Breaking news: signing good players to contract extensions is a good thing. Dallas did that three times this summer — first with Kyrie Irving, although he technically opted-out and then signed a new deal, then with Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington more recently.
This post isn’t to get into the nitty gritty of the numbers, or whether the deals are market value. They are fair deals and good players, that’s all that matters in this context. What I wanted to bring up is this: the Mavericks have a uniquely
talented and uniquely weird roster this season and having as many players locked up to multi-year deals should mean a much happier locker room.
You could argue Dallas has as deep a top seven as any other team in the league, but “problem” is that the pieces don’t fit so cleanly together. That top seven is talented, but it’s also all bigs and forwards — Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively, Gafford, Washington, and Cooper Flagg all are starting-worthy players, and they all play either the four or the five.
For now, it appears Lively will get the nod next to Davis in the starting front court, according to NBA insider Marc Stein. We haven’t heard much about the rest of the starting lineup, but most presume it to be newly signed D’Angelo Russell, Flagg, and Washington. However coach Jason Kidd is known to experiment, especially in the early parts of the season. With Irving recovering from ACL surgery until at least the start of the 2026 calendar year, Kidd will have to get funky with lineups and rotations to find some offense around what should be a stout defense.
So…is Washington a locked in starter? It sounds silly of course, but if the Mavericks struggle to open the season with a lack of shooting and spacing, it wouldn’t shock me if Kidd returns to Klay Thompson to juice things with his floor gravity, and then bring Washington off the bench to play his better position at the four. If that did happen, that would mean two of Dallas’ starters from the 2024 Finals team would be coming off the bench. In today’s NBA that isn’t a big deal, lineup spots are fluid and it’s possible to be a bench player but still get big minutes and an important role.
Do NBA players think that? I dunno. These are some of the most driven and competitive people in the world, and starting matters to these guys. If Washington and Gafford were entering this season and coming off the bench, without guaranteed money locked in, who knows how fraught the locker room would get during the inevitable three-game losing streak.
Now Washington and Gafford don’t have to worry about their money — they’re locked in. If Kidd wants to experiment, these contract extensions should give him the freedom to do so. It’s a lot easier to yell a 26-year-old mega-athlete that he’s no longer a starter when that mega-athlete has $20-plus million per year guaranteed for the next few years.
Of course maybe none of this matters and Washington starts every game he plays. Maybe injuries force Gafford back into the starting lineup regardless of Kidd’s best intentions. But just in case things needed to be shaken up, it’s a good thing Dallas got these extensions done. It should lead to a slightly less bumpier ride as the Mavericks figure out what kind of team they are.
