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Marc J. Spears on Kyrie Irving: I do think he'll be back on the roster. I know their owner is really, really high on seeing him and Cooper Flagg play together. And then Masai Ujiri had said in his introductory press conference that he wanted to see that as well.
In the wake of Dallas moving on from Jason Kidd, there have been rumblings of both Duke's Jon Scheyer and Michigan's Dusty May being linked to the vacancy. But ever since Masai Ujiri was hired to run basketball operations last month, the belief around the league is that the most likely outcome for Dallas is elevating one of the NBA's rising assistants. That's what Ujiri did the other two times he hired a coach, both with the Toronto Raptors: In 2018, he replaced Dwane Casey with Nick Nurse. In 2023, he replaced Nurse with Darko Rajakovic.
Mike Curtis: Asked Daniel Gafford for his impressions of Masai Ujiri & the decisions he’s made over the last month. “It is a business. I’m not necessarily surprised when it comes to some of the things that he’s done with the organization because I’m pretty sure he already had that in his back pocket when he got hired. I’m just sitting back & watching from afar…I’ve yet to get the chance to sit down & talk with him, but he made sure he called me & we had a good conversation on the phone.”
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Mark Cuban: "Masai and Nico are a lot alike, but they're different in the important ways. Nico wanted all his people in there, and you saw how many people he got rid of and who he got rid of. Masai's a lot of the same way. But Nico didn't really know what he was doing. I hired him to work for me, right, not to run the the the basketball operations."
“Durant once told me that there’s only one Kyrie Irving walking around in the world,” Ujiri said most recently. “Yeah, I think we have to figure out a way how Kyrie fits with our program. I’ve had those conversations with Kyrie. I think Kyrie will fit. There’s a huge curiosity in our minds to see how Kyrie fits playing with Cooper Flagg. He’s just that kind of like an incredible talent and player. I think we owe this organization that.” Yet, Ujiri’s adjoining stance that Flagg and Irving can form an effective duo has left rival executives around the league wondering how long Irving, a nine-time All-Star who’s coming off a torn left ACL and just turned 34, can co-exist with Flagg when the two players are on different career timelines?
It’s worth noting that former Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd has quietly been connected to Portland within league circles. Yet, will that chatter lead to anything more substantive now or in the future? Now, Portland’s current price range for a head coach is well below Kidd’s remaining contract with the Mavericks, which is for four years and $40 million, according to ESPN. Kidd also expressed a desire to make front office personnel decisions before Dallas hired Masai Ujiri and Portland general manager Joe Cronin signed a multi-year contract extension in April of 2025. Thus, while the stars may not align on paper for a pairing with Kidd at this juncture, there’s been enough scuttlebutt leaguewide worth keeping tabs on looking ahead.
Dawn Staley later said that going through that process made her believe that “no NBA team is ready for a female coach right now.” It’s unclear if Staley would still consider a move to the NBA after that experience. Ujiri interviewed Hammon — the head coach of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces — for the Raptors job three years ago. One NBA executive told The Athletic that it wouldn’t be shocking if the Mavericks wanted to interview Staley.
Tim McMahon: "I would say a couple things. There are rumors flying around, and I'm not going to say, there's a big-name college coach being rumored. Masai's track record is not necessarily swinging for big names. It's trying to find the next great coach. He likes discoveries."
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Pat McAffee: "Masai Ujiri has full authority to do whatever he wants with the direction of this Mavericks team.. Mavs sources believe that Jason Kidd had a level of support for the Luka Doncic trade.. This is a complete restart for the entire organization" ~ @ShamsCharania
Mike Curtis: Masai Ujiri on how much previous head coaching experience will play a role into the hire of a new coach: “It’s an open search…Out minds are very open. We’re going to look everywhere. Every stone unturned and we will really, really look at what’s best for this organization. First-time, experienced, college, European, everywhere. Whatever is best for this organization going forward.”
Abby Jones: Masai Ujiri speaks on the future of Kyrie Irving in Dallas after the departure of HC, Jason Kidd. “Kevin Durant once told me that there's only one Kyrie Irving walking around in the world. I think we have to figure out a way, how Kyrie fits with our program. I've had those conversations with Kyrie, up till yesterday and I think Kyrie will fit. There's a huge curiosity in our minds to see how Kyrie fits playing with Cooper Flagg … and I think we owe that to this organization.”