Ryan Nembhard’s stint with the Dallas Mavericks is over after just one season.
The former Gonzaga point was traded to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday as part of a three-team deal centered around fellow Canadian and Oklahoma City Thunder wing Lu Dort, who was sent to the Hawks for three second-round picks. The Mavericks acquired Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher, a former No. 1 pick, in the deal.
BREAKING: The Oklahoma City Thunder trading All-Defensive wing Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal that sends three second-round picks to OKC, former No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher to the Dallas Mavericks and Ryan Nembhard to Atlanta, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/4ewUxhRQA5
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 19, 2026
Nembhard is on the move days after completing his second NBA Summer League stint with the Mavericks. The point guard played just twice in Las Vegas, missing the team’s final games with “illness.”
Dallas is entering a new era under first-year coach Dusty May, who recently won a national championship at Michigan. The Mavericks also made multiple changes in the front office, bringing in new team president Masai Ujiri and general manager Mike Schmitz.
Nembhard will link up with another former Zag, Corey Kispert, in Atlanta and likely compete for backup point guard minutes. The Hawks bring back veteran guard CJ McCollum, recently drafted Houston’s Kingston Flemings with their eighth overall pick and also traded for Sacramento’s Devin Carter.
The undrafted Gonzaga point guard played in 60 games for the Mavericks as a rookie and started 27 times, averaging 6.6 points, 5.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game. Multiple NBA teams showed interest in drafting Nembhard late in the second round, but the point guard and his camp liked the potential fit in Dallas and helped position him to land an undrafted, two-way contract with the Mavericks, who didn’t own a second-round pick.
Dallas converted Nembhard’s two-way deal into a standard NBA contract midway through the season and leaned on him heavily at times with diminished depth at the point guard spot due to Kyrie Irving’s ACL injury.
Nembhard nearly had a triple-double in Dallas’ regular season finale, posting 15 points, 23 assists and nine rebounds in a 149-128 victory over the Chicago Bulls. His 23 assists set the Mavericks’ rookie record, which was previously owned by then-Dallas coach Jason Kidd.