Jimmy Butler and who the Dallas Mavericks starting five will be

Since the summer, fans and media have been speculating who the Dallas Mavericks’ starting five players will be. This is what we know and this is why it’ll change…

Like every summer these days, the Dallas Mavericks overhauled their roster. Since blowing up the Championship team over half-a-dozen years ago, such practice has become common place around these parts.

But this summer the Mavericks made both major changes to the top of their roster and they changed their overall philosophy. They brought in All-Star center DeAndre Jordan (for real this time) and invested in additional young talent to build around.

Finally we see the Dallas Mavericks building a roster to win right now AND to cultivate for the future. In other words, fans can finally start buying jerseys again.

With these new faces and new objectives come fun new options regarding the starting lineup. Will Dirk come off the bench? Will Wes? What about Luka? Who’s the starting 4?

Carlisle broke it all down:

"“Dennis, Matthews, Harrison, Luka, and DeAndre, right now, to me, look like the best team to start games,” Carlisle said. “We need Wes out there to guard the best perimeter player. We need DeAndre to be our center. The other pieces will fall into place.”"

It stands to reason Dennis Smith Jr. will be the starting point. Wesley Matthews and Luka Doncic can both play either the 2 or 3 on any given night. And Harrison Barnes will lock in at 4 and DeAndre at 5. Case settled, right?

What about trading for Jimmy Butler?

This just ain’t happening. Not only has Butler made his preferred destination known, but he’s a little over the hill to invest in to the magnitude in which he desires.

Plus, the Mavericks would have to mortgage their future just to make it happen.

Logic tells us no, Fish tells us no, and DMN News has also heard “no” from inside sources. DeAndre even liked the tweet above just for good measure. So let’s stop with the Wesley Mathews for Jimmy Butler talk.

The Rick Carlisle Factor

So we know the starting five but we have to understand the Rick Carlisle factor here. It’s not that Carlisle has been lying; it’s that he’s traditionally dynamic with his lineup. When given rosters without superstar cornerstone players intact, Carlisle has been known to strategize matchups.

DeAndre is likely to be the immoveable cornerstone on this lineup, but everyone else is fair game. If one player matches up better with a particular opponent, or one player plays above (or below) a certain level, things can and will change. Even the first player off the bench will change game to game.

We know the starting five so there’s no need to continue to argue about it, and we know Jimmy Butler isn’t playing here so there’s no need to dream about it. We know how things are set up to start and we know that will change accordingly as the season progresses.

• Published on 09/26/2018 at 12:01 PM
• Last updated at 09/26/2018 at 11:12 AM