Dallas Mavericks avoid dangerous slippery slope ahead of 2024-25 season

As we trek deeper into the slowest month of the year as far as NBA-related news is concerned, diehard NBA fans are still trying to piece together the puzzle of what the league will be looking like in the 2024-25 season after a wild offseason.

However, one thing from this offseason that is certainly true is that the Dallas Mavericks came out as winners, as Dallas added talented role players across the board despite losing Derrick Jones Jr., Josh Green, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Some writers and analysts still believe Dallas will take a step backward this coming season though, as skepticism is bound to happen when drastic changes happen to a roster who just came off of an NBA Finals appearance.

There are still those in the media that are showing faith in the Mavericks for this upcoming season though, and Bleacher Report writer Dan Favale is certainly one of those individuals, as he honed in on a key reason the Mavericks can't be overlooked this coming season in his recent article, "1 Reason Not To Overlook Every NBA Team for 2024-25 Season."

Mavericks avoid falling into trap of trading defense for offense

Favale's reason to not overlook the Mavs was that "they improved the offense without compromising the defense." Giving up defense for more offense can end up being a dangerous slippery slope for some teams, but the Mavs definitely avoided that as their defense remained strong and their offense significantly improved.

Dallas' defense was one of their biggest strengths last year, and the Mavs avoided falling into the trap of going all in on their offense while completely disregarding their defense.

Favale mainly cited the spacing and 3-point shooting that Thompson will provide for Dallas' offense as the main reason the Mavericks will thrive next year, even if they take a slight dip in defensive efficiency due to the loss of Jones Jr. While we can't neglect a change of environment and play-style potentially causing some growing pains for Thompson in Dallas, it seems inevitable that he'll become the perfect release valve for Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic on offense.

Even though Favale was supposedly only citing one reason for each team in the league to not be overlooked next season, he also wrote heavily about how much Dallas' versatility with their size across their roster will pay dividends for them in this upcoming season. He's certainly not wrong about that either, as Dallas was able to gain even more size at the Mavericks don't have anyone on their main roster under 6-foot-5 except for Irving and Jaden Hardy.

Dallas still has one of the most dynamic center rotations in the league with Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, and Maxi Kleber, and they've arguably improved their size at the wing and guard positions this offseason even further.

The doubters and naysayers are still bound to try and come up with reasons as to why this Mavericks team will fail next season, but it's readily apparent that this Mavericks team has an immense combination of positional size and multi-faceted role players to complement the likes of Irving, Thompson, and Doncic.

For that reason as well as the reasons Favale provided, the Mavericks can't be overlooked next season, but make no mistake about it that Dallas dodged a major bullet this offseason by Thompson deciding to join them over other suitors.