Mavericks' ideal Klay Thompson replacement just entered the 2025 NBA Draft

The Dallas Mavericks are coming right off the heels of one of their wildest two-game stretches in recent memory, as Dallas suffered a terrible loss to an undermanned Brooklyn Nets team on Monday night before securing a clutch victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night via a game-winning floater by Anthony Davis.

All signs are pointing toward Dallas hosting the 9-10 play-in contest in the Western Conference on April 16, and they'll be playing the Sacramento Kings in all likelihood, based on the fact that the Phoenix Suns continue to slide in the standings after Kevin Durant's ankle injury. It's great to see Davis playing at a superstar level for the first time since returning from injury again, and it will be interesting to see how the dynamics of this Mavericks roster work together in the last few games this season as well as whatever postseason action they see, especially since all of Dallas' bigs are healthy again.

Unfortunately for the Mavericks though, awaiting them if they manage to win two consecutive play-in games will be the West's first-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, led by likely MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder are young and hungry with solid veteran rotation pieces to complement, and they wouldn't take kindly to a Mavericks squad that eliminated them from last season's playoffs.

With no Kyrie Irving in the lineup, it's almost certain the Thunder would blow the doors open on the Mavericks in a first-round playoff series, so even Dallas' best realistic scenario will likely lead to an early offseason. Setting their sights on the offseason, the Mavericks unfortunately won't lose enough to get favorable odds toward even a top-10 pick, but they'll almost certainly be selecting late in the lottery or right outside of it, even if they make the playoffs.

Mavericks' next elite sharpshooter is waiting for them in the draft

Obviously, that could change by the luck of the draw once the NBA Draft Lottery goes down in May, but with Dallas' season likely unwinding, it's the perfect time to take a look at a homegrown DFW prospect that recently declared for the 2025 NBA Draft. That prospect is none other than Liam McNeeley, as the University of Connecticut freshman was easily legendary head coach Dan Hurley's best player last season.

At only 19 years old, McNeeley is around 6-foot-8 and 210 pounds, and he's touted to be selected in the same draft range that Dallas is currently projected to select in per most mock drafts up to this point. McNeeley is a sniper from the wing, as he has a pure stroke from beyond the arc and has the willingness to let it go from nearly anywhere.

McNeeley isn't an explosive athlete nor a game-wrecker on the defensive end, but he's got great positional size and competes very hard defensively, and he's certainly not a slouch athletically by any means. Think younger Klay Thompson in terms of a fair comparison for McNeeley athletically, and he admittedly mirrors a lot of a younger Thompson's offensive attributes as well in terms of his cutting ability, secondary ball handling ability, and his off-ball movement.

Dallas undoubtedly needs more 3-point shooting and offensive talent after the moves they made at the trade deadline, and it seems like McNeely could make an impact on day one for the Mavericks if they drafted him. He would be an outstanding fit off the bench, as the Mavericks could run him off screens from their bigs to get open shots or to get downhill and make a play for himself or someone else, and he would fit into the core they've built well.

The potential role that McNeely would play in Dallas may not be huge off the bat, but he'd have the chance to learn under one of the game's best sharpshooters in Thompson. He'd likely be eager to mentor McNeely and walk him through the ins and outs of being a knockdown shooter in today's NBA, and there may not be a better player for McNeely to learn from than Thompson. This isn't to say that McNeely will live up to Thompson's legendary career, but he is someone who Dallas can develop over the next few years as Thompson enters the home stretch of his career, and then Thompson can pass the baton to McNeely if he ends up panning out.

In 27 games for the UConn Huskies last season, McNeeley averaged 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game with shooting splits of 38.1/31.7/88.6. McNeeley carried a heavy offensive load for the Huskies last season, and they weren't nearly as offensively talented as they were in their previous two National Championship seasons compared to this season, where they saw an early exit in the NCAA Tournament to the Florida Gators.

This can be attributed to some of his shooting woes at the collegiate level from a percentage perspective, but he could also improve his shot selection in certain scenarios as well, though he projects to be a player who would benefit from the increased spacing of the NBA game. If McNeeley was more efficient in college from a shooting perspective, he'd undoubtedly be a top-five or 10 pick in this year's draft, as he was one of the top-ranked high school prospects in his class after a stellar EYBL tenure and senior season at Montverde Academy.

McNeeley's stock dipping slightly because of inefficiency concerns in his lone season at UConn could be slightly overblown because of that program going through a slight transitional period after winning two straight titles, and McNeeley was tasked with being a lead ball handler for the Huskies way more often than he would in Dallas. The Mavericks need to cash in on McNeeley slipping to their draft pick if he somehow manages to because of the aforementioned factors, as he'd be the perfect talent that could one day play the Thompson role for the Mavericks if his shot gets even better and he's in Dallas' backyard being from Richardson, Texas, not to mention that he'd get to learn behind one of the best to ever do it in terms of his archetype of player.