Walter Clayton Jr. won't fix the Mavericks' thin backcourt on his own

The Dallas Mavericks appear to be the frontrunners to sign Walter Clayton Jr. if he clears waivers. While Clayton Jr. will give the Mavericks' backcourt a significant boost due to the shooting, playmaking, and shot creation that he provides as a 23-year-old second-year player, Dallas can't expect him to be the answer to their thin backcourt.

Mavericks' backcourt is undermanned, even if they sign Walter Clayton Jr.

When looking at Dallas' backcourt compared to their frontcourt, there's a clear discrepancy — and that's a problem after seeing how poorly the Mavericks' guards played last season. D'Angelo Russell, Brandon Williams, and Ryan Nembhard, the three point guards who were on the roster at the beginning of last season, are all off the team.

The Mavericks' only true point guards on the roster this year, behind Kyrie Irving, are Marcus Sasser and Sergio De Larrea. Sasser just played a career-low 12.0 minutes per game in 38 games for the Detroit Pistons last season, while De Larrea is a rookie.

A fourth-year player who barely played last season, a rookie point guard, and a second-year guard who was drafted in the first round but got waived after his rookie season are not enough depth to effectively back up Irving, and the Mavericks may be forced to eventually make a trade to better balance the roster.

Dallas' frontcourt is too crowded

Heading into their first game tonight against the Houston Rockets, 11 of Dallas' 17 players are between 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-9. The Mavericks' roster is overloaded on the wing, and due to their surplus of wing depth, some quality wings could get left out of Dusty May's rotation.

There aren't going to be enough minutes to go around for all of the Mavs' forwards to get consistent rotation minutes, and trading some of these frontcourt players for a quality guard could be the best path forward.

The Mavs need more shooting and creation

This would allow Dallas to get more help behind Irving, as they're going to need as much shot creation, scoring, and shooting as they can get in games that Kyrie sits out. Trading Irving would be an absolute disaster given their lack of creation outside of him, and adding another guard outside of Clayton this season would be beneficial.

The Mavs' 3-point shooting also looked concerning during the preseason, and Irving's knockdown shooting is going to be missed in games that he sits. He's elite at draining threes off the catch and off the dribble, and the front office can't count on Clayton to fix the backcourt's problems.

Clayton is a good starting point, not the solution

Clayton is still a great pickup, as he was drafted with the No. 18 overall pick last summer and has great potential, but the team shouldn't count on him to give the point guard room the firepower it needs to turn into a playoff team.

He's in a good position to earn a standard contract in Dallas if he can tap into the upside he displayed when he led the Florida Gators to the National Championship and won the 2025 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player award less than two years ago, but don't expect him to be a star right away.

The Mavs need more help in the backcourt outside of potentially signing Clayton to a two-way deal, and while it probably won't happen right away, their play could demand some moves if they struggle.

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