5 Players Who MUST Step Up For The Mavericks Next Season | Dallas Mavericks Rumors

5 Players Who MUST Step Up For The Mavericks Next Season | Dallas Mavericks Rumors

[Music] Welcome into Mavericks today by chat sports. I’m Jeffrey Cooperstein. Great to be with you guys here on hump day. Hope you guys are enjoying the NBA postseason. And my first thought this morning was it really sucks that the Mavericks aren’t playing basketball this time of year. And it kind of got my mind to thinking, who on this current Mavs roster could step up to get the Mavericks back to playing basketball here in the first and second week of May? So, to start off today’s show, I want to ask you guys this. Which player that is currently on the Mavericks roster right now will take the biggest leap next season? Is it a guy like Brandon Williams? Is it a guy like Daniel Gaffford? Let me know who you guys think it is down below. And I have a list of five names that we can start with here right now. And the first guy I’ll go with is Max Christie. The guy who the Mavs got in the Luca Dante trade alongside Anthony Davis. And I thought Max Christie, especially in those first few games, showed something that I think the Mavs can absolutely take with into next season. In 32 games with the Mavericks, I believe it was in about a dozen starts or so as well. Averaged 11 points and grabbed four boards. The efficiency stats for Christie do need to get a little bit better. There were a couple nights where he was the entire offense and he kind of just went out there and jacked up 15 to 20 shots a night just because the Mavericks quite literally had seven guys healthy and it was all right, Max, it’s your time. Go shoot whatever shot you want to go get and see if you can’t go get us some buckets. So, while those efficiency stats aren’t great and you would like that to be uh better, I do think that he could be a big part of this thing going forward. I think his versatility on the defensive end as well, his ability to guard I I would say one through three at a pretty good level um really will help Jason Kid and this Mavericks rot or Maverick’s uh roster try to piece together a rotation that they can put together for next season. And I whether Christy is starting or whether he comes off the bench, I do see him being a big part of it next year. Another guy who I think his time is kind of, you know, maybe running out a little bit is Olivier Max Prosper, who missed the last, I would say, good chunk of the season with that wrist injury, who we thought was going to take a big step last year and didn’t really take that that step. He didn’t crack the rotation quite like we thought he would in 92 career games over two years, averaging just three and a half points and two boards. Again, not great efficiency from the field either. And if is really going to take the next step, where he really needs to get better in is his three-point shooting. If he can shoot three-pointers at a consistent level, he will find a place on this Mavericks roster simply because they are obsessed with defensive versatility. And absolutely brings you that. He’s long and athletic. He’s 6’7. He has a big wingspan. He has a big body to guard those bigger wings and forwards. And while he hasn’t really shown it much in the NBA in his short 2-year career so far, I’m still a part of the Omax fan club and I think he absolutely has the ability in order to take that next step. Now, time is certainly running out for him. I think if it doesn’t happen this year, you could see a scenario where the Mavericks decline his fifth year option and then see what happens in his fourth year. And if not, he hits restricted free agency and could be on another team before too long. Maybe even if the Mavericks find a trade this off season, they could use Omax and they take that opportunity to do so. I just think his time is running out here and if it’s going to happen for him, it has to happen this year. Otherwise, he’s going to be somewhere else. PJ Washington along the same vein of guys who are those bigger wings who I think could take a big step in. I know what you’re thinking. PJ was already one of the best players on this team last year, but I think PJ going into a contract year where the Mavericks are really going to need him to step up, especially in the scoring department. I think if PJ when Kyrie is out for the first half of the year, can get you 16 to 18 points a game, which would be an elevation on his career stats. if he can get you that and he can really um as well kind of you know elevate his playmaking skills where I like when PJ gets the ball and he gets into the lane and gets to the free throw line. When he gets to the free throw line with the ball, he is able to make plays from there and I think he’s an underrated playmaker from there. The problem is I think he needs a little more consistency from shooting both on the outside and in the paint. If you can find that and PJ Washington, I think it would do wonders for this Mavericks team, especially like I said in the first half of the season where they’re going to be without the 25 points a game that Kyrie Irving provides you. I know it’s asking a lot of PJ to, you know, perform on the offensive end as well as his defensive duties, which usually entail guarding the opposing team’s best player at least to start on any given night. But in a contract year, I think PJ is going to be extra motivated in uh to try to get his bag this summer. And maybe if he does well enough, the Mavericks can be the team to give him that bag. I think he wants to be with the Mavericks long term. He’s a guy who went to high school in Fris. I think he loves this area. He loves the Mavericks organization, and I think the Mavericks would like to keep PJ longterm, but it all depends on how he plays this season. I don’t think they’re going to sign an extension with him before the offseason. I could be wrong. And of course, if that happens, we will keep you up to date with a video. We will get to the final two here in just a few moments. But I do need to tell you guys about our sponsor of today’s show, which of course is Price Pics, America’s number one daily fantasy sports app. Price Pix has over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, making daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just make more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash. Run your game all season long on prize picks. And you can also turn your playoff hot takes into tickets to basketball’s championship series. 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Go to pricepix.com and use code cls to get that $50 bonus when you play your first $5 lineup. You don’t even need to win to receive that bonus. It is guaranteed. Again, download the app and use code cls for that $50 bonus when you play your first $5 lineup. That link is in the comments and the description of today’s show. It is prize picks run your game. Number two, the second guy who I think needs to step up for the Mavericks this next season is Brandon Williams. And I’ve said this on the show a couple of times. I think when the Mavericks roll out there on October 15th or whatever opening night is, Brandon Williams is going to be starting at the point guard position. I see that happening uh until Kyrie returns and hopefully he can take advantage of the opportunity. The Mavericks signed Brandon Williams to a 2-year deal on April 10th, which meant the rest of last season and this season as well. So, he is under contract. And in his last 16 games, he absolutely proved that he deserved that. averaging 14 points, three and a half assists, great efficiency from the field at the 42% from three. Williams plays with the speed that the Mavericks do not have on this roster and didn’t have on the roster last season. He really pushes the pace on offense and gets them into their offense in a very timely manner. And I really love how Brandon Williams uh set this team up down the stretch. Without him, the Mavericks would have been in a better position in the lottery. They would not have even had a right to be in the playin because they wouldn’t have been in there. I thought Williams had a really good season and was was one of the surprises of the year for the Mavericks last year. And of all the things that went wrong for the Mavericks last season, you can, you know, you can’t even count them on both hands. Brandon Williams was one of the best things that happened to the Mavericks last year. So, I hope that he can continue his hot form from the end of last season, parlay it into next season, and maybe he can find himself a contract as well after next year. the number one guy who needs to step up for the Mavs in the 2526 NBA season, it’s Derrick Lively. And I I do think that Lively, you know, has a lot to build on. You look at his career stats here. I thought he had a solid start to his NBA career. Rookie season on the left, second year on the right. And one thing that kind of stuck out to me was he played the exact same amount of minutes basically. And the numbers were kind of the same. game. He averaged about a half a rebound more. Um not as efficient from the field, although 70% is still really good. Averaged a quarter of a block more per game. And I well I do think it’s fair to say that Derek Lively had a disappointing second season here with the Dallas Mavericks. Like I think I expected a little bit more of a sophomore leap. I wouldn’t call it quite a sophomore slump. I but I don’t think he really improved his stock any here. And I was hoping that you could see him improve into being one of the Mavericks absolute best players. And of course, he also got injured again, limiting him to just 36 games in with the Mavericks. So, he’s missed he missed 27 games in his first year. He missed over 40 in year two. He missed a lot of games in his year at Duke. So, he’s officially an injury-prone guy. And the Mavericks need Derek Lively to stay healthy if they’re going to get back into playoff contention in the Western Conference. There’s no two bones about it. Yeah, you have Daniel Gaffford who is a fantastic center as well and you can play him on any given night, but if they’re going to make some hay and do some serious damage, Derrick Lively has to step up. I would like to see him get his minutes per game average, maybe up to 25 plus. Maybe he can average 10 points and 10 rebounds. If Derrick Lively averages a double double next year, I think that would be fantastic for him. Hopefully, he can play more than 55 games. I kind of said the same thing about Anthony Davis. You have to account for Anthony Davis missing at least 20 games. I would say it’s at least 25 with Derrick Lively. Hopefully he can prove me wrong playing more than 60 games, have a healthy year, average a double double. And I think if he does that, then the Mavericks are going to be in a good spot next season. Now, I ask you who you think could take a big leap now. Which player needs to take the biggest leap next year? Who needs to step up the most for the Dallas Mavericks next season? Let me know down there in the comments section. And that will be it for today’s show, guys. Appreciate you for tuning in to Mavericks Today by Chat Sports. And of course, if anything happens surrounding the Dallas Mavericks, we’ll keep you updated here on the channel. Reminder, NBA draft lottery is on Monday. So, in 5 days, we’ll find out if the Mavericks are drafting number one or not. So, stay tuned on the channel and we’ll see you soon. [Music]

The 2025 NBA offseason is in full swing for the Mavericks with the NBA Lottery taking place next Monday when the Mavs find out where they will be picking in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Mavericks’ roster is currently filled with guys who can take their games to the next level, and on this episode of Mavericks Today by Chat Sports, we look ar 5 guys who can do just that for Mavs head coach Jason Kidd. Can Dereck Lively return to his rookie season form? Will Max Christie take the next step? Jeffrey Cooperstein discusses!

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Players who need to step up for the Mavs in the 2025-26 NBA season:
1: Dereck Lively II (C)
2: Brandon Williams (G)
3: P.J. Washington (F)
4: Olivier-Maxence Prosper (F)
5: Max Christie (G/F)

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