Garrett Temple Hangs Up the Sneakers and Joins Dusty May’s Mavs Staff

The Dallas Mavericks coaching staff just got a whole lot more NBA mileage on it. Garrett Temple is done playing after 16 seasons and is moving straight to the bench as an assistant under new head coach Dusty May. That’s according to Marc Stein, with Temple’s agent Dan Eveloff confirming the deal.

Temple spent the last three years with the Toronto Raptors, where his role on the floor shrunk to just 22 games and 73 total minutes in the 2025-26 season. But inside the locker room? He was the kind of veteran every young team wants around. The Raptors leaned hard on his leadership and teaching, and apparently that reputation followed him right into his next gig.

He’s Not a Stranger to Willie Green

Temple won’t be the only new face on May’s bench. The Mavs also brought in former New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green, and it turns out Temple and Green have history. Temple played two seasons under Green in New Orleans before hanging it up. So there’s some built-in chemistry there, which should help a staff that’s still being pieced together.

It’s a good hire for Dallas, especially for a team that’s trying to rebuild its culture after a rocky couple of seasons. Temple knows what it takes to stick around. And sticking around is basically his superpower.

From Undrafted to 12 Teams

Out of LSU in 2009, Temple didn’t hear his name called on draft night, which is almost funny now considering he outlasted most of the guys who did. He bounced around his rookie year between Houston, Sacramento, and San Antonio, then took a detour to Italy. But he came back, landed in Washington for four years (his longest stop anywhere), and from there just kept rolling.

Twelve teams. 793 regular-season games. 289 starts. Career averages of 5.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 19.6 minutes a night. The shooting numbers aren’t flashy — 39.9% from the field, 34.2% from three — but that’s not really the point. Temple was a glue guy in an era that doesn’t always appreciate them. He also served as the NBPA’s vice president starting in 2017, which tells you how much respect he had around the league.

Now he’s trading in his jersey for a clipboard. And for a Mavs team trying to find its footing, that clipboard might be worth more than another box score filler.