DALLAS \u2013 Ryan Nembhard truly saved his best for last.<\/p>\n
Nembhard\u2019s near triple-double \u2013 15 points, 23 assists and nine rebounds \u2013 in the Dallas Mavericks\u2019 season finale on Sunday put an exclamation point on a rookie season that had already far exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Vancouver (during training camp), you could see guys enjoyed playing with him,\u201d Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. \u201cHe belongs in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nembhard, who starred at Gonzaga for two seasons before signing with the Mavs as an undrafted free agent in 2025, started the season as a two-way player before earning a standard contract in late February. In 60 games with Dallas (27 starts), he averaged 6.6 points, 5.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds.<\/p>\n
His assist total on Sunday broke the franchise\u2019s single-game rookie record held by Kidd, who set the mark in 1995. Only Kidd\u2019s 25-assist performance a year later \u2013 in a double-overtime game \u2013 ranks higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, shout-out to my coach for just leaving me in to get that,\u201d Nembhard said. \u201cCredit to guys for making shots. Just trying to be aggressive and play the right way, guys made shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nembhard admits he was digging hard to get that 10th rebound to clinch the triple-double during the 149-128 win over the Chicago Bulls where teammate Moussa Cisse finished with 20 rebounds, tying the Mavs\u2019 longtime rookie record set by the late Roy Tarpley in 1987.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough (to get that last board),\u201d Nembhard said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got Moussa, who\u2019s got 20 rebounds. I was trying to get it for sure, but it\u2019s all good, a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kidd had no problem seeing Nembhard break his record.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to sub him out if he got to 24,\u201d Kidd joked postgame. \u201cThat\u2019s awesome for Ryan. Records, I think, are meant to be broken. Ryan, again, is the perfect example of \u2026 coming on as a two-way, showing and proving to us that he\u2019s more than a two-way (player).<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, for him to break that record, I commend him and it\u2019s not easy, especially when you\u2019ve got other guys in there that are playing in front of you. He just continued coming to work every day and getting better. I thought he was going to get 26 assists \u2026 and get that 10th rebound. You saw the bench (cheering for him), you saw guys out there trying to help him \u2026 we\u2019re happy that he got (the record).\u201d<\/p>\n
His more heralded rookie teammate, Cooper Flagg, the first pick in last June\u2019s draft, was limited on the court Sunday with an ankle issue, but also enjoyed watching Nembhard grab the assist mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I think it\u2019s special. We all know what Ryan is capable of and what he can do,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cI thought it was special for him. Obviously, he got a good opportunity tonight to go out there and show what he\u2019s capable of, so it was great for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following Sunday\u2019s game, Nembhard also touched on a couple of other topics.<\/p>\n
On Cooper Flagg<\/p>\n
\u201cI think ever since Day 1, just the kind of guy he is, how competitive he is and the joy he plays with and brings to the locker room is big-time,\u201d Nembhard said. \u201cFor a 19-year-old to come in and do that and command respect of the guys, he obviously had an amazing year.\u201d<\/p>\n
On ex-Zags<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know (which Zags I\u2019ve enjoyed seeing most this year) \u2026 Chet (Holmgren) is always a good dude, my brother, Jalen Suggs. I\u2019ve met those guys a bunch of times and have been out in Spokane with those guys,\u201d Nembhard said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a real good culture at Gonzaga. It\u2019s special to see all those guys in the league and it\u2019s a brotherhood whenever we see each other. It\u2019s always good seeing each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, of course, his older brother Andrew, who was limited to 57 games this season with Indiana due to a back injury, has been invaluable as Ryan navigated his first NBA season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he\u2019s told me a lot. Throughout this whole process, he\u2019s been great to look up to, seeing how he attacks his journey and the experiences he has,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIt\u2019s also good just to bounce ideas off each other. We\u2019re both at this level now and talking about new things.\u201d<\/p>\n
On next season<\/p>\n
Last summer, Nembhard made a splash for the Mavs\u2019 entry in the Vegas Summer League, an experience he\u2019d like to replicate this summer if management is willing.<\/p>\n
During team exit interviews following the Bulls game, he also said he expects to spend much of his summer in Dallas working out alongside Flagg, Kyrie Irving \u2013 who is set to return from an ACL repair \u2013 or anyone else who happens to stay in town during the sweltering Texas summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust continue to work (is what I want to do this summer). Take this summer and get better,\u201d Nembhard said. \u201cSo much I want to improve on and get better. I want to continue to stretch the floor and make 3 balls.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we have guys that are talented and get a lot of attention, so you want to make shots when they give you catch-and-shoot opportunities, as well as continue to get stronger, work on my body, continue to defend at a high level, and find tricks that I can get better at on that end of the floor. Continue to understand the game as a point guard, understand what we want at certain times in the game and how we want to go about attacking. This is a big summer for me and I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2013 Ryan Nembhard truly saved his best for last. Nembhard\u2019s near triple-double \u2013 15 points, 23 assists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-608057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}