Mavericks' Brayden Burries buzz keeps heating up ahead of the NBA Draft

There's been plenty of smoke linking Brayden Burries to the Dallas Mavericks with the ninth pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, and this smoke is only increasing after recent reports of Burries' interest in Dallas from CBS's Adam Finkelstein and Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor.

It seems like there's a new update on the Burries-Mavericks buzz every day, and this buzz is poised to get even louder with the 2026 NBA Draft quickly approaching.

Finkelstein recently reported that Burries hasn't appeared at multiple workouts for teams toward the top of the lottery, and his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, is notorious for trying to play chess to land his client with the best fit in past drafts. Finkelstein added to this by saying he thinks Burries and his representatives want him to play in Dallas alongside Cooper Flagg, and they'll do everything in their power to get this done, and O'Connor seconded this notion on a recent podcast.

Burries to Dallas is gaining real steam ahead of the NBA Draft

It would make sense for Dallas to have mutual interest in adding Burries, as he's a talented 6-foot-4 combo guard that could play off-ball alongside Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg in Dallas' starting lineup, but he's certainly not the only prospect the Mavericks are evaluating at nine.

Mavericks big man Dereck Lively II is also represented by Paul and was drafted by Dallas with the 12th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, so Paul has proven to wheel and deal one of his clients to Dallas in recent history when the Mavericks were drafting in a very similar range.

Burries may not project to have the most talent out of any of the prospects the Mavericks are looking at with the ninth pick, but it's hard to argue there's a better fit for Dallas besides him at pick nine. Prospects like Kingston Flemings and Mikel Brown Jr. seem more potential-packed, for instance, but they profile more as pure point guards, whereas Burries could probably come in and fit seamlessly next to Irving from the jump.

The Burries-Mavericks smoke is getting real

He's a stellar point-of-attack defender, an elite outside shooter, and probably has more chops as a secondary creator compared to someone like Max Christie. And it's not like he doesn't still have plenty of room to grow, only being 20 years old, so it would make perfect sense for the Mavericks to take a chance on him at number nine.

There's no way to tell if Burries' push to Dallas will ultimately be successful until June 23, but given he's not shown up to workouts for other teams at the top of the lottery, it's clear there's a real brewing interest between him and the Mavericks. This will undoubtedly be one of the top situations to monitor for Dallas heading into the draft, and with some mock drafts having Burries going 11th or 12th, there's a world in which Dallas could trade back and still get him come draft night.

The Mavericks have a multitude of directions they could go in heading into draft night, but there has not been any other situation that has had as much mutual smoke for them as the Burries situation, so don't be shocked if he becomes a Maverick come draft night.

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