LAS VEGAS – With a flurry of signings on Friday, the Mavericks have solidified a major portion of their roster for the 2023-24 season.
It’s not set, mind you. A lot can happen before training camp opens in September. But general manager Nico Harrison and his staff have put together a versatile roster that of course is built around the talents of Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving.
The latest addition, made official late Friday, was the signing of free agent Seth Curry, who will be back for his third run with the Mavericks.
In his other two seasons with the Mavericks – 2016-17 and 2019-20 – he shot 43.9 percent from three-point range and averaged 12.6 points in 134 games.
And a key for Curry is that he’s played at least 75 percent of the games in each of the last five season. The health of his legs hindered him early in his career, but his availability has been dependable recently.
Players like Curry and the also freshly minted Maverick Grant Williams shore up the team’s shooting. Both of those are next-level shooters. They don’t go through many slumps. And they can be lethal when they get in a roll.
The Mavericks haven’t had many of those since Peja Stojakovic in the championship season.
So the Mavericks’ roster, at the moment, looks like this:
Full contracts: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, Jaden Hardy, Grant Williams, Seth Curry, Dante Exum, Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber, JaVale McGee, Richaun Holmes, Dereck Lively II, O-Max Prosper
Two-way contracts: Mike Miles, A.J. Lawson.
Exhibit 10 contract: Taze Moore.
Thoughts on Exum: In his playing days, Jared Dudley was a swingman who wasn’t afraid to do the dirty work and guard anybody.
He sees some of that in new Maverick Dante Exum.
The Australian officially signed with the Mavericks Friday after spending two seasons in Europe after seven years with Utah and Cleveland in the NBA.
“I played against Exum,” Dudley said. “Big guard who’s trying to find himself in the NBA. Sometimes those guys go overseas, come back and you see them have success.
“But his whole thing early was defensively. He was a bigger guard who could switch and keep guys in front. He struggled on his jump shot early in his career. I can’t wait to see it because I know it’s improved. This league is about versatility. Anytime you have 6-5 guards who can play the one and guard twos and threes, you’re going to have a chance to get back in this league, and here he is.”
Exum, who turned 28 on Thursday, averaged 5.7 points in his 245 NBA games and shot just 30.5 percent from three-point range.
However, in his two seasons in Europe, he shot 41.9 percent from three-point land.
Summer-league finale: The Mavericks will wrap up the NBA 2K24 Summer League in Las Vegas on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Dallas time against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Mavericks have gone 3-1 so far. They tied for the fourth-best record in the four games that served as qualifiers to see who plays in the summer-league final four.
They lost out on point differential as Brooklyn (3-1) had an average win margin of 10.0 compared to the Mavericks’ 5.0. The Nets will play 4-0 Cleveland and Houston will play Utah, both 4-0, in the semifinals with the title game on Monday.
The Mavericks have won their final three games after the opening loss to Oklahoma City.
“The biggest thing is we’re learning to play with each other,” said rookie O-Max Prosper, who has been superb in his first NBA action. “The first game, we’d never played together and now, it’s our fourth game and we know how to play a little more together.”
Prosper passed his latest test on Friday when he was charged with guarding Indiana rookie Jarace Walker, the eighth overall pick in last month’s draft. Dudley said he told Prosper to check back into the game whenever Walker went into the game.
“Super strong, able to handle it, pass it,” said Prosper, who was drafted 24th. “I was just trying to make him shoot the ball and not get lanes to the basket.”
Walker shot just 6-of-21 from the field.
Twitter: @ESefko
Share and comment