Hannes Steinbach is not the headline name in Dallas, but the Mavericks’ draft board now bends around Daniel Gafford. The Mavericks are reportedly shopping Gafford to move from No. 30 into the top 20 before the NBA Draft starts Tuesday evening in Brooklyn.
Daniel Gafford and No. 30
Brett Siegel reported that Dallas is weighing Gafford in a deal that would lift the club out of the back end of the first round. That is the clearest sign the Mavericks are trying to turn one pick into a better spot rather than sit on both first-round slots.
The report also tied the Mavericks to the No. 9 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, which gives the front office a second route if it chooses to be aggressive. Dallas enters the draft with a number nine overall pick and another selection at No. 30, so the trade logic runs in one direction: package value now, move higher, and change the board before the night starts.
Dusty May and Aday Mara
The timing tracks with Dusty May being announced Monday as the Mavericks’ next head coach. Over the last hour since that news, Michigan’s Aday Mara emerged as a very real candidate for the Mavericks with the No. 9 pick in tomorrow’s draft, and he had a strong performance at the combine. That puts a new name near the top of the board just as Dallas is deciding whether to keep its draft capital or convert it.
Siegel wrote that May coached Aday Mara to a national championship win this past season with the Wolverines, and that connection sharpened the focus on the No. 9 slot. For Dallas, the practical question is not abstract. It is whether the first-round math points toward one prospect at No. 9, or whether the front office keeps using the No. 30 pick as the piece that can push it into the top 20.
Brooklyn Draft Night
Gafford’s place in the rotation is the complication. The report says the possible addition of Aday Mara and the presence of Dereck Lively II would render Gafford seemingly obsolete in Dallas’ frontcourt rotation. That is the roster pressure point behind the trade talk, and it explains why a center who helps on the glass and inside could also be the chip used to change draft position.
Plenty of teams around the league would like Gafford’s offensive rebounding and interior presence, which gives Dallas a movable piece if it decides the better play is to climb from No. 30 into the top 20. Tuesday evening in Brooklyn will bring the answer in real time, with Dallas already positioned around the draft’s most movable names and the No. 9 pick sitting at the center of the board.
