Brutal narrative against the Dallas Mavericks comes from all directions

The Dallas Mavericks enter the 2024-25 season with possibly their most stacked roster of all time. They ended last season with a trip to the 2024 NBA Finals, and they got better in every way this summer.

Dallas improved their shooting by signing Klay Thompson, improved their defense by signing Naji Marshall, and improved their depth off the bench by trading for Quentin Grimes and signing Spencer Dinwiddie.

All of these moves should help the Mavs find themselves near the top of the Western Conference once again, but their phenomenal offseason still hasn't been enough for some people. The Mavericks doubters have been coming out of the woodwork this summer, and this looks like it'll continue until the new-look squad takes the floor for the first time.

Everyone is already counting out the Dallas Mavericks

On Wednesday afternoon, Adam Schefter, Jeff Passan, and Pete Thamel, ESPN insiders for the NFL, MLB, and College Football all hopped on NBA Today as their colleague Adrian Wojnarowski announced his retirement from ESPN. Along with sharing their thoughts on Wojnarowski and what it was like working with him, they also each gave their picks for the 2025 NBA Finals.

Not a single one of them predicted the Mavs to even make the Finals.

All three of them predicted the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the Western Conference, and their picks for the Eastern Conference included the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. It's expected for the Thunder to be a great team next year, but everyone seemingly always counting the Mavs out is puzzling.

Dallas' new-look starting lineup is going to light it up on offense, and the Thompson signing is going to make them much better than anyone realizes. Thompson's defense may not be at the same level that it was during the time he was named to the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team, but his shooting gives Dallas' offense a whole new dimension.

Luka Doncic is one of the greatest shot creators the game has ever seen, and him sharing the floor with Thompson is going to give other teams fits. Thompson is going to get so many open looks, and teams are going to have to pick their poison when trying to stop this deadly duo. Kyrie Irving is also still an elite star for the Mavs, and he should help make the game easier for Thompson as well. Irving played a big part in recruiting Thompson to Dallas, and he should help make his transition to the Mavs go smoothly.

While Thompson is helped to make a big impact on offense, Grimes and Marshall are the team's new defensive stoppers. Marshall embraces doing the dirty work on that end while Grimes is an elite on-ball defender who never shies away from the big moment. Both of those moves are seemingly going overlooked by the national media as well and they are poised to prove everyone wrong.

There are always going to be doubters, no matter how stacked your roster is, and the Mavs are no stranger to this. Dallas embraced the underdog mentality during the 2024 NBA Playoffs, and that helped them reach the Finals. They aren't worried about the outside noise, and that won't change going into next season.