How the Mavericks can win the 2025 title

David Thorpe: “They have a hell of a team.”

BY HENRY ABBOTT and DAVID THORPE

The Mavericks’ chances of winning the 2024 title ended at some point late in Game 3. TIM HEITMAN/GETTY IMAGES

The Celtics have left the Mavericks looking beat up and outgunned. No team has ever come back from down 0-3 in an NBA playoff series; the Mavericks won’t be the first. 

Soon, possibly this evening, the Mavericks will be asking themselves what it would take to get back to the Finals with a better outcome. 

David and Henry discussed.

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HENRY: Is the Mavericks’ roster good enough?

DAVID: They’ve got a hell of a team going forward. 

Luka and Kyrie seem to get along fine and play well next to each other. They’ll get 48 minutes of center next year, too. If Dereck Lively II is the future center, Daniel Gafford can become the top backup in the league, more or less. 

There’s a world where the Mavs could move Gafford as well. Gafford has established himself as a legitimate starting center, and he’s under contract at a reasonable price for two more years. That’s a nice problem to have. There’s some debate about whether Lively can learn to shoot the NBA 3. Some people believe he can—if that happens, he has All-Star potential.