Dallas Mavericks Reveal Long-Term Goal for Overlooked Offseason Addition
For the Dallas Mavericks, this summer has been the Cooper Flagg show. His addition, via the NBA Draft Lottery, helped alleviate some of the pain felt when the team traded centerpiece Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a puzzling move.
Adding Flagg was by far the most high-profile move that the team made this summer, but it was not the only addition.
In order to replace Kyrie Irving, who will miss most or all of the season with a torn ACL, the Mavericks signed veteran point guard D'Angelo Russell, who has shared a locker room with both Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson.
Russell is expected to be an above-average, although temporary, point guard. Once Irving returns, he will be relegated to the bench or traded, right?
Maybe not!
"We had to get a guy who could play in place of Kyrie while he's out,' a Dallas coach told Spotrac. But that guy also needed to play with Kyrie, too. We feel like DLo fits that perfectly. We also like that he can shift off the ball with Cooper handling the playmaking too."
With Russell signed to a two-year deal worth $11.6 million, it stands to reason that he might be longer for Dallas than initially thought, and Irving has already proven that he can share the floor with another point guard. Can he and Russell be a poor man's version of Luka and Kyrie? Perhaps, although mission number one remains making life easy for Davis and Flagg.
Follow Jonah Kubicek on Substack or Twitter for more NBA and WNBA articles and analysis.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 28, 2025, where it first appeared.
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