{"id":915009,"date":"2026-10-03T19:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T19:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/915009\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T19:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T19:44:11","slug":"mavs-notes-washington-christie-johnson-biberovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/915009\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavs Notes: Washington, Christie, Johnson, Biberovic"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Mavericks head coach Dusty May still hasn\u2019t settled<\/a> on a definitive starting lineup yet, he said Thursday that forward P.J. Washington<\/a> is in consideration for a spot alongside Cooper Flagg<\/a> and Kyrie Irving<\/a>, writes Grant Afseth of Dallas Sports Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Afseth notes, Washington has started 137 of his 142 regular season appearances with Dallas since the team acquired him in February 2024. However, May said Washington\u2019s history as a starter was far less meaningful than his versatility and basketball instincts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as coaches, we have a couple different lineups penciled in,\u201d May said. \u201cBut obviously, as we\u2019ve learned and are learning \u2026 there\u2019s a lot of inconsistency in the lineup over a number of days based on back-to-backs and injuries. In this rotation, what would this look like versus what would this group look like together? So I haven\u2019t thought of it.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 But P.J. is certainly in the mix for a starting spot, mostly because he can play multiple positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

May praised Washington, calling him a \u201cwinning player\u201d who \u201cfights for his teammates.\u201d But he also wants him to be more vocal.<\/p>\n

\u201cP.J., we\u2019ve gotten a little bit of everything out of P.J. He\u2019s someone that I think can check a lot of boxes,\u201d May explained. \u201cIf you wanna play a small lineup, you can play the five. He can play the three for the bigger lineup. But we need his physicality. We need his basketball instincts. He\u2019s a quick thinker. Defensively, he knows what to do at all times. We\u2019ve gotta get him to use his voice a little bit more to share his knowledge with the group, and he\u2019s gonna help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Mavericks:<\/p>\n

May was also complimentary of Max Christie<\/a> on Thursday, Afseth adds. The 23-year-old shooting guard is coming off a career-best season in which he averaged 12.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists on .441\/.404\/.899 shooting in 77 games, including 68 starts (29.1 minutes per contest). Christie, who makes $8.3MM this season and holds an $8.9MM player option for 2027\/28, is eligible for a veteran extension. \u201cTo be known as something, I\u2019d love to be known as a shooter in this game. That\u2019s very important,\u201d May said. \u201cSo for him to have that and hang his hat on is extremely important for us in a lot of ways. \u2026 But with Max, he has such a quick first step. He\u2019s got great speed. He tries to do everything the team needs him to do, every possession. And then defensively, I think he\u2019s a very underrated defender at the point of attack and off the ball. He plays hard. He\u2019s still young, so the physicality part is improving every year. But to me, Max is trending towards being a complete player.\u201d
\nLottery pick Morez Johnson Jr.<\/a> was limited at the start of training camp due to lower leg soreness, but May indicated Friday that the 6\u20199\u2033 big man is close to full strength. \u201cI know Morez is playing a lot of 5-on-5 now, so he\u2019s obviously much closer,\u201d May said (story via Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal<\/a>). \u201c\u2026 He played a lot today. He\u2019s still dealing with the ramp back up. But most importantly, we want our guys to be healthy, mentally and physically, on game nights.\u201d Johnson, 20, has impressed Daniel Gafford<\/a> and Washington in their first few months as teammates and already had a close bond with May and some of the staff from their time together with Michigan. \u201cHe\u2019s a dog. I mean, he\u2019s a bully out there. He\u2019s strong. He knows what we want to do each and every possession. He talks on both ends, and he\u2019s willing to learn,\u201d Washington said. \u201cHe\u2019s in here every day early trying to get better. And, I mean, you love guys like that, especially when they\u2019re young. You know they\u2019re going to have a bright future.\u201d
\nHe\u2019s technically an NBA rookie, but Tarik Biberovic<\/a> has several years of professional experience, having played for Fenerbahce in Turkey. He said he could have made the move to the NBA last year and suggested he had other lucrative opportunities this offseason as well before signing a two-year, $6MM deal with Dallas. \u201cWell, the staff also knew what I gave, what I left behind me. So they also know I didn\u2019t come here just to be happy or just to be a part of the team, just to be an NBA player,\u201d Biberovic said, per Afseth. \u201cThat was one of my first goals when I was in Europe. I\u2019m never going to be the guy who just came into the NBA just to say he was an NBA player. I came here to make an impact, and they also know that.\u201d May said the 25-year-old wing is adjusting to the speed, length and pace of the NBA, and Biberovic said he needs to not just knock down his shots \u2014 he\u2019s known for his shooting ability \u2014 but impact the game in other ways as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Mavericks head coach Dusty May still hasn\u2019t settled on a definitive starting lineup yet, he said Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":915010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,133338,23898,285593,590,87128,85,367892],"class_list":["post-915009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-daniel-gafford","tag-max-christie","tag-morez-johnson","tag-nba","tag-p-j-washington","tag-sports","tag-tarik-biberovic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}