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5 things to watch during Mavericks’ NBA summer league: Jaden Hardy leads intriguing roster

Plus, what does the trip to Las Vegas have in store for players like former TCU standout Mike Miles Jr.?

The Mavericks are back — kind of.

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving won’t bring superstar flair to Dallas’ games during NBA summer league, but the Mavericks’ developmental squad will offer major intrigue over the next two weeks in Las Vegas.

The schedule, with a fifth game TBD:

  • 2:30 p.m. Saturday, July 8 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (ESPN2)
  • 7 p.m. Monday, July 10 vs. Philadelphia 76ers (ESPNU)
  • 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 12 vs. Golden State Warriors (NBA TV)
  • 5:30 p.m. Friday, July 14 vs. Indiana Pacers (NBA TV)
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And here are five things to watch as the Mavericks’ first-round rookies and second-year guard Jaden Hardy lead a roster looking to showcase offseason progress.

Rookie debuts

Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper have had a courtside view of the Mavericks’ practice scrimmages in Dallas this week — but weren’t allowed to participate.

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The trades that landed both in Dallas — connected to the draft-night salary dump of Davis Bertans’ contract — were conveyed on July 6, so the two newcomers will likely face live action after just one full workout with their summer league teammates.

They won’t ease in, either.

The Mavericks open against the Thunder, who helped facilitate Bertans’ move and whose roster includes multiple NBA rotation players.

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Lively could match up against Chet Holmgren (the No. 2 overall pick in 2022) and Jalen Williams (the Rookie of the Year runner-up), while Prosper will face a backcourt that features Richardson High product Cason Wallace (the rookie Oklahoma City landed at No. 10 in the Mavericks trade) and a handful of players two or three years into their NBA tenures.

Lively and Prosper ran 1-on-0 workouts in the mornings before practices in Dallas this week and gave teammates a sense of the skill, length and potential they’ll debut in Las Vegas.

“They’re going to be huge,” said McKinley Wright IV, who played on a two-way contract in Dallas last season. " [Lively] was asking me and Jaden [Hardy] today how do we want the screens to be set to get us open. I said, ‘As long as you just make a defender trail, I can get you the ball.’ He was like, ‘Nah, I don’t care about me.’ He wanted to get me and Jaden open. Just being able to hear that from a big, coming in the first year, it’s big. I’m looking forward to getting on the floor with those guys.”

Jaden Hardy’s leap

Most remember Jaden Hardy’s 28-point debut in summer league last season and his highlight scoring stretches during his rookie Mavericks season.

Ten points in two minutes against the Phoenix Suns last December? That caught attention.

So did his stretch of five 20-plus-point outings over six games in mid-March to help Dallas weather injuries to Doncic and Irving.

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But Hardy’s scoring ability won’t be the Mavericks’ biggest focus at summer league. The 21-year-old guard has worked closely with assistant coach Jared Dudley over the last month to drill situational ball-handling and defensive skills.

Dallas will still look to Hardy as its primary scorer this summer — in a role akin to the load Doncic carries during the regular season — but Dudley has frequently reminded Hardy that his improvement as a passer and defender will dictate how much his playing time increases in Year 2.

“I think he shot 40% on stepback 3s [last season], so it shows you his capability,” Dudley said. “But can he make the reads? Can he make the lob pass to the low man? Can he make the corner pass?

“All my [summer league] plays are for Hardy. Listen, we know that he has it. It’s geared for him, but at the same time, you have a lot of responsibility. It’s not like you have a green light to shoot every time. It’s very similar to Luka.”

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Hometown prospect

In the last few months, Mike Miles Jr. has led TCU to the NCAA Tournament, declared for the NBA draft, attended the combine and pre-draft workouts, and signed a two-way contract with the Mavericks ahead of his first professional season.

Miles is thrilled he didn’t also have to manage a cross-country move.

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A 20-year-old undrafted rookie, Miles won’t command the same spotlight and expectations as Hardy or the Mavericks’ first-round draft picks. But the 2020 Lancaster graduate who stayed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for his three college seasons is eager to remind new followers of his local ties and show off his skills.

Miles averaged 17.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a TCU junior but thinks he slipped out of second-round draft projections because of his college-career 33.4% shooting beyond the 3-point arc.

He wants to change opinions at summer league.

“Obviously, everyone knows I can attack,” Miles said. “People don’t think I can shoot as good, but I actually can. I’m a pretty good shooter, if I might say so. So just trying to show everybody my game, you know what I’m saying? Showing I am the same player.”

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Wrinkles on defense

Dudley is eager to have full command of summer-league head coaching duties after splitting time with former assistant Greg St. Jean and Texas Legends coach George Galanopoulos last July.

Helping acclimate Lively and Prosper and allowing Hardy to showcase his improvements remain Dudley’s top priorities. But after his 14-year NBA career ended in 2021 when he joined coach Jason Kidd’s first Mavericks staff, Dudley also plans to experiment with new defensive tactics and practice the nuances of coaching.

That means the Mavericks will run about 80% of their base defense, for example, while allowing Dudley to add some summer-league-only concepts during the other 20% of possessions to test as feedback for Kidd during the season.

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Oh, and Dudley will have one key stat in mind.

“I got to coach two games last year,” he said. “Didn’t get any wins, so the big thing here is winning. That’s for one.”

Two-way void

The NBA allows teams to sign two players to two-way contracts each season — a loophole that helps expand NBA roster opportunities for those who also split game and practice time between the G League.

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Last season, the Mavericks signed McKinley Wright to one of their two-way slots after his steady performance for their summer league team, and brought back AJ Lawson, who also played for them in Las Vegas, when the other spot opened mid-season.

Both have returned to Dallas this summer — along former Michigan State wing Marcus Bingham Jr. and former South Carolina forward Chris Silva, who signed two 10-day contracts with the Mavericks last winter.

All could be candidates to join Miles on a two-way deal in Dallas.

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