Apr 11, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) runs back up the court during the first quarter against the Toronto Raptors at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Biggest weakness of the Dallas Mavericks that they must fix

Originally posted on Dallas Mavericks on SI
By Austin Veazey | Last updated Aug 29, 2025 8:05 PM ET

Nico Harrison has built the 2025-26 Dallas Mavericks around the mantra "defense wins championships." That's what led to the Luka Doncic trade for Anthony Davis, the drafting of Cooper Flagg, and not wanting to trade away Daniel Gafford.

However, points have to be scored at some point, and there's reason to doubt that they'll be good enough on offense to matter.

Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz graded each team's offensive potential for the upcoming season and gave the Mavericks a C+.

"Dallas finished the season just 23rd in offense after trading Luka Dončić and are painfully short on playmaking with [Kyrie] Irving sidelined. This roster is far too frontcourt-heavy and should be shopping Daniel Gafford for another guard who can shoot and pass.

"[D'Angelo] Russell is best suited to be a sixth man at this point in his career, not a pass-first starting floor general that this Mavs team needs him to be. This offense is going to look real clunky until Irving can return."

It's fair to think that the Mavericks don't have enough perimeter shooting and playmaking. A consistent criticism of the roster is that they have too many play finishers and not enough playmakers. If they decide to trade Daniel Gafford for a perimeter threat, this roster would make a lot more sense.

Until that happens, though, they're going to be banking on a team built around interior defense to be the difference maker. How realistic is that for a team in 2025? Probably not very.

How Can the Mavericks Find Offense Until Kyrie Irving Returns?

A lot is going to depend on Cooper Flagg's ability to adapt to the NBA as soon as possible. Jason Kidd has already said that he's going to give Flagg the ball a lot early on, and he displayed his abilities in the NBA Summer League with a 31-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs.

However, it's going to take a lot more than that until Irving returns. D'Angelo Russell has to bounce back from the worst season of his career, Anthony Davis has to improve as a three-point shooter, and Naji Marshall has to rebound from his poor shooting performance last year. All of that would maybe make the Mavericks a league-average offense, which seems nearly impossible.

This article first appeared on Dallas Mavericks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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