The Dallas Mavs NBA Summer League roster had a lot of intriguing players, from second-year sensation Jaden Hardy to first-round rookies like Dereck Lively II and Olivier Maxence-Prosper. There were also plenty of fringe prospects who likely won’t play in the NBA next season. However, Mavs rookie Mike Miles Jr. is an undrafted player who actually could make the team for the 2023-24 season.

Why the 2023-34 Mavs roster could include could include Mike Miles Jr.

Mike Miles Jr. is a 20-year-old junior point guard out of TCU. And the 6-foot-1 ballhandler has seemed destined to make the NBA since he was nine years old. That’s when Yahoo! Sports wrote an article about the Texas fourth grader and deemed him “the elementary school Allen Iverson.”

While he never turned into Iverson, he was a decent recruit coming out of high school, signing with TCU, and he was on Team USA for the 2021 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup with NBA players like Chet Holmgren, Jaden Ivey, and Kenny Lofton Jr.

During his three years with the Horned Frogs, Miles averaged 15.6 points, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. He shot 56.3% from 2-point range and 36.3% from 3-point range his junior season.

The problem is that he is just 6-foot-1 and has a negative wingspan, which are two things that the NBA hates in prospects. That said, his athleticism is excellent, and he tested as the second-most athletic guard at the NBA combine leading up to the draft.

Still, his size limitations led to him slipping out of the draft’s two rounds, and the Mavs added him to their roster with a two-way contract. That’s how he got on the Mavs NBA Summer League team, and he made the most of the opportunity.

Miles played 18.8 minutes per game and averaged 12.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 0.8 steals. When you game those averages out for his per 40-minute numbers, that is the equivalent of 25.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 8.1 assists, and 1.7 steals per 40 minutes.

Among players who played five games in Vegas Summer League, Miles was a top-40 scorer, and only one player (Philadelphia 76ers invitee DJ Seward) scored more while averaging fewer minutes.

The point is, Miles can score the basketball, and he showed that off on the Mavs’ 2023 NBA Summer League squad. He was just 4-of-15 (26.7%) from 3-point range, but otherwise, he has a solid campaign.

Now the question becomes, how does he fit on the Mavs roster heading into the 2023-24 NBA season?

On his own merits, Mike Miles Jr. is a good fit for the Mavs bench. He is a good ballhandler, passer, and scorer who can lead a second unit while Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are on the bench. He is also an excellent pick-and-roll PG, which is a lot of what the Mavs run on offense. He’s small as a defender, so he will get picked on, but he’s aggressive and smart on that end of the floor. Miles can also play off-ball with Doncic and Irving as a corner 3-point shooter if that aspect of his game improves a bit.

Although he is a good fit on paper, actually making the Mavs roster out of Summer League could be tough. After Irving, the team has last year’s second-round pick Jaden Hardy and veteran guard Dante Exum, who played in Europe last year. Exum is a journeyman but played well at Partizan Belgrade last season. And Harden is more of an off-ball guard than a pure point.

The most fascinating piece of all this, though, is that while Miles is the better prospect, his fellow undrafted free agent rookie Jordan “Jelly” Walker out of UAB actually outplayed him in Mavs Summer League.

Walker played 15.7 minutes per game and averaged 13.0 points, 3.5 assists, and 1.8 steals. He also led NBA Summer League (among qualified players) shooting 48.1% from 3-point range on 27 attempts. The issue here is that Walker is even smaller than Miles. He is 5-foot-9 in socks and 159 pounds.

Ultimately, Miles should get the first chance to make the roster in the preseason, and if he keeps scoring well and playing better defense than his smaller teammate, then he will be the small PG to make the Mavs roster when the new season kicks off.

The NBA comps for Miller are small, stout guards who don’t scream NBA superstar but just know how to play the game. These names include two that Mavs fans are intimately familiar with in Jalen Brunson and Jameer Nelson.

And if Mike Miles Jr. can become the next Jalen Brunson for the Mavs, that would be a huge coup for the organization.