Nico Harrison Reveals Plans for Mavericks Roster Before NBA Draft, Free Agency

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks finished an NBA Finals run losing 4-1 in the series against the Boston Celtics. Now, the team must investigate the necessary avenues to take the next step to become champions while building around Luka Doncic.

“We’re proud of the way this season went,” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison said. “We’re committed to building a winning organization that has championship aspirations. I really felt like we grew.”

Harrison doesn’t envision significant changes to the core group that led the organization to its first NBA Finals appearance since 2011. However, he wants everyone involved, including the coaching staff, to improve “10 to 15 percent” next season.

“We really want everybody to come back 10 to 15 percent better – mind, body, spirit. I think if we do that, we’re going to be proud of the results for the next year,” Harrison said. “If you look at our top seven, eight players that played the biggest minutes, I don’t see anything happening with that.”

The primary impending free agent the Mavericks have to work to retain this summer is Derrick Jones Jr., who had a productive season on a one year, minimum contract. Harrison described re-signing Jones as the team’s “priority 1-A and 1-B” this offseason.

“I don’t know how we’re going to do it,” Harrison said of re-signing Jones. “But he’s priority 1-A (and) 1-B. I think he fits in with our team. He loves it here. We have to figure out the dynamics to get him to stay. But yeah, that’s a priority. We’ll do what we have to do to get it done.”

After a lengthy postseason run, Harrison envisions some of the previously inexperienced contributors to the run, including Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, and Jones, all returning next season and being better as a result.

“To get to where we were, we relied on four players who had little to no playoff experience. Lively, (Daniel) Gafford, Derrick Jones, and P.J. Those four players played huge minutes for us and had little to no playoff experience,” Harrison said. “So how do they come back and incorporate that in their game from the start. I think that’s going to be huge.”

Harrison highlighted Washington as capable of scoring at a higher rate next season by leveraging his versatility at the four spot, including his consistency as a perimeter shooter. His goal will be to refine his efficiency within a role he filled midseason after being traded by the Charlotte Hornets, complementing Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Washington averaged only 11.7 points while shooting 42.1% from the floor and 31.4% from beyond the arc in 29 regular season games in Dallas. His production increased with heavier minutes in the postseason, averaging 13.0 points with slightly better efficiency, but still having areas to improve.

“P.J. specifically, I think he can add a few more points a game, taking the ball off the rim, pushing it, posting up smaller players, shooting a little higher percentage from the three-point line, penetrating when they run him off the line,” Harrison said. “So he can add a few more points. And he’s going to. He’s poised to continue to get better.”

The organization views Lively as capable of reaching All-Defensive Team levels of impact with All-Star potential. Despite coming off the bench, Lively routinely was a net positive in the postseason on nights that Gafford was a negative or posted lesser results. He averaged 8.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in the regular season.

“D-Live, he improved right before our eyes. From the first part of the season all the way through to the playoffs. He’s continued to improve,” Harrison said. “I think the sky’s the limit. We got a good one in him. All-Defensive player, All-Star type guy. Who knows when his timeline will happen, but he’s well on his way to being a special player…”

Part of the journey is learning how much durability and stamina play in reaching the Finals and coming out on top. “The biggest thing is experience. Those four all will be better prepared,” Harrison said. “And the rest of the team being to the Finals and now knowing what it takes to get there and not just get there, but have enough energy to be at their best (is huge).”