Mavericks' new-look roster should fix last season's weakness that made little sense

Despite boasting a pretty big roster a season ago, even featuring the 6-foot-9 Cooper Flagg at point guard, the Dallas Mavericks were near the bottom of the league in both offensive rebounding and second-chance points, ranking 22nd and 24th, respectively. Yet, after infusing the roster with even more size and getting big man Dereck Lively II back, this weakness should turn into a strength for the Mavericks and, in turn, improve Dallas' offense.

Before fully diving in, it must be noted that Dallas' size took various hits throughout the 2025-26 campaign, from Lively's season-ending foot surgery to Anthony Davis' injuries and eventual trade, Daniel Gafford's spotty availability, and Moussa Cisse's two-way contract restraints.

Mavericks' size could finally become a strength

Thus, the Mavericks weren't always at full strength, with their frontcourt arguably most affected, which is why Dallas' rebounding and second-chance inefficiency at least made some sense. Still, it didn't make a whole lot of sense considering its most-utilized lineup consisted entirely of players 6-foot-6 or taller.

Nonetheless, with several of the same prominent frontcourt players and big wings from a season ago returning, along with an infusion of new faces, the Mavericks' biggest weakness could ultimately become one of their biggest strengths.

Of course, saying should isn't the best argument here, as there's not even much of a correlation between second-chance points and height. For instance, the second- and third-most prominent second-chance points teams, the Charlotte Hornets and Houston Rockets, tied for the fourth-shortest rosters in the NBA.

Dallas can get creative with its size

But on a deeper level, boy, does height help. Charlotte and Houston may have skewed shorter overall, but their most-used starting lineups featured players at least 6-foot-5, similar to the Mavericks, with three forwards also occupying the two-through-four slots.

The Mavericks won't start all players 6-foot-5 or taller this season now that Kyrie Irving is returning from an ACL tear in 2025. However, with sheer size all over the place and the ability to even slide Flagg down to the two or start the 6-foot-8 Zaccharie Risacher at shooting guard, Dallas can more than make up for Irving and its relatively mediocre average height across the roster.

And even after drafting the rugged Morez Johnson Jr. with the ninth-overall selection, Dallas can pair the rookie with one of its three centers on the roster, Gafford, Lively, or Moussa Cisse, to feature a massive frontcourt. The possibilities are so vast that the 7-foot Santi Aldama has yet to even be mentioned, and with his ball-handling skills, Aldama can comfortably be played at the three.

Mavericks already had the pieces to fix its rebounding woes

Again, though, there's more to offensive rebounding and second-chance opportunities than size. Rebounding is a difficult metric to grade or even appreciate because there's both a want-to factor and a convenience factor involved. So, when digging deeper once more, Dallas had two players who ranked amongst the best in the NBA in two more specific categories: offensive rebounding percentage and contested rebound percentage.

Cisse would have ranked third league-wide if he had qualified for offensive rebounding percentage, while Gafford placed 24th among 253 qualified players in contested rebound percentage.

Now, add Lively to the mix, who ranked inside the top 20 in both aforementioned statistics in his last healthy-ish season (2023-24), Johnson, Aldama, and a coach who just won a National Championship while trotting out a roster with rare size, and the recipe is all but there.

It's never safe to say Dallas, or any team for that matter, will improve in one specific area just because of its personnel, but all the right variables are there for success.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow