. Stay tuned to Mavs Step Back for more NBA Summer League coverage!

However… there’s some drama brewing in Hollywood, as LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers appear to be heading for a break-up… and the Mavs find themselves in the middle of trade/free agency rumors and speculation when it comes to where the league’s all-time leading scorer could play next.

On the latest episode of our Mavs Step Back podcast, and I break down Russell’s fit in Dallas and why he’s likely poised to surpass most fans’ expectations. We also touch on the LeBron drama, discussing the only trade/free agency scenarios we’d be ok with when it comes to the possibility of him joining the Mavs. Thanks for listening, and be sure to hit that subscribe button!

Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

After lucking into the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, which was officially used to select Cooper Flagg last week, the Dallas Mavericks’ frontcourt all of a sudden looks to be one the best – if not the best – in the entire league. In addition to the 18-year-old generational talent, Dallas also has Anthony Davis, P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively, and Daniel Gafford – who recently inked a three-year, $53 million extension – to out-muscle opponents with next season.

However, with Kyrie Irving likely to be sidelined until at least January while he recovers from ACL surgury, the Mavs were left searching for answers in the point-guard department. Within the opening hour of free agency on Monday, though, Dallas found a good stop-gap starting point guard to help navigate the 2025-26 season by signing 10-year veteran D’Angelo Russell to a two-year, $12 million contract.

Through 629 career games, Russell has averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.1 steal per game while shooting 42.7 percent from the field overall, 36.5 percent from 3-point range, and 79.6 percent from the free-throw line. “DLo” has been a starter in over 85 percent of his career games, so filling in for Irving, his former teammate with the Brooklyn Nets, should be no problem for the veteran. He appears to be excited about his new opportunity.

Russell was also teammates with Davis during their time together with the Los Angeles Lakers, where they posted a 72-43 record (62.6 win percentage). Given, that span in L.A. also included the league’s all-time leading scorer in LeBron James, which definitely boosts that win percentage, but the fact remains that Russell and Davis have established a good level of chemistry that should help the Mavs navigate the start of the upcoming season.

Side note: As for LeBron and him potetnially reuniting with his former teammates… we’ll save it for our next article, but there appears to be some smoke there that we unfortunately can’t ignore.

Russell is not a perfect player by any means. He will turn the ball over sometimes. He will take some ill-advised shots and drive fans crazy at times. But he will also have some really good games as well that will balance those things out. Russell is just one of four players in NBA history to notch at least 1,500 threes and 3,000 assists before turning 30 years old. The other three players to do it were Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Damian Lillard.

For the most part, Russell is a high-quality signing for a Mavs team that was looking for an experienced starting-caliber point guard at the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception. Let’s see if he can hold the fort down for Irving as well as we believe he can.

As the second-youngest No. 1 overall pick in NBA history (LeBron James was the youngest in 2003), Flagg is bringing a lot of hype with him to the Mavs, but it’s hype we believe he’ll be able to live up to. Flagg is a potential two-way star who should be able to hit the ground running alongside his new frontcourt teammates, Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II, and P.J. Washington.

Our friends Jay and Vinay over at Mavs Film Room joined us on this episode to break down the Mavs selecting Flagg, as well as some potential moves the Mavs could still make before the end of the offseason. Thanks for watching/listening, and be sure to subscribe! Also, check out our Mavs Step Back merch store, where we have several new Flagg-inspired t-shirt designs at affordable prices!

Stay tuned for more Mavs Step Back coverage as the NBA Draft gets underway on Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00 pm CT!

On this episode, we discuss potential trades for Kevin Durant, Lonzo Ball, Jonathan Isaac, and more. Although a trade for KD would cost the Mavs a good bit of depth, we talk about how such a move makes more sense now that Cooper Flagg will be added to the roster soon.

Not only did the Mavs win the lottery with just a 1.8% probability, but so much more had to happen for them even to have those odds. Dallas ended the regular season with a 39-43 record, tying them with the Chicago Bulls for the 11th-best odds. The NBA did a coin flip to determine which team would have the 11th and 12th best odds. The Mavs won that coin toss, giving them the 1.8% chance at the No. 1 pick, while the Bulls dropped to 12th with a 1.7% chance.

Even before all of that, though, none of it would’ve been possible had the Mavs beaten the Memphis Grizzlies in the second Western Conference Play-In Tournament game. After blowing out the Sacramento Kings in the first West Play-In game, the Mavs had an opportunity to go into Memphis and capture the 8-seed, which would have pinned them against the 68-14 Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Mavs had beaten the Grizzlies and made the playoffs, there would have been no chance of having the lottery luck that unfolded on Monday night.

Given how short-sighted the Doncic trade was, many people believe that Mavs general manager Nico Harrison doesn’t deserve this unbelievable gift–or mulligan, we should say–from the basketball gods. And those people are probably right, because someone who trades a 26-year-old five-time All-NBA First Team talent coming off an NBA Finals run for a 32-year-old star, a role player, and one first-round pick shouldn’t have this kind of life raft thrown their way three months later.

But you know who does deserve every bit of this good fortune? WE do. The Dallas Mavericks fan base. The die-hard MFFLs. The Mavs media. The Mavs employees who had to deal with the brunt of the aftermath of the Doncic trade. WE all deserve to have a new, young, generational talent lead this franchise for (hopefully) the next 10-15 years after what was ripped away from us on such short notice in the dead of night on Feb. 1, 2025.

There are people who will tell you that this whole situation was rigged from the start. No matter what happens, others will continue to be negative about this team until Nico Harrison is fired. But don’t let any of that steal your joy in this moment.

Enjoy this. Savor this. Cherish this.

We know all too well how quickly things can change in the blink of an eye, so let’s accept this miraculous new beginning with open minds and open hearts. A lot of us were here well before Luka Doncic and Nico Harrison, and we will remain long after both of them as well. We might not always be happy with the direction of the franchise, but we will always be here waiting for the tide to turn in those situations. Luckily for us, that tide seemingly turned in just over three months’ time.

After never once moving up in the NBA Draft Lottery in their 45-year franchise history, the Mavs finally did it in the grandest way possible. Cooper Flagg, who has been touted as the most surefire No. 1 overall pick over the last decade, is going to be drafted by the Dallas Mavericks.

Just take a moment and let that sink in. An exciting new chapter in Mavs history awaits.