The much-anticipated NBA season begins in less than two months. And former NBA player Brendan Haywood firmly believes the Dallas Mavericks will be a team
a force to be reckoned with – once again – in the Western Conference during the 2024-25 campaign.
“When you talk about the best teams in the Western Conference, I put the Dallas Mavericks in the top three or four,” said Haywood, who works as an analyst for NBA TV. “You could put them in any order.”
“(Oklahoma City) will probably be the No. 1 team coming (out of the West). But then it’ll probably be, in any order, Dallas, Denver and Minnesota.”
Last year, the Mavs finished the regular season with a 50-32 record, then eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves in the first three rounds of the playoffs before losing in five games to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. The presence of guards Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving and the offseason acquisition of Klay Thompson — plus a full training camp featuring last season’s prized midseason signings Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington — give the Mavs plenty of star power.
“When you start talking about the best teams in the West, you have to mention the Mavericks because they have two of the best stoppers,” Haywood said, referring to Dončić and 
Irving: “I thought they got better at the trade deadline and I thought they got better in the offseason when they got a guy like Klay Thompson, too.
“The favorite (to win the West) is probably OKC just because they’re so young and they were able to get an all-NBA perimeter defender in the offseason (in Alex Caruso). They were already a good team, and their young players were coming along, so OKC is probably the favorite.”
In the lens through which he analyzes the game, Haywood also likes the Mavs’ other top offseason acquisitions, namely guards Spencer Dinwiddie and Quentin Grimes, as well as forward Naji Marshall. He particularly likes Dinwiddie, who played for the Mavs from 2022-23 and helped them reach the 2022 Western Conference Finals.
“I think all those guys can help in their own way,” Haywood told Mavs.com. “Dinwiddie, he was here before, and the Mavericks know him. I think he can bring some excitement to them as a backup.”
“Grimes is also a very solid player.”
Additionally, Haywood praised Mavs general manager Nico Harrison for building a solid, high-quality team that can compete with any team the NBA has to offer.
“Nico continues to make smart decisions about how to build this team, and he’s done pretty well,” Haywood said. “He’s got your top players, but then you need
other guys who can play with these guys.
“And on nights when those guys aren’t playing, maybe they can carry a little bit more of a load.”
Haywood sees the Mavs as a franchise that will win an NBA title in the next four years, if not next season. He thinks the tea leaves seem to be pointing favorably in their direction.
“When you have Luka, you have Kyrie, you have a good owner, a good GM and a good head coach, you definitely have the pieces to win a title,” he said. “The biggest thing for me is if Luka is going to give me a little bit more. In the Finals (against the Celtics), they started to show some things, and that’s the difference between winning and not winning. Are you in great shape? Are you competitive defensively?
“Look at a team like Denver. They don’t ask (center Nikola Jokic) to be a great defender, but a great guy has to be competitive defensively. Golden State, when they were winning, didn’t ask Stephen Curry to go out there and block. That’s why they had Klay Thompson, (Andre) Iguodala and Draymond (Green). You have to be in the right spot, you have to be competitive, you have to come back defensively, you have to be where you’re supposed to be. Those are the little things I look for. If Luka just makes sure he’s healthy and does the little things to give that extra effort defensively, I really think the Dallas Mavericks can win a championship, because he’s one of the best offensive players and one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Haywood noted that the Dončić-Irving combination is one of the best backcourt duos in the entire NBA. But when things didn’t work out right away for them after the Mavs acquired Irving in a trade with Brooklyn on Feb. 6, 2023, some critics were left scratching their heads.
However, last season, Dončić led the NBA in scoring (33.9) and also averaged 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.4 steals, while Irving averaged 25.6 points, five rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.3 steals, and the Mavs rode their magical productivity all the way to the NBA Finals.
“I think it really works,” Haywood said. “A lot of people have been very critical of it. We live in a microwave society and people want things to work right away. But you have to understand there’s an adjustment period. When you have two guys who are dominant on the ball like that and they get along well, those guys need a full training camp. Those guys need a full offseason. They need a full preseason together to start figuring things out.”
“OK, where do you like to play the ball, when’s it my turn, when’s it your turn, I’m building confidence and poise. And you’ve seen that this year. So it wasn’t a surprise to me that things really improved for this team this year because they both have great individual talents and now they’re combining their talents together.”
The backup center for Tyson Chandler when the Mavs won the 2011 NBA title over LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat, Haywood is also fond of the way centers Dereck Lively II and Gafford combined their talents last season.
“I loved it, I loved it,” he said. “It reminded me of myself and Tyson Chandler. Those two guys are way better than I ever was. I love that they bring a big-time presence on both ends of the floor, and Dallas didn’t have that before.”
“There were years where you could run all the way and score whenever you wanted. Nobody was going to block your shot. And then there was nobody who was a lob threat that would make the defense lean toward the basket, which made it tough on offense at times.”
Gafford and Lively’s standout performances in the middle were indeed a game-changer for the Mavs, according to Haywood, who played in the NBA from 2001 to 2015.
“Look at what Gafford and Lively can do, if you’re one second behind, you know Luka’s going to throw the lob, Kyrie’s going to throw the lob, and they’re going to finish with authority,” he said. “And what I really like about them is both guys can block shots and they can switch positions on the pick-and-roll. That’s the key.”
“I watched Lively switch feet and move his feet in the pick-and-roll and I was very impressed. When he was on an island with some of the best guards in this league, he would move his feet and make it very difficult for those guys to shoot. Having two big men who are lob threats and can play multiple coverages in the pick-and-roll… They can play drop shots, they can 
“They can change direction, they can trap, they can do all that from a defensive standpoint. I think they have two really good players.”
When analyzing the Celtics’ five-game victory over the Mavs in the Finals, there was one thing that stood out most to Haywood that could be corrected with the offseason acquisition of Thompson.
“Boston did a really good job of defending Kyrie and Luka and forcing certain players to take certain shots in certain areas,” he said. “They took the corner 3-pointers in Dallas. That was huge. They were willing to give up the top of the key 3-pointers, and you can’t do that with Klay Thompson.”
“With no disrespect to anyone who played on this team last year, if Klay Thompson gets those shots (three-pointers in the wide open corner), he’s going to make those shots at a higher rate.”
Thompson averaged 17.9 points and shot 38.7 percent from three-point range last year, which was considered a difficult year by his high standards.
“That’s when you know you’re a great player and you know you’re an elite player, that a bad year for you is a really, really good year for everybody,” Haywood said. “Klay Thompson normally scores 20-plus points (in a game), so when he scores 18 points … He’s a guy who normally shoots 41 percent from three-point range in his career, so when he scores 18 points … only he’s shooting 38% from three-point range, people are saying he can’t play anymore.
“We know Klay Thompson can still play. He didn’t have the regular season that Klay Thompson had, but guess what? For the Dallas Mavericks, he doesn’t need to be a champion Golden State at his peak. That 17-18 (points) and 38 percent from three-point range, that’s all they need.”
And the fact that Thompson decided to come play for the Mavs when he had the opportunity to play for the Los Angeles Lakers spoke volumes to Haywood.
“It shows how much people respect Luka in this league,” Haywood said. “Players want to make their money and they want to win, and when you play with Luka, you see an opportunity to do both.”
“(Dončić) is going to make it easier for you because he’s going to do all the heavy lifting. And at the same time, he’s one of the top five players in the league right now. So you know you have a great chance of winning as long as he’s healthy, just because he’s really special.”
Dončić is so special that Haywood acknowledged that if he were pitching a franchise today, he would select Jokic with the first pick: “Then I’ll split hairs between Luka and (OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). That’s it. That’s the list for me.”
Regarding the day the Mavs defeated the Miami Heat to win the 2011 NBA championship in six games, Haywood said: “It’s still one of the best days of my life. Winning the championship, it was an incredible moment because I was never sure if I was going to win one.
“Being in Washington, D.C. (and playing for the Washington Wizards from 2001-10 before joining the Mavs), we were nowhere near championship contenders. I didn’t know if I was ever going to win a championship. And to win one, it was awesome in that moment: ‘I’m a champion. No one can ever take that away from me. All my hard work as a basketball player has gotten me to where I am today. This is the dream.’ You dream of being on that stage. I loved that day. I loved that team. We had a special group.”
And Haywood believes the 2024-25 edition of the Mavs also has the makings of a special group.
“I really like the way the Mavericks’ roster is shaping up,” he said. “That’s why I have them in the top four in the Western Conference.”
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