The offseason is officially underway, which means most of the basketball world will shift its attention toward the NBA draft.
The NBA changed the format of this year’s draft to a two-day event. The first round will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The second round will take place Thursday at ESPN’s Seaport District studios in New York with a start time of 3 p.m. The first round will continue to have five minutes between draft picks. For the second round, the time between draft picks will increase to four minutes from two minutes.
After a postseason run to the NBA Finals, the Mavericks will likely have to wait until Thursday to make their lone selection with the 58th overall pick of the draft unless an unforeseen trade occurs. That selection is the final pick of the draft because the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns were required to forfeit their second-round selections.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Jeremy Woo conducted a media conference call Monday afternoon to preview the NBA draft, which included a question about the Mavericks’ options with the 58th pick.
“I think the toughest thing about 58 is that you get to the point that late in the draft, there are players who prefer to go undrafted and be able to pick their own destination,” Woo said. “Even the Mavericks, say, it might even advantage them. They might want to sign someone to a contract they want without that pick. I think you look at stashing, taking somebody who will be a stash. That pick becomes something you can trade. It gives you a chip of some kind and you treat undrafted free agency as more of a priority in terms of adding players.”
Woo also deferred to Marks, a former NBA front office executive, for insight on who the Mavericks could consider with their draft position. He said most teams with the final few picks are more than likely in a holding pattern, meaning they’d have to wait to see what teams ahead of their pick will do.
“I do think Dallas is in a good spot where they are,” Marks said. “They only have a couple of free agents here. I think the process is you’re basically working off two boards. You’re working off the board where is 58 a guy you want to sign to your second-round pick exception? So that’s a three or four-year contract. And then your other board is who are our two or three two-way [contract] guys? Who are the guys that go undrafted? Who are our priority guys?”
Most picks in the Mavericks’ position haven’t panned out well or are still early in their development. The Milwaukee Bucks chose Chris Livingston with the 58th pick in last year’s draft. They also chose Hugo Benson in 2022. The New York Knicks selected Jericho Sims with pick No. 58 in 2021. Paul Reed was the pick for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020.
Woo’s latest mock draft projects the Mavericks to select Trentyn Flowers, a 19-year-old shooting guard/small forward from Australia, with the 58th pick.
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