Mavericks key starter impresses in viral offseason performance against Holmgren

With all of the NBA’s main summer festivities being wrapped up for the most part, the Dallas Mavericks are getting some much needed rest in this month of August, as the Mavericks prepare to face another grueling 82-game schedule that will likely include the playoffs as well.

However, professional basketball players don’t really take elongated periods of rest from working on their game, so rest assured that many of Dallas’ players are hard at work ahead of next season. Dallas even has one of their big men competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics, as Dwight Powell has been starting and performing well for the Canadian National Team in these Olympics.

While playing in the Olympics is one way to stay in playing shape ahead of next season, the rest of Dallas’ roster is getting most of their five-on-five work done within open runs, as clips have surfaced online of Kyrie Irving, Markieff Morris, Jaden Hardy, Daniel Gafford, and Klay Thompson getting after it at some pro runs this offseason.

Daniel Gafford shows Mavericks still own the Thunder

Out of all the videos that have come out though, Gafford’s tape was easily the most exciting to watch, and it will have Mavericks fans’ anticipation brewing for next season.

At the Dashletics NBA Open Run, Gafford was facing off against fellow Western Conference big man rival Chet Holmgren, and while Holmgren certainly got his fair share of buckets when matched up with Gafford one-on-one, Gafford’s highlight tape was equally impressive and featured many stellar moments against Holmgren on both sides of the ball. 

While players may not be exerting max effort during these open runs, they are still going pretty hard most of the time, so Mavericks fans shouldn’t take for granted how well Gafford was able to attack Holmgren both off-the-dribble and in the post for some solid buckets. 

Gafford even blocked Holmgren in one of the highlight clips and made a corner 3-pointer, so needless to say Gafford looked extremely polished against one of the NBA’s most skilled bigs in Holmgren, which is a huge deal when you take into consideration that both players had something to prove in this run since the Mavericks squeaked by the Oklahoma City Thunder in six games last season during the Western Conference Semifinals.

The Thunder and Mavericks project to be rivals throughout the latter half of this decade if things go according to plan for both squads, as both teams have young championship-level rosters, so hopefully Gafford’s dominance on the interior against Holmgren can be reciprocated in future matchups this season.

The Mavericks inflicted their presence and physicality on the interior last season against the Thunder in the playoffs, but the Thunder addressed that deficiency in their roster by adding rim protector Isaiah Hartenstein this past offseason to compensate for some of the attributes Holmgren lacks as a non-traditional center, so the Mavericks and Gafford will likely have to be even better to knock this Thunder team out of the playoffs next season.

For more on Daniel Gafford and the Dallas Mavericks this offseason, stay tuned as we will have you covered.