Dallas Mavericks make long-awaited staff move after injury-riddled season

The Dallas Mavericks were one of the most injury-riddled teams in the NBA last season, with multiple key players missing prolonged stretches with injuries. P.J. Washington admitted at one point that he came back from an ankle injury too soon, Jaden Hardy sprained the same ankle four times this season, and Dereck Lively II went from ramping up to a return from an ankle sprain to being out for months with a stress fracture.

That led to a lot of questions about the Mavericks' training staff. General manager Nico Harrison was pressed about his new training staff at the end of the season, but he said they had a strong training staff. However, actions speak louder than words, and when he fired Keith Belton, the team's athletic performance director, who the NBA didn't even qualify to hold the position he held.

An update tonight in Vegas for the @DLLS_Sports (and @CHGO_Bulls) audience before our run of shows here:

The Mavericks have made a notable addition to their training staff, hiring Bulls head strength and conditioning coach Geoff Puls, league sources tell @TheSteinLine. pic.twitter.com/BdX1MHH6Bm
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 10, 2025

NBA insider Marc Stein has revealed that the Mavericks have found his replacement, hiring Geoff Puls, who is the former head strength and conditioning coach of the Chicago Bulls. He did leave the Bulls about a year ago to be a self-employed performance consultant in Wisconsin, but he has plenty of high-level experience and comes highly regarded.

Puls got his start as a strength and conditioning intern for Notre Dame, then went to Chicago in 2011 to be an assistant strength and conditioning coach, where he'd be for the 2011-12 season. He then went back to Notre Dame to be their head strength coach from 2013 to 2017. Finally, from the end of 2017 to 2024, he went back to the Bulls, where he'd be until 2024.

Dallas still needs a few more changes to its training staff to revamp what was a poor staff last season, but this is at least a step in the right direction.

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