Resetting the Mavericks - 2026 Offseason Preview
On the Mavericks' upcoming offseason, salary cap and draft pick situation, key player decisions, and how they could replenish draft picks while remaining competitive with their tax flexibility.
We are now one year removed from the Luka Doncic trade, and the worst appears to be behind us. The chain of events of the trade led the Mavericks to missing the playoffs and lucking into Cooper Flagg. He’s played exactly as advertised so far with one of the most outstanding seasons for a player who was 18-years-old for a good chunk of the season. Nico Harrison’s actions may have inadvertently put Dallas in a better position to win a championship in the future by having a generational player fall into their laps.
They are now entering the Flagg era with a fresh start. The Mavericks completely rolled over the front office and coaching staff, eliminating just about any semblance of the Harrison front office. The new front office, led by Masai Ujiri, is inheriting a great situation. He already has a better head start than in his previous stops with a franchise player to build around. He has the hardest part of building a championship roster taken care of.
The Mavericks still have a long journey ahead of them to make it back to title contention. They have a strong collection of role players but no other young cornerstone that fits Flagg’s timeline. They will have an opportunity to get that with the 9th overall pick, but after that, they don’t have control of their draft for the next four years. They’ll have the challenge of figuring out ways to bring in more young talent while trying to be competitive with no incentive to bottom out.
2026 Offseason Previews
Atlanta Hawks | Boston Celtics | Brooklyn Nets | Charlotte Hornets | Chicago Bulls | Cleveland Cavaliers | Dallas Mavericks | Denver Nuggets | Detroit Pistons | Golden State Warriors | Houston Rockets | Indiana Pacers | Los Angeles Clippers | Los Angeles Lakers
2026 Contract Projections
Current Extension Eligible Players Part 1 | Current Extension Eligible Players Part 2 | Current Extension Eligible Players Part 3 | Current Extension Eligible Players Part 4 | Standout Minimum Players | Free Agents and Pending Options Part 1 | Free Agents and Pending Options Part 2
Salary cap situation and draft picks
The Mavericks are entering the offseason with 13 players under contract, totaling $161.8 million in salaries when factoring in $3.2 million in dead money. They are well below both aprons and $38 million below the $200.5 million luxury tax line. They will have plenty of spending power this offseason and could use all of it without exceeding the tax line, which they will remain under.
Their current payroll situation is a stark contrast to most of the last two seasons. The Mavericks exhausted all their resources and exceptions to the fullest extent, leaving them right up against the second apron. It left them in dangerous stretches when they had multiple injuries and couldn’t even sign a player to a 10-day contract.
They are now among the teams with the most spending flexibility in the league. And it’s all thanks to the Anthony Davis trade to the Wizards. They did not receive significant value in terms of draft picks, young players, or veterans who could help them now. Instead, they got significant salary relief by moving off Davis, Jaden Hardy, and D’Angelo Russell for expiring contracts. The trade removed them from being over the second apron and a repeater tax penalty in the $350 million range.
The Mavericks are below the salary cap, but not far enough to operate as a cap space team. They will operate as an over-the-cap team and a below-apron team. They’ll be able to increase salaries by taking more salaries in trades than they’re sending out, and signing and trading for free agents. They also have a $20.8 million trade exception created in the Anthony Davis trade that allows them to acquire up to a $21 million player.
They also have access to the $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception and $5.5 million bi-annual exception, both of which could be used to sign free agents or as trade exceptions. They could exhaust nearly the entirety of their exceptions and remain under the tax. Using any of these exceptions, along with the Davis trade exception and the trade mechanisms mentioned above, would hard cap the Mavericks to the $209.1 million first apron. But that’s okay since they won’t even exceed the tax.
These exceptions can and to an extent should be used to accumulate assets. That translates to acquiring bad contracts from other teams along with draft equity and young players with untapped potential. There are a handful of teams, like the Thunder, Nuggets, Magic, Suns, Kings, and Sixers, who need to reduce payroll to fulfill offseason goals. The Mavericks should be able to replenish their draft pick chest with two or three moves.
