DALLAS — Santi Aldama is the starting center in the Dallas Mavericks depth chart that Eddie Sefko published Wednesday at Mavs.com. Rookie Morez Johnson Jr. starts at power forward. P.J. Washington and Naji Marshall come off the bench.
Kyrie Irving, Max Christie, and Cooper Flagg fill out the projected first unit. Sefko wrote that the roster carries “too many players for too few spots,” with president Masai Ujiri and general manager Mike Schmitz still having time to move pieces.
Mavericks coach Dusty May said on Sept. 3 at 105.3 The Fan that the answers come from seeing the group play together, which has not happened yet. Camp opens later this month.
“We have a lot of pieces and how they work, who plays well together,” May said. “Those are the things that we’re going to have to figure out. There’s a lot of puzzles throughout a season that you have to put the right pieces in the right places. And until we see them play together more, but it’s always nice to have a lot of weapons.”
“When you look at just the positional versatility we have, even with our young guys, Coop can play a number of positions,” May continued. “Morez, who I obviously coached, can play a number of positions, and he can guard all five positions, which allows you to have more lineup versatility. If we get D-Live back sooner than later, that’s a good young group. And then Risacher, who we just brought in, Max, PJ, these are guys that can slide up and down the lineup, so it gives you a lot of hope that you can find a way to win any type of game.”
Santi Aldama And Morez Johnson Jr. Projected To Start
Aldama arrived from Memphis in the six-team trade that also delivered Marcus Sasser from Detroit and the draft rights to Tarik Biberović. An arthroscopic procedure on his right knee in mid-March ended his 2025-26 season. At the end of August, he sat out Spain’s European qualifying window for the 2027 World Cup.
Sefko slotted the 7-footer ahead of Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II, and Moussa Cisse. All three started at least one game for Dallas last season.
Lively hasn’t played since December, totaling seven games in 2025-26, after season-ending surgery on his right foot. Dallas selected him twelfth overall in 2023. Over three seasons, he has played in 98 of 240 regular-season games. Dallas has exercised his option for 2026-27, and he is eligible to sign a long-term extension before the season begins.
Cisse spent last season on a two-way contract as an undrafted rookie. In July, the Mavericks matched the two-year, $4.7 million offer sheet he signed with the New York Knicks, which moved him to a standard deal.
Johnson went ninth overall on June 23, hours after Dallas announced May as head coach. He started for May’s national championship team at Michigan, which beat UConn 69-63 on April 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Second-team All-Big Ten and Big Ten All-Defensive Team honors followed that season.
Washington backs him up in the projection. Marshall lands behind Christie at shooting guard. Marshall signed a fully guaranteed three-year, $52.2 million extension in August. He switches to No. 3 this season.
Max Christie Holds The Shooting Guard Job With Zaccharie Risacher Behind Cooper Flagg
Sixty-eight starts in 77 games is where Christie finished last season. He averaged 12.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 29.1 minutes. His shooting line was 44.1% from the field, 40.4% from 3-point range, and 89.9% at the stripe.
Christie’s scoring average has climbed in each of his four NBA seasons: 3.1 as a rookie, then 4.2, then 9.6, then 12.3. The 11.2 figure Sefko listed alongside those covers Christie’s 32 games with Dallas after the February 2025 trade.
Behind Flagg, Sefko listed Zaccharie Risacher, Biberović, and Caleb Martin. Atlanta took Risacher first overall in 2024. He came to Dallas in a three-team deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder that sent Ryan Nembhard and a second-round pick out. Sixty-seven games and 46 starts for the Hawks last season produced 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 22.4 minutes.
Flagg won Rookie of the Year on a 26-56 team. He averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists.
Irving has been out since March 3, 2025, after tearing the ACL in his left knee during a game against Sacramento. The Mavericks stated during February’s All-Star break that he would not be returning. Over the past 15 years, Irving has not missed an entire season. In the 2024-25 season, he averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 50 games and had a 40.1% shooting percentage from three.
Sasser and Sergio de Larrea are the listed backups at point guard. De Larrea came to Dallas at 25th overall in a draft-night trade with New York that sent the 30th pick the other way.
Dallas carries 15 standard contracts. Jett Howard, Tobi Lawal, and John Poulakidas hold the three two-way spots.
Camp opens for Dallas ahead of the league-wide Sept. 29 start because of the games abroad. The Mavericks and Houston Rockets play the first of two exhibitions Oct. 9 at The Venetian Arena in Macao. Tip-off is 7 a.m. CT. Dallas opens the regular season Oct. 21 at Houston at 7:30 p.m. CT. The home opener against the San Antonio Spurs follows on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. CT.
