{"id":348045,"date":"2026-06-24T04:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/348045\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T04:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T04:35:52","slug":"mavericks-launch-new-era-selecting-morez-johnson-jr-of-michigan-with-no-9-pick-in-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/348045\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks launch new era, selecting Morez Johnson Jr. of Michigan with No. 9 pick in 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/texas\/news\/mavericks-dusty-may-draft-night-new-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dallas Mavericks<\/a> opened a new era on a pivotal draft night Tuesday, selecting Morez Johnson Jr. of Michigan with the No. 9 pick in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/washington-wizards-select-aj-dybantsa-no-1-overall-2026-nba-draft\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">2026 NBA Draft<\/a> \u2013 the first major move under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/texas\/news\/dallas-mavericks-dusty-may-head-coach-michigan\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new head coach Dusty May<\/a> and a restructured front office.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson started all 40 games for Michigan last season, emerging as a breakout sophomore after starting just eight games as a freshman at Illinois, and capped his rise with a double\u2011double in the national title game under May. He was the 2023-24 Gatorade Illinois Boys Basketball Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>The Mavericks later drafted Koa Peat, a versatile 6\u20117 forward from Arizona, with the No. 30 pick. Dallas then sent Peat and two second\u2011rounders to New York for No. 25 pick Sergio De Larrea, and the Knicks subsequently moved Peat to the Phoenix Suns for three second\u2011rounders, according to multiple reports.\u00a0  <\/p>\n<p>With the franchise not expected to control its own first\u2011rounder again until 2031, this draft represents a rare \u2013 and critical \u2013 opportunity for the new regime to reshape the roster&#8217;s long\u2011term core.<\/p>\n<p>Leadership overhaul shapes direction<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/gettyimages-2282826960.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"gettyimages-2282826960.jpg \" height=\"413\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  Morez Johnson Jr.<\/p>\n<p>                Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Shortly before draft day, the team hired May, the former Michigan national championship coach, to lead the squad, continuing an organizational overhaul under recently installed front\u2011office leadership. The shift signals a fresh direction centered on player development and long\u2011term roster construction.<\/p>\n<p>May comes to Dallas after guiding Michigan to its first national title since 1989, a run that vaulted him into the upper tier of college coaches. Now, the 49\u2011year\u2011old turns his attention to an NBA roster headlined by Flagg and a Mavericks team eager to return to championship contention.<\/p>\n<p>Draft coverage continues on Wednesday<\/p>\n<p>CBS News Texas will continue to provide updates as the draft continues.<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks opened a new era on a pivotal draft night Tuesday, selecting Morez Johnson Jr. of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,2582,103,3080,26669,430,27],"class_list":["post-348045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallas-news","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-north-texas","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}