Kyrie Irving's perfect Mavericks backcourt partner emerged at the NBA Combine

The Dallas Mavericks have multiple different avenues they could go with the ninth pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, but if their goal is to find a player who will fit the best with next season's team, Brayden Burries from the Arizona Wildcats is their best bet. Burries is projected to go mid-to-late lottery, as he's a 6-foot-4 combo guard that flashes secondary and tertiary creation skills, but would thrive off-ball alongside someone like Kyrie Irving.

Burries has been one of the most impressive prospects at the NBA Draft Combine thus far, as he boasted a 35-inch standing vertical leap and made 61 percent of his 3-pointers in shooting drills. He also ranked amongst the top of combine attendees in the pro lane drill, highlighting his agility and defensive prowess at the next level.

Burries would be the best fit next to Irving of any guard in the draft

Many Mavericks fans and media members are pining for the team to draft more of a primary shot creator, such as Mikel Brown Jr., Darius Acuff Jr., Keaton Wagler, or Kingston Flemings. All four of those players may pan out to have more illustrious careers compared to Burries, but they'd be hard-pressed to have as immediate an impact as Burries could in Dallas, as they don't profile playing off-ball next to Irving as well as Burries.

Burries has great defensive instincts in terms of screen navigation, his ability to pick passing lanes, and when having to guard point guards and smaller wings in one-on-one situations. He may be a little older than some prospects in Dallas' range, as he's nearly 21 years old, but age concerns are typically very overblown, and it's not like he's as old as a three or four-year college player.

Burries was arguably Arizona's best player last season, and this is a team that was loaded and made a Final Four run. He averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game with shooting splits of 49.1/39.1/80.5. He still has promise to develop more on-ball and as a playmaker, and is the type of prospect that would challenge Max Christie for the starting job at shooting guard right off the bat in Dallas.

Burries would contribute to winning immediately

Burries is stout at 215 pounds, and he has the level of point-of-attack defense that could compensate for Irving's lack of size defensively. Dallas desperately needs perimeter defense and outside shooting, and Burries brings both of these attributes, as he's probably Dallas' best bet at pick nine if they want to be as competitive as possible next season.

Some Mavericks fans may be bitter over the fact that Burries doesn't project as a true point guard, but this doesn't mean he couldn't be Cooper Flagg's co-star in the future. He has a steady in-between game already, is a prolific finisher, and still has plenty of room to grow offensively in terms of playing alongside a veteran point guard like Irving.

There's no way of telling if Burries will be on the board by the time Dallas' pick rolls around during the draft, especially after an impressive combine showing, but most mock drafts have him slated to go around the 10th pick, so there's a solid chance Dallas could get him without having to trade up whatsoever.

He may not be as elite at any one thing as some of the top-end talents in this draft are, but he's an efficient all-around player that would impact winning from day one, and would fit better with Irving than any other guard in Dallas' range.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow