The Dallas Mavericks are looking for a new head coach after letting Jason Kidd go in May, and they have more to sell than just an open bench. Cooper Flagg is already in the building as the reigning Rookie of the Year, and the club holds two first-round picks in the upcoming draft. Throw in a newly installed front office led by team president Masai Ujiri and general manager Mike Schmitz, and you've got a job that sounds more like a project worth inheriting than a cleanup assignment.
The Mavericks are trying to move past what has been a rough stretch since trading Luka Dončić in February 2025. That deal cost them their general manager Nico Harrison, eventually led to the departure of the return piece Anthony Davis, and opened the door for the franchise to land the No. 1 pick in the same draft — the pick that brought them Flagg, a player many believe can be the next foundational piece in Dallas.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
Marc Stein reports the Mavericks plan to speak with more than a dozen candidates. Here's who is in the mix.
From the college game
The first name that surfaces whenever Flagg is involved is Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who mentored Flagg for one season in Durham before the Blue Devils fell in the Final Four. The Mavericks have had exploratory conversations with Scheyer, though walking away from a program that returns four of its top six scorers and sits at No. 2 in the CBS rankings is not a simple ask. Dusty May is another college name the Mavericks have contacted — he just won a national championship at Michigan. Getting either to leave a top-tier college job is a long shot, but the pitch writes itself: come develop the kind of player you rarely get in your program.
Current and former assistants
The Mavericks initially reached out to San Antonio associate head coach Sean Sweeney, but he took the Orlando Magic's opening. Minnesota assistant Micah Nori has come up in recent cycles as a defensive-minded coach who could raise Dallas's ceiling on that end. Flagg already shows signs of becoming an All-Defensive-caliber player, which would make Nori's skill set a natural pairing.
Other candidates include Houston assistant Royal Ivey, Toronto assistant Jama Mahlalala, Boston assistant Tony Dobbins, and Miami Heat consultant Noah LaRoche. Ivey has coached internationally with South Sudan, helping the nation reach the Olympics for the first time in 2024. Mahlalela, who worked under Steve Kerr in Golden State during the 2022 championship run, has a history with Ujiri from their Toronto days. Dobbins earns praise from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for his work on Boston's defense, while LaRoche has been credited by Erik Spoelstra as an innovative offensive mind after reshaping Miami's offense this season.