Dusty May should already have the Mavericks' ultimate stamp of approval

College coaches have generally had mixed success in the NBA, but new Dallas Mavericks head coach Dusty May was carefully chosen by Masai Ujiri, who has unearthed two coaching gems in his career as an executive. Ujiri has a history of making great coaching changes, and even though swapping Jason Kidd for May may seem risky, Mavericks fans should already be giving this move the ultimate stamp of approval.

Ujiri knows what he's doing, and the fact that he led this entire search is an extremely promising sign. This is why there should be plenty of excitement about this move.

Ujiri has fired respected coaches for high-risk candidates before

In 2018, Ujiri’s Toronto Raptors had the best record in the Eastern Conference, but their postseason ended early in a devastating sweep by the Cleveland Cavaliers. After losing to Cleveland in three consecutive playoff runs, Ujiri made the controversial move to fire head coach Dwayne Casey, who won Coach of the Year in 2018.

Ujiri hired Raptors assistant Nick Nurse as the new head coach. Nurse would win the NBA Finals in his first season at the helm, but he lost star Kawhi Leonard in the offseason. Toronto surprisingly improved its regular-season record without Leonard, finishing second in the East, and Nurse was named Coach of the Year in 2020 for his efforts.

Six years later, Ujiri executed the same plan in Dallas.

Former head coach Jason Kidd is a good coach who led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals just two seasons ago, but Ujiri’s first move as the team's President was to let Kidd go. Ujiri is instead looking for a great coach, and his nominee for the next great is Dusty May.

May is the high-upside coach that Ujiri is looking for

After Nurse’s initial success in Toronto, he and the team stagnated. When the Raptors missed the playoffs in 2023, Nurse was fired, and Ujiri began his search once again.

Unlike in 2018, Ujiri was not looking to immediately win a championship with his new coach. Instead, he was focused on building a championship-caliber team around Scottie Barnes. He hired former Grizzlies, Thunder, and Warriors assistant Darko Rajakovic, who has been another successful hire through three seasons. Rajakovic helped the Raptors exceed expectations this year, as Toronto finished fifth in the East and took the Cavaliers to seven games in the first round of the playoffs.

Similar to the Rajakovic hiring, Ujiri is not focused on winning the title next season in Dallas. Instead, he is looking for a coach who will develop a Cooper Flagg-led Mavs team into the next title contender. This gives Ujiri the ability to take a risk and hire Dusty May, who is arguably the most promising college basketball coach to make the NBA leap since Brad Stevens.

May’s breakout began when he had a historic 2023 season by school standards, as he led Florida Atlantic University to the Final Four as the ninth seed and broke the Conference USA record for conference wins with 18. May was hired by Michigan in 2024 and brought home a National Championship in just his second season.

If there is any college basketball coach who could make the leap to the NBA, it is Dusty May, and Ujiri’s vote of confidence is the proof. Fans should be ecstatic that the Mavs convinced May to leave his job at Michigan, and they'll be expecting greatness as he begins this new chapter.

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