The Dallas Mavericks are signing free-agent guard D’Angelo Russell, according to ESPN. The deal — reportedly two years and $13 million — has seemingly been in the works since Kyrie Irving declined his player option with the Mavericks last week. Irving quickly re-signed on a three-year, $119 million pact that lowered his 2025-26 cap figure enough for the expensive Mavs to unlock the taxpayer mid-level exception, which they will use now to sign Russell.
Irving’s decision opening the door for Russell to sign in Dallas is fitting given the circumstances under which he is joining the team. Irving is currently recovering from a torn ACL and is expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season. Dallas views Irving as its long-term point guard, but it needed a stopgap option to start while he gets healthy and eventually move into a backup role afterward.
There had been some thought that the Mavericks would attempt trade out of their front-court logjam to find such a guard. However, popular trade candidate Daniel Gafford signed an extension, and the team is reportedly hoping to keep fellow 2026 free agent P.J. Washington as well. They reportedly considered a pursuit of Jrue Holiday on the trade market, but when Holiday was dealt to Portland, the Mavericks looked to the free-agent market and landed on Russell.
In a way, this is an ideal situation for Russell. He played with Anthony Davis on the Lakers. He is a well-known regular-season floor-raiser on offense who can set up teammates, shoot 3s and rack up points when needed. He has two major deficiencies, though, and they are theoretically flaws the Mavericks are equipped to protect him from.
First, Russell has always been a subpar defender. The Mavericks have built a defense-first roster, though, going as far as to trade Luka Dončić because, in the words of Nico Harrison, “defense wins championships.” Second, he is very inconsistent, especially in high-stakes moments. His playoff performances have always left something to be desired. However, that becomes much less of an issue if Irving, a well-known playoff performer, is back and healthy by April. If Russell is a backup at that point, his postseason shortcomings are less problematic.
Given the limited resources the Mavericks had to work with, Dallas did about as well on the point-guard market as they reasonably could have hoped. Russell isn’t Irving, but he can at least provide serviceable point guard play while Dallas waits for its superstar to return.
