Mavericks Won’t Need to Prioritize a Guard at 2026 NBA Draft

Losers of seven in a row, the Dallas Mavericks are quickly entering the 2026 NBA Draft conversation.

Right now, the team holds the seventh-best odds, and is likely to pass up New Orleans soon, who has no incentive to lose given their first-round pick lies with Atlanta. Even if the best Dallas finishes is sixth in the reverse standings, that should be good enough to yield one of the top players in the class.

Last year, the Mavericks cashed in on just a 1.8% chance at landing Cooper Flagg, landing a bonafide two-way superstar. Now, they’ll have even better odds in a historically great class set to offer as many as three No. 1-level picks.

Given their current range and roster construction, most pundits and evaluators point to Dallas leaving the draft with a guard, which makes sense on plenty of levels.

The team is currently devoid of major backcourt talent, with Flagg and more taking up the bulk of the handling and play-making duties. Longtime superstar Kyrie Irving is rostered, but is still working his way back from a major knee injury, and will seemingly look toward next season.

Even more, the range Dallas sits in is primarily made up of guards. Houston’s Kingston Flemings, Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. and Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr. are just a few options that make up one of the deeper classes in some time, and would all be viable options long-term.

Even still, the Mavericks won’t need to necessarily prioritize guard help for a few reasons.

Firstly, should they usurp New Orleans for the sixth-best odds, they’ll have around a 37% chance to land a top-four pick — not bad considering where the team started out this season.

The top-four is comprised of three forwards and one guard, who hasn’t yet shown the capability to shy toward point guard, opposed to off-guard. That shouldn’t dissuade Dallas in the slightest, as grabbing the best available talent should be the goal.

Pairing Flagg with any of Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, AJ Dybantsa or Caleb Wilson would be more than worth it long-term, even accounting for any murky immediate fits.

Additionally, the draft is chock full of potentially valuable guards that could be drafted later, but offer similar value up top. Players like Labaron Philon, Bennett Stirtz, Christian Anderson, Tyler Tanner and more won't get the acclaim of the five-star true freshmen, but could very well return similar play at later spots.

All of Stirtz, Philon and Anderson especially stand out as options who could go in the 20's, but offer some of the best pick-and-roll play-making in the class, something Dallas values highly. Trading back into the first round could be tough given the level of depth in the class, but won't be impossible given the team's assets.

Even if Dallas doesn't draft a guard in general, they'll have plenty of league-wide options to parse through, especially with the eventual return of Irving.