The Dallas Mavericks finished the 2022-23 season with a below-average 38-44 record. Not only was this not enough for the playoffs, the team did not even manage to qualify for the play-in tournament. It was far from reaching the Western Conference Finals a season earlier.
Lack of results, as a rule, leads to changes for each team. The Mavs have been busy this offseason, starting with an infusion of young talent in the form of Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper through the NBA draft. Dallas continued to make changes, eventually adding veterans, including Grant Williams, Richaun Holmes, Seth Curry, Derrick Jones Jr. and Dante Exum.
The Mavs have plenty of options when it comes to determining the lineup of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving this season. The only confirmed starters include the two superstar guards as well as Grant Williams in the back four rows. The rest? It is considered “available” to enter the training camp .
he could be among several Mavs players who could play a different role in 2023/24. He was a common name mentioned in trade rumors, but ultimately unmoved. Dallas ranked 25th in the defensive rankings and 30th in the overall bounce rate, with Hardaway’s lack of size on the wing alongside Doncic and Irving contributing to that.
Hardaway could find himself in a new role, compared to the starting position he held at the end of last season. Mavs coach Jason Kidd announced that he plans to discuss with Hardaway how he can focus on fighting for the sixth man of the year while succeeding in a bench position.
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“I’m happy for Timmy again and I want to talk to him about being the Sixth Man of the Year,” Kidd said in a recent radio interview. “It would help our team and put us in a very good position if he was elected the sixth man of the year. I think he is capable of this.”
The kick Hardaway gave the Mavs when he was hot turned out to be an important momentum factor for the team last season. He averaged 14.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 71 games, shooting 38.5 percent from 3-point range at 7.7 attempts per game. The team posted a 22-15 record when scoring three or more goals in a game.