After being selected 25th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2026 draft, it wasn’t yet known whether or not the 20-year-old rookie was going to continue to play for his Spanish club, Valencia, with whom he just won the Spanish ACB League championship, or head for the States and an NBA contract.
On Wednesday, Mavericks GM Mike Schmitz said, “We are still working through all of that with Sergio,” when asked if he would be with the Mavs this summer. Now, it looks like we have our answer.
A report
from the Spanish-language site Encestando.es has said de Larrea is, in fact, bound for Dallas, where he intends to sign a four-year contract. In fact, Valencia has apparently already signed a replacement player for de Larrea’s roster spot, so it seems highly likely de Larrea will be spending the season with the Mavericks.
Now, Marc Stein confirms that de Larrea is indeed expected to play for Dallas, at least for the Summer League. The plans for de Larrea beyond that, though, are still up in the air.
Initially, de Larrea was selected by the New York Knicks before being traded to Dallas. Had he stayed with New York, the impression was that he would be a “draft and stash” candidate, staying in Spain to continue to develop. It’s something New York has leaned on more heavily recently, and seemed especially interested in now, as it would mean a one-year reprieve from having to pay his salary while they’re trying to keep their NBA Championship team core intact this offseason.
The situation is much different for the Mavs, a team in the midst of developing Cooper Flagg, and that is in desperate need of minutes at the guard position, the return of Kyrie Irving notwithstanding.
Whether de Larrea will be a part of Dallas’ Summer League team, having just finished his Championship run with Valencia, is unclear, as are the plans for fellow international rookie Vsevolod Ishchenko, but Dallas seems like a team that is interested in bringing over their prospects sooner rather than later.
