Mavericks' glaring flaw will force a brutal starting lineup ultimatum

The Dallas Mavericks' starting five on opening night of the 2025-26 season will likely include D'Angelo Russell, Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Dereck Lively II, and the final spot will likely go to either Klay Thompson or P.J. Washington.

Both players deserve to be starters in the NBA, as Thompson is still a lethal shooter and Washington is a versatile 3-and-D wing who is an excellent rebounder, but the Mavs' clear shooting flaw will likely determine who they'll start between Washington and Thompson. Dallas shot 32.1 percent from three over the final two months of the season last year (24th in the NBA), and they have to get back on the right track in that department.

The elite teams in the NBA shoot threes at a high level, and with the Mavs rolling out lineups with Davis and Lively II or Daniel Gafford down low, they have to put as many shooters as they can around them. It's obvious that Davis and one of the aforementioned bigs won't strike fear into their opponents from beyond the arc, but they have plenty of players on the roster who can.

Mavericks' shooting woes could force P.J. Washington to the bench

In a perfect world in which the Mavs didn't have a frontcourt logjam, it would make the most sense to start Washington. He is only 27 years old, plays both ends of the floor at a high level, and just got inked to a lucrative four-year contract extension, but the Mavs' shooting woes may force them to bench Washington and start Thompson.

The Mavericks can't go wrong either way, as Thompson and Washington will still play big minutes regardless of who is the starter, but it seems like one of the major reasons that Washington would come off the bench is because of the lack of shooting in this starting five. He has proven that he deserves to be a starter, as he has been the team's starting four ever since he arrived in Dallas at the 2024 trade deadline, but Jason Kidd may be forced to switch things up to keep their 3-point numbers from going down the drain.

While both Thompson and Washington had good seasons from downtown last year, as they shot 39.1 percent and 38.1 percent from three, respectively, Thompson is the far better volume shooter and fit when looking at who he'll be playing alongside. Allowing Flagg to play the three and slotting Thompson in at the two is more ideal than making Flagg play the two immediately and putting Washington at the three, and Thompson's spacing and off-ball gravity are going to be crucial when the Mavs are playing Davis next to one of the bigs.

Davis isn't the best shooter, as he has shot 29.6 percent from three in his career, and Kidd needs to put as many shooters around him to make his life as easy as possible. Good floor spacing will allow Davis to have the space that he needs to dominate with his face-up game, as someone like Thompson would pull his defender all the way out to the 3-point line rather than allowing them to play heavy help defense to assist Davis' primary defender.

Kidd will end up using countless starting lineups as the year goes on, as some could include Washington, some could include Thompson, and some could even include both, and his decision when building these lineups early on could all rely on shooting.

Even though Washington is the better player than Thompson at this point and has a much brighter future, including Thompson at first to help their shooting will likely be the best option to start the season off. While a massive lineup that includes Washington, Flagg, Davis, and Lively II would be fun and extremely dominant defensively, they need as much shooting as they can get.