When the Dallas Mavericks hired Dusty May to be their new head coach, it was widely assumed the team would follow up the hiring with the selection of a Michigan player in the 2026 NBA Draft. May led the Wolverines to a national championship with three first-round prospects on his roster.
The Mavericks, who went into the draft with picks nine and 30, did reunite May with one of the college players he became so familiar with. The team took Morez Johnson Jr. at pick nine, two picks before Yaxel Lendeborg went, and three before Aday Mara's name was called.
It was cool to see three Michigan players selected in the lottery, and it made sense to pair May with one of the players that he has already found success with as he tries to make the tough jump from college ball to the professional ranks. However, the Mavericks settled on the wrong Michigan prospect. So, who should Dallas have selected instead?
The Mavericks drafted the wrong Michigan player
May was surely pounding the table for a Michigan player when the Mavericks were on the clock at pick nine, but he had his pick of the litter between Johnson, Mara, and Lendeborg. Johnson is a solid player who looks like a long-term NBA player. While his ceiling isn't super high, his motor and defensive intensity should at least result in him being a role player for years to come.
However, he isn't the best fit for the Mavericks. The team already has last year's number one pick, Cooper Flagg, positioned at the power forward position. While Flagg can play the three, too, Dallas still needs to give P.J. Washington rotation minutes. That power forward is under contract through 2030. Johnson can play the center position, too, but Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively already form arguably the best center combination in the NBA.
Johnson is a play-now prospect, but there aren't many frontcourt minutes readily available for him in Dallas. Mara, who was linked to the Mavericks before the draft, would have been in a similar boat. Although Lively has suffered through some injury issues recently, he should still be looked at as a part of Dallas' core.
That means Lendeborg was the best fit of the bunch. For starters, Lendeborg is a true wing, something the Mavericks need more of. He is also one of the most versatile players in this draft class. Lendeborg can score inside, facilitate for his teammates, collect rebounds, and guard on the wing or inside. He even improved as a shooter in his final season in college on a team with a spacing issue. Lendeborg's development from deep and experience carrying the shooting burden on a team that lacks spacing would have made sense to add for a Mavericks team with shooting and spacing concerns.
The six-year college wing was a chess piece that May used in a number of ways en route to a March Madness victory. He surely would have loved having his flexibility with his new NBA job, especially because Lendeborg was arguably the most play-now-ready prospect in the draft as a soon-to-be 24-year-old.
In reality, although he'd fit better in Dallas than Mara or Johnson, even Lendeborg would have been a questionable fit for the Mavericks, and it seems as though they were targeting Michigan players just to appease their new coach. Brayden Burries, Nate Ament, Labaron Philon, and Cameron Carr were all on the board when the Mavericks selected and would have all been better fits.
