On Monday evening, ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news that the Dallas Mavericks intend to sign Daniel Gafford to a three-year contract extension. Gafford, set to enter the 2025-2026 season on an expiring contract, will remain with the Mavericks through the 2028-2029 season. The deal is reported to total $54 million.
Gafford averaged a career-high 12.3 points per game last season, adding 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Up until his devastating MCL injury in February that sidelined him for 21 games, he remained a consistent for the Mavericks during their injury-plagued season. He stayed ready during the times that Dereck Lively was out, filling in seamlessly in the starting lineup. Gafford’s return offers the Mavericks a level of stability that they will need with the injury histories of Lively and Anthony Davis, who both dealt with grueling injuries last season.
The contract agreement’s announcement would indicate that Dallas intends to roll Davis out at the power forward position, maintaining the vision of having two bigs down low that they had back in February when they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Davis. This presumably means Gafford will slide into the backup center role for next season with Lively starting alongside Davis.
This leaves Dallas with a core of Davis, Gafford, Lively, PJ Washington, Kyrie Irving (who won’t return until early 2026), and Naji Marshall. While it brings more questions about how the basketball of it all will work once they draft Cooper Flagg later this week, the deal gives Dallas future flexibility, as there will be no trade restriction imposed on Gafford, as they were able to get him on a smaller deal.
A solid backup center in today’s NBA is a dime a dozen, and MFFLs have fought battles begging our front office to bring one in. Gafford’s extension is a great deal, providing Dallas with flexibility to continue to build its roster. Gafford has been a valuable piece to Dallas’ puzzle since his arrival, and his play style allowed Dallas to change their identity in 2024, propelling them into their NBA Finals run. His defensive prowess and contagious energy have landed him a home in Dallas, and it will be interesting to see where the Mavericks go from here.