{"id":147328,"date":"2025-06-27T09:44:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T13:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=147328"},"modified":"2025-06-27T09:44:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T13:44:22","slug":"mavericks-draft-moves-signal-they-won-both-draft-rounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/27\/mavericks-draft-moves-signal-they-won-both-draft-rounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks&#8217; Draft Moves Signal They Won Both Draft Rounds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>DALLAS<\/strong> \u2013 The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/mavericks\/\" target=\"_self\">Dallas Mavericks<\/a> continue to work the edges of the NBA Draft better than most teams. By adding Gonzaga\u2019s <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/ryan-nembhard-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Nembhard<\/a> and Auburn\u2019s <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/miles-kelly-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miles Kelly<\/a> on<em>\u00a0<\/em>two-way contracts, the Mavericks showed how smart teams fill needs creatively. They had already drafted <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/cooper-flagg-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cooper Flagg<\/a> as the first overall pick on the first day of the draft. Obviously, the biggest win on day one. The Mavs didn&#8217;t select anyone in the second round, but that didn\u2019t stop them from being one of the biggest winners of the second day.<\/p>\n<h2>Mavericks&#8217; Draft Moves Signal They Won Both Draft Rounds<\/h2>\n<h3>Nembhard\u2019s Fall Turns Into Dallas\u2019 Gain<\/h3>\n<p>Few draft watchers expected Nembhard\u2019s name to stay on the board late into the night. The senior guard from Gonzaga led all Division I players with 344 assists last season. He averaged 9.8 assists with just 2.5 turnovers per game.<\/p>\n<p>Yet no team used a second-round pick on him. Size concerns and questions about scoring upside hurt him. HoopsHype\u2019s scouting report pointed to his \u201climited burst\u201d and \u201cscoring passivity.\u201d He also struggled to create offense when longer defenders trapped him.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Boyle, Nembhard\u2019s former coach at Montverde Academy, didn\u2019t see this coming. Boyle told <em>The Ryen Russillo Podcast<\/em>, \u201cWe also have Ryan Nembhard\u2026 who\u2019ll be a second-round pick, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Simons-Holiday Trade Breakdown | The Ryen Russillo Podcast\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yK07b2OM230?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But as picks came off the board, the call never came. By the time the dust settled, the Mavericks swooped in to sign him on a<em>\u00a0<\/em>two-way deal.<\/p>\n<h3>Two-Way Plan Gives Nembhard a Path<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_147333\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-147333\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-147333\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_25858081_168415934_lowres-1024x703.jpg\" alt=\"Auburn's Miles Kelly has been signed to the Mavericks on a two-way deal \" width=\"640\" height=\"439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_25858081_168415934_lowres-1024x703.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_25858081_168415934_lowres-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_25858081_168415934_lowres-768x527.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_25858081_168415934_lowres-1536x1054.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/06\/USATSI_25858081_168415934_lowres-2048x1406.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-147333\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apr 5, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Auburn Tigers guard Miles Kelly (13) passes the ball against the Florida Gators in the semifinals of the men&#8217;s Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sources confirmed to ESPN that Dallas landed Kelly as a two-way addition. He&#8217;s a 6-foot-4 combo guard from Auburn. Kelly shot nearly 38 percent from deep on over six attempts per game in the SEC.<\/p>\n<p>Nembhard may be undersized at 5-foot-11, but the Mavericks have a strong frontcourt that covers for that. If players like\u00a0Flagg or <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/washipj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PJ Washington<\/a> slide into shooting guard roles, Nembhard\u2019s playmaking can shine without huge defensive mismatches.<\/p>\n<p>The Mavericks&#8217; two-way approach mirrors what they did with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willibr03.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Williams<\/a> last year. Nembhard will split time with the Texas Legends in the G League. That environment could help him prove that his senior-year three-point percentage \u2014 a career-best 40.4% \u2014 wasn\u2019t just a hot streak.<\/p>\n<h3>Kelly Provides Sharpshooting Depth<\/h3>\n<p>While Nembhard handles the ball, Kelly\u2019s main job will be to score. At Auburn, he showed he could launch quickly and score efficiently. He averaged over 11 points per game last season.<\/p>\n<p>On a two-way contract, Kelly can fight for backup minutes and space the floor when Dallas needs extra shooting. If either rookie shows out in Summer League or regular season, the Mavericks may convert one to a full roster spot by midseason.<\/p>\n<h3>Front Office Gets Aggressive<\/h3>\n<p>Dallas still holds one two-way slot open. They plan to watch Summer League play and monitor the first waves of free agency. The Mavericks have the $5.7 million Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to add a stopgap veteran guard.<\/p>\n<p>With <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving<\/a> recovering from ACL surgery, Dallas knows they need insurance at point guard. Nembhard\u2019s arrival gives them a pure pass-first option if needed.<\/p>\n<p>Their first Summer League matchup, set for July 10, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/lakers\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>. That matchup could be Nembhard\u2019s first big stage to prove front offices wrong for overlooking him.<\/p>\n<h3>Dallas Playing the Margins Right<\/h3>\n<p>Not every rookie is Flagg. Sometimes, winning the margins means landing players who fit a roster without heavy cost. Dallas did that here.<\/p>\n<p>Nembhard\u2019s college stats show he can run an offense. If Nembhard thrives in the G League and cracks the NBA rotation, the Mavericks&#8217; two-way deals might look like a steal come April. Dallas already won the first round of the draft selecting a generational talent in Flagg and these roster moves show they understand how to win the second.<\/p>\n<p><label>Credit: <\/label>\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DALLAS \u2013 The Dallas Mavericks continue to work the edges of the NBA Draft better than most teams. By adding Gonzaga\u2019s Ryan Nembhard and Auburn\u2019s Miles Kelly on\u00a0two-way contracts, the Mavericks showed how smart teams fill needs creatively. They had already drafted Cooper Flagg as the first overall pick on the first day of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":147332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,30,556,3],"tags":[48964,50185,4975,50024],"class_list":["post-147328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-nba-draft","category-news","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-miles-kelly","tag-nba-contracts","tag-ryan-nembhard"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147334,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147328\/revisions\/147334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}