Dusty May Has High Expectations for New Mavericks Offense

The Dallas Mavericks have hired Dusty May to be the next head coach as Masai Ujiri decided he wanted a clean slate across the organization.

May is coming off a very successful tenure in college, leading Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2022 and then winning the national championship at Michigan this season.

People are curious to see how he'll transition to the NBA, as the style of play is a lot different in college and the NBA. He's made some big additions to his staff, including former New Orleans Pelicans coach Willie Green, and May has high hopes for his offense.

"As far as the offense, the unselfish piece," May said in an interview on the Mavericks' YouTube channel. "I want us to be the best passing team in the NBA. I want us to play with a top-five pace and effort to get it up the court quickly before the defense gets set."

Mavericks Head Coach Dusty May says he wants the identity of the Mavs to be the best passing team in the NBA, play with top-5 pace, and push the ball up floor quickly on offense. #MFFL

(🎥: @dallasmavs YT) pic.twitter.com/ZgclVbkI9p
— DLLS Mavs (@DLLS_Mavs) August 4, 2026

The Mavericks were one of the fastest teams in the NBA last year, finishing 5th in total pace. The rest of the offense was horrific, though.

Dallas was 27th in offensive rating, 28th in true shooting percentage, 27th in assists per 100 possessions, 26th in three-point percentage, and 29th in three-pointers made. It will take a lot of work to improve on those numbers.

I'm curious about how May will quantify being one of the five best passing teams. Is he going to look at total passes, assist-to-turnover ratio, assist rate, or simply just assists per game?

Jun 29, 2026; Dallas, TX, USA; New Dallas Mavericks’ head coach Dusty May, along side Masai Ujiri, Dallas Mavericks’ President of Basketball Operations, answers questions from the media during an introductory press conference at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Mavericks Could Take Big Strides Offensively

For the Mavericks to be one of the five best passing teams, they're going to have to improve their playmaking.

Getting Kyrie Irving back from injury will go a long way to fixing that, but he's never been an elite passer, as he's mostly been a score-first player in his career.

They did draft Sergio De Larrea in the first round of the most recent draft, who had some big assist numbers in the Summer League. Whether he'll be able to play right away or not will be something to watch.

Cooper Flagg and Naji Marshall are capable passers, and Dereck Lively II is a good passer in the short roll. They also traded for Marcus Sasser, who can add some playmaking.

They likely still need some more to hit the goals that Dusty May wants to hit, though. Luka Doncic isn't on the team anymore, and they don't have anyone who is near that level as a passer.

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