Mavericks finally have the clear edge over the Nuggets after wild offseason

One opponent used to have the upper hand on Dallas, but maybe not so much anymore.

The Dallas Mavericks were credited by having arguably their best offseason in team history.

This helped their case at possibly making the NBA Finals once again.

Even Boston star Jayson Tatum went as far as to predict a rematch of the two teams in the 2025 NBA Finals.

Dallas now has the upper hand over Denver

It's always been Nikola Jokic dominating the league, and make no mistake, he will still rule the league. After all, he just won his third MVP award in the spring.

The problem was only few teams could give the 2023 NBA Champions a challenge. Minnesota was credited for ending the Nuggets' season in 2024.

Now, it's open season in the Western Conference. The Mavericks have hung on against Denver in crunch time.

Especially when we saw one of the craziest game-winning buzzer-beaters in recent memory by Kyrie Irving's left hand.

The Nuggets lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic which leaves a gap in their 3-and-D position. Denver's best bet to fill that spot is likely Christian Braun. If not, the Nuggets would look pretty thin at replacing that position, with guys like Hunter Tyson, Julian Strawther, or Peyton Watson.

The point would be is that Dallas's depth is much stronger than Denver's now. The signing of Russell Westbrook with Denver will be interesting to watch.

Expect lots of boos whenever Westbrook visits Dallas again. Westbrook has not had the best of performances against Dallas lately. The most recent disappointing outing for Westbrook was during the 2024 playoffs when he was 0-7 from the field along with an ejection.

Westbrook was a liability on the court for his team, and that might be more of the same when he's with Denver, especially when the game is not going in the team's favor.

Klay Thompson does provide a strong 3-and-D presence that Denver doesn't have anymore. Caldwell-Pope helped with two NBA titles. One with the Lakers and one with the Nuggets. Guys like that are so valuable in today's game.

Quentin Grimes provides that too, but Mavs fans know that hitting the jackpot on Thompson was a home run.

The Mavericks also have the advantage on big men, where Jason Kidd can rotate in Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, and P.J. Washington, and Maxi Kleber pretty much all game long.

There's a new big dog in the Western Conference and it's not the Denver Nuggets.