14-year NBA veteran, ex-Warriors champion makes bold Finals ceiling for Mavericks

Matt Barnes believes there's only one thing keeping the Mavericks from representing the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.

Apr 18, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) walks toward the bench during a time out during the first quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Expectations for the 2025-26 Dallas Mavericks are all over the place. Some believe that they have the talent necessary to be title contenders, while others think the roster construction goes against modern standards and that it could backfire on the team.

One of those who is high on the Mavs is Matt Barnes, a former enforcer who spent 14 years in the NBA and won a championship with the Golden State Warriors. He's in Las Vegas for the highly anticipated fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, where he was interviewed by Kevin Gray Jr. of DLLS Mavs. Naturally, Gray asked him about his thoughts on the team this season.

"If they can be healthy, obviously, losing Luka [Doncic] is a tough loss, but you're getting an Anthony Davis who, when healthy, has proven his worth," Barnes said. "And they have a lot of great pieces. Kyrie [Irving]'s starting to get back healthy. This team is a loaded team. If healthy, I love [Jason] Kidd, this is a team that can easily represent the Western Conference in the Finals, in my opinion."

"This team is a LOADED team."

All The Smoke's Matt Barnes says that, if healthy, the Mavericks are good enough to represent the West in the NBA Finals@KevinGraySports | @allthesmokeprod | #CaneloCrawford | @netflix | @DLLS_Sports pic.twitter.com/fQIjtwu6gj

— DLLS Mavs (@DLLS_Mavs) September 12, 2025

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Anthony Davis being healthy has been the theme of his career, playing more than 65 games just once in the last seven seasons. And he's entering this season with some injury questions already because he had a detached retina repaired this offseason, and Marc Stein reported that he still isn't back on the court at 100% yet.

Between Davis and Kyrie Irving returning from ACL surgery, health will be the biggest question for the Mavs all season.

Are the Mavericks Properly Constructed As Is?

Trading Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis in February made the roster feel unbalanced, and Nico Harrison didn't do much to balance it out this offseason. Cooper Flagg comes in to give them more talent on the wing, and D'Angelo Russell will try to be the team's lead guard until Irving returns, but that's banking on a lot from a person coming off the worst season of his career.

This team is still too heavy in the frontcourt. A Daniel Gafford trade (or Anthony Davis trade) could make this roster feel a lot better, but the latter seems extremely unlikely as of now. But they need to find some more perimeter talent, because even when Irving comes back, they don't have a lot of shot-creators.

READ MORE: Warriors star Jimmy Butler 'baffled' by Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to Lakers

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