As the Dallas Mavericks prepare for the 2026 NBA Draft, the plans could have changed with the latest coaching news surrounding the team that shocked the basketball world on Monday morning. The Mavericks are hiring Dusty May as their new head coach, as he is off winning a national championship with the Michigan Wolverines, with Tuesday’s draft potentially bringing in someone from that team.
With May looking to lead Dallas to future success after bringing just that to Florida Atlantic University and Michigan, many players from the Wolverines are considered to be top draft prospects. ClutchPoints’ NBA insider Brett Siegel would note first how he wonders if Dallas will target Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr., or Yaxel Lendeborg.
“Quite the news bomb that Dusty May is heading to the Mavs. Jon Scheyer was insistent that he wasn’t leaving Duke, and it appears as if Dallas immediately went after May with full intentions of hiring him. Wonder if Dallas targets Mara, Johnson, or Lendeborg tomorrow,” Siegel wrote on X.
The one Michigan star that’s ‘suddenly emerged’ for Mavericks, Dusty May
An hour later, Siegel would report that it is the Wolverines center in Mara that “has suddenly emerged as a very real candidate” for the Mavericks to draft, as the team has the No. 9 pick in Tuesday night’s first round of the NBA Draft.
“Over the last hour since the Dusty May news, Michigan’s Aday Mara has suddenly emerged as a very real candidate for the Mavs with the No. 9 pick in tomorrow’s draft, sources told [ClutchPoints]. Dallas is shopping Daniel Gafford to try to move up from #30 to top 20 in the draft,” Siegel wrote on X.
At any rate, it remains to be seen what happens, but with Dallas set to hire May as its next head coach, there is no denying that he would want to bring a piece from Michigan’s championship run to help along with Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving, and others.
The post Mavericks rumors: Will Dusty May hire bring a Michigan star to Dallas? appeared first on ClutchPoints.
