After the pendulum finally started to swing in their favor following receiving the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, there's a new sense of hope inside the walls of the Dallas Mavericks organization with Cooper Flagg set to become the few franchise player just months after Dallas traded Luka Doncic.
Dallas has a tailor-made situation for a No. 1 pick to enter into, though, as Flagg won't be expected to be the best player or primary creator right off the bat on a team featuring Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. Of course, the Mavericks have a huge void to address at guard this offseason, considering Irving tore his ACL this past March and will likely miss more than half the season, and they'd need another guard anyway, considering Dante Exum and Spencer Dinwiddie seem likely to leave in free agency.
One guard Dallas could look at in the free agency market to replicate some of the lost defensive production from Exum (if he does leave) would be none other than former fan-favorite and the No. 9 overall selection from the 2017 NBA Draft, Dennis Smith Jr. Smith Jr. and Mavericks fans have long teased a Mavericks reunion (and Smith Jr. has been linked to the Mavericks in reunion rumors multiple times), and it wouldn't be surprising if that happens this summer considering Smith Jr. left Real Madrid in February and is eyeing an NBA comeback, but he can't be Dallas' sole way to address their guard dilemma this summer if this does happen.
Mavericks can't let nostalgia blind their offseason strategy
Smith Jr. could be a great athlete and point-of-attack defender once again for the Mavericks, and he's still only 27 years old, but the Mavericks need someone who can be a primary creator at times and be a solid catch-and-shoot 3-pointer off-ball once Irving returns from injury, and Smith Jr. simply hasn't proven to be offensively dynamic enough to fill this void entirely.
Someone like Brandon Williams would be a far more likely candidate to take a leap offensively and replicate some of Irving's dynamic three-level scoring and pick-and-roll playmaking next season, but the Mavericks would be smart to find another starting-level guard via trade this summer if possible.
With Dallas expected to have limited flexibility free agency-wise this summer, barring they make some trades to shed some salary, Smith Jr. would be a great buy-low candidate on a veteran's minimum slot or for a few million a year, just like the Mavericks did with Exum a couple of years ago. Exum went overseas for a while after his inconsistent 3-point shot left him without an NBA job, and he played a vital role on a team that was a runner-up in the NBA Finals just last season.
While Exum is drawing interest from overseas again, Dallas would love to have him back if at all possible, but Smith Jr. would be a great way to fill Exum's production (if he leaves) even if Smith Jr. didn't have near as illustrious EuroLeague career compared to Exum nor seemed to have improved his 3-point shot in his brief run with Real Madrid.
All that being said, though, Smith Jr. has never flashed the same potential as a playmaker, shooter, or scorer that he did in Dallas during his first two seasons in the league, and he's a career 29.8 percent 3-point shooter through seven NBA seasons. He could be a situational defender that could blossom for the Mavericks if his offensive game starts to see some late-career development in the same sort of vein that Kris Dunn's has for the LA Clippers, but there are way too many other more polished guards Dallas could add via trade to address some of Irving's lost offensive production
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