The Dallas Mavericks have started the season 5-4, with some impressive wins over the Houston Rockets, OKC Thunder, and Indiana Pacers (who had a healthy Tyrese Haliburton).
A lot of the attention has been on Mavericks stars Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving, and rightfully so. When those two are rolling, the Mavericks can be as good as they want to be. They can be that good because they have someone doing a lot of the dirty work.
P.J. Washington has quietly had a really good start to the season, averaging 15.8 PPG and 7.8 RPG, which would both be career highs if he keeps it up all season. He's shooting (and making) more threes than ever, and he's also bringing down two offensive rebounds per game.
Coming out of last season, there were a lot of questions about his fit alongside youngster Cooper Flagg. The plus/minus numbers haven't been the best alongside Flagg, but it still is in the positive.
This is just one of many players seeing a resurgence under new head coach Dusty May, but how are they doing it?
Essentially, Dusty May has gone back to the basics for P.J. Washington.
In the last few seasons, we saw Jason Kidd want the ball in Washington's hands more, often designing the first play of each game for him. That never really made much sense.
Washington has never been a creator or a great shot-maker off the dribble. So, it's no surprise that May has decreased how much Washington has been driving the ball.
In the 2024-25 season, Washington was averaging 10.1 drives per game. Last season, that dropped to 6.7 per game, and May has dropped it to 5 per game.
While the Mavericks need more playmakers, that isn't Washington's strength. They can let Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving, Walter Clayton Jr., Naji Marshall, and Sergio De Larrea handle that.
May has made things simple for Washington on offense: set screens and slip, shoot threes, and crash the offensive glass. His 3-point attempt rate is 55.4%, which is the highest of his career. He's making them at a 35.5% clip, which is enough to keep defenses honest.
Washington's offensive rebounding rate of 6.4% is also the highest of his career, and it's leading to him getting more trips to the free-throw line. His free-throw rate of 33% is the first time he's been above 30% in his career.
Dusty May has used Washington a lot as an undersized center, but he's also spent a lot of time playing alongside Morez Johnson Jr., who is still getting used to life in the NBA as a center. There will be times when Washington is guarding the opposing team's center because he's strong enough to do so.
This is only a 9-game sample size, and as the Mavericks put more on film, the more teams will adjust how they defend players like P.J. Washington. So far, he looks like the player who was worth giving a four-year, $88.2 million contract extension to.
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on X for the latest news.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/mavericks/onsi as The NBA World Isn't Talking Enough About Mavericks Forward PJ Washington .
