{"id":380067,"date":"2026-07-20T21:14:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T21:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/380067\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T21:14:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T21:14:39","slug":"who-will-serve-as-kyrie-irvings-backup-for-the-dallas-mavericks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/380067\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will serve as Kyrie Irving’s backup for the Dallas Mavericks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas entered the offseason with a need for secondary playmaking<\/a>, especially since most of its struggles over the last two seasons have been a direct result of a lack of point guard depth, primarily due to the aftermath of the Luka Doncic trade and Kyrie Irving\u2019s subsequent ACL injury.\u00a0Irving\u2019s highly-anticipated return should help alleviate most of those ball-handling concerns, but it remains unclear who will shoulder the backup point guard responsibilities.<\/p>\n

As it currently stands, the Mavericks are banking on No. 25 pick Sergio De\u00a0Larrea and former Detroit Pistons guard Marcus Sasser to run the offense when Irving needs a breather. De Larrea showcased his playmaking ability in four games of Las Vegas Summer League action, averaging 8.0 points and 8.8 assists. Dallas’ willingness to part ways with Nembhard could be a sign of confidence in the 6-6 guard from Spain that his game could translate to the NBA sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

Ujiri and Schmit acquired Dallas native Sasser in a six-team trade earlier this month<\/a> and the soon-to-be fourth-year guard should have plenty of opportunity to prove his worth in a new system. As a rookie in 2023-24, the 6-1 guard totaled 8.3 points and 3.3 assists in 71 games, while shooting 37.5% from beyond the arc. While his playing time dramatically decreased over his second and third seasons, Sasser’s 3-point shooting improved to a career-high 41.5% from beyond the arc last season. Theoretically, he could serve as a quality floor spacer when sharing the floor with Irving and\u00a0Flagg.<\/p>\n

Additionally, there is a player already on the roster who could be an X-factor for the Mavericks’ point guard depth, and that’s Flagg. The reining Rookie of the Year\u00a0received a crash course in NBA playmaking last season when former head coach Jason Kidd declared him the team’s starting point guard as\u00a0an 18-year-old.<\/p>\n

Flagg’s struggled at the position early in the season, but he gradually became more comfortable initiating the offense and making accurate reads as the lead ball-handler. Perhaps the Mavericks’ brass believe they have enough at the position because of the strides\u00a0Flagg made in his first season. New Mavericks coach Dusty May revealed last week that\u00a0Flagg will play anywhere from the point guard\u00a0to the power forward position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Last year, Coop played a lot at the point and that expedited his growth, where he’s play-making and the ball’s in his hands,” May said in an interview with ESPN.<\/p>\n

Even though it’s not his primary position, Flagg could be the supplementary guard the Mavericks have needed all along, especially with Irving’s return.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks are over the 15-man limit with 16 players on standard contracts and another move is evident by the end of the\u00a0offseason.<\/p>\n

The frontcourt is highly crowded, but the Mavericks could be all set with their\u00a0backcourt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas entered the offseason with a need for secondary playmaking, especially since most of its struggles over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[732,102,104,103,111534,91178,97216],"class_list":["post-380067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-article","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-tp-kyrie-irving","tag-tp-cooper-flagg","tag-tp-nba-draft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380067","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=380067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}