Basketball
The Dallas Mavericks recently made the bold decision to part ways with head coach Jason Kidd. He led Dallas to one of its most successful periods in the last decade, including a trip to the NBA Finals. The decision comes after the organization hired Masai Ujiri to run the front office, and the organization is focused on building around 19-year-old Cooper Flagg.
Whoever steps into that coaching role will be handed one of the most promising young cornerstones in the league, and two coaches have emerged as targets for Dallas.
Basketball Who Are the 2 Coaches On the Mavericks’ Radar?
Per Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, the Mavericks have made exploratory contact with two of college basketball’s biggest names: Duke’s Jon Scheyer and Michigan’s Dusty May.
The Mavericks are expected to pursue conversations with Jon Scheyer and Dusty May, per @TheSteinLine & @JakeLFischer
“It remains to be seen whether Duke’s Jon Scheyer or Michigan’s Dusty May reach full-fledged candidate status with Dallas since both are so entrenched with their… pic.twitter.com/lXRxoy1Q7z
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 4, 2026
Both men are at powerhouse college basketball programs with little reason to leave. But for Scheyer, the appeal of the Flagg connection gives Dallas an interesting pitch that other franchises cannot make.
Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game across 37 appearances for the Blue Devils during the 2024-25 season, shooting 48.1 percent from the field.
Scheyer helped Flagg grow as a player, even though it was for only a single season. The Mavericks are betting everything on Flagg becoming a franchise cornerstone, so that familiarity would have real value.
May brings a different kind of credibility. Michigan just won the national championship after finishing 37-3, cementing his status as one of the hottest coaches in the country.
He previously led Florida Atlantic to a Final Four appearance and has a proven track record of building teams into contenders from scratch. That is precisely the assignment Dallas would be handing him.
The last time the Mavericks won the Larry O’Brien Trophy was in 2011, led by Dirk Nowitzki and, interestingly, Kidd. They advanced to the NBA Finals in 2024 with Luka Dončić, but the mighty Boston Celtics dismantled them in just five games.
The question with both coaches is whether the NBA pull is strong enough to pry them away from the college ranks. Scheyer is considered deeply committed to his role at Duke, which is arguably the best job in college basketball.
May, meanwhile, has just delivered the biggest prize in college hoops and enters the offseason with huge leverage at Michigan. There were prior rumors linking May to both the Golden State Warriors and Orlando Magic openings, but neither gained traction, and there was no apparent interest on his end.
Ujiri has shown a willingness to think outside the box in his coaching hires. League sources expect him to explore options across the European and women’s game as part of a wide-ranging search, so college basketball is hardly off the table.
Whether Scheyer or May ultimately emerges as a serious candidate remains to be seen, but the early conversations signal that Dallas is not limiting its ideas.
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