The Dallas Mavericks are sitting on the ninth pick in Tuesday’s NBA Draft, and a name with some real local history just popped up in the rumor mill.
According to NBA insider Jake Fischer, the Mavericks are considering Washington big man Hannes Steinbach. What makes that interesting? Steinbach’s father Burkhard played alongside Dirk Nowitzki on a German League team in their shared hometown of Wurzburg about 30 years ago. That’s the kind of connection that gets the front office talking, especially when the guy plays the same position as your franchise legend.
Fischer reported on Marc Stein’s Substack that Steinbach has already worked out for Dallas and is among the prospects under consideration at No. 9. The Mavericks are also reportedly looking at moving up from pick No. 30, which they picked up in the Anthony Davis trade to Washington last season. That trade itself was basically Dallas admitting the Luka Doncic deal with the Lakers had blown up in their face.
Does Dallas really need another big man?
On paper, adding a center with the No. 9 pick seems a little weird. The Mavs already have Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II eating minutes in the paint. What they need more is wing help to pair with Cooper Flagg, last year’s Rookie of the Year and the No. 1 overall pick. Flagg can’t do everything himself, even if he looked pretty good trying last season.
But newly minted general manager Masai Ujiri seems to have a specific plan. Maybe Steinbach is versatile enough to play both frontcourt spots. Maybe they think he’s too talented to pass up. Or maybe the history with Nowitzki is just a bonus, but not the reason they’d take him.
ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel had Steinbach going No. 13 to the Heat in his latest mock draft. So if Dallas really wants him, they might not be able to trade down too far and still get him. Fischer noted the Mavericks have explored moving down, which suggests they’re weighing whether Steinbach will still be on the board later in the first round.
Either way, Tuesday night should tell us a lot about how Ujiri wants to build this thing. The draft starts at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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