Mavericks' first trade need is already obvious before season even begins

The Dallas Mavericks will need more shooting at some point during the 2025-26 season, and it seems like a trade to acquire more will be a move that they should explore if things don't go according to plan.

To end last season, Dallas struggled considerably from downtown. Over the last two months of the season (02/13/25 - 04/13/25), the Mavs shot 34.6 percent from downtown (24th in the NBA) and attempted 32.1 threes per game (last in the NBA). Even though the injury curse had infected their core by this point, they weren't attempting many threes while also not shooting them effeciently, and this problem bled into the preseason.

Dallas shot 30.8 percent from 3-point range during the preseason (24th in the NBA) while attempting 36.5 threes per game (19th in the NBA), and while this is a step in the right direction, the Mavericks gave up a ton of threes while not shooting as many themselves.

Mavericks will be forced to trade for more shooting

The Mavericks attempted less threes than their opponent in three of their four preseason games with the lone outlier being the Utah Jazz, and in these three games, opponents shot a combined 38 more 3-pointers than Dallas, which comes out to a little over 12 threes per game.

It's not time to panic just yet about Dallas' shooting, as not too much substance can be put into preseason statistics, but it is definitely an area to keep an eye on. With Jason Kidd being committed to running double-big lineups with Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II or Daniel Gafford, their floor spacing is already going to be suspect, and they may be forced to trade some of their center depth to add some shooting on the wing.

Their depth down low is incredible, but once the game gets down to crunch time, it seems like Davis will be the only one of the aforementioned three players that will be on the floor.

Davis is at his best when he plays the five rather than the four, and it's more likely that the Mavs' closing lineup includes Davis at center rather than Lively II or Gafford. This isn't to say that Davis will never play power forward at the end of games, but teams do tend to go smaller at the end of games for added versatility, spacing, and free-throw shooting.

Having two of your top players on the bench at the end of games is questionable asset management, and someone like Gafford could be moved at some point to add another shooter. 3-point shooting is crucial, and the Mavericks' shooting around Davis and Lively II or Gafford needs to be elite when they're running double-big lineups.

Davis is the only true big on the roster that can partially stretch the floor, as he isn't afraid to fly from downtown, but he is a career 29.6 percent 3-point shooter and shouldn't be relied upon to knock down threes at a high rate. The players around the bigs must be excellent shooters, and Dallas can definitely improve in that department via the trade market.

Kidd can rely upon players like Max Christie, Klay Thompson, and Dante Exum in their normal rotation to knock down open shots, but outside of them, everyone else is a bit of a wildcard. P.J. Washington and Cooper Flagg (at Duke) had great years shooting the ball last season, but if they decline in their efficiency, the Mavs will definitely need to add more shooting around them.

The Mavericks' 3-point volume and percentage are definitely things that must improve this season, and if they can't get the double-big philosophy to work while simultaneously doing this, some change will need to be made to create balance.