The Mavs have stumbled into the answer to their point guard problems

For the Dallas Mavericks, the point guard position has been in flux for quite some time. For one thing, Luka Dončić heavily operated in the capacity of a point guard on offense, all the way until his shocking jettison from the organization in the middle of last season. Even beyond Dončić, however, there have been fits and starts for Dallas at the position.

Over the course of four years in Dallas, Jalen Brunson went from a solid backup as a second round pick to a Sixth Man of the Year candidate and eventually to a fully entrenched starter who averaged more than 16 points per game in his final Mavericks season. However, the Mavericks made the mistake of letting Brunson escape to New York and eventually watched him become an All-NBA player elsewhere. Dallas did pivot to Kyrie Irving, who helped the team make the 2024 NBA Finals, but the All-Star guard suffered a long-term knee injury and will be 34 years old in March.

With Irving sidelined, the Mavericks faced a real conundrum at point guard for the 2025-26 season, especially given the reality that now-fired general manager Nico Harrison placed real time pressure on the roster to win games in the near term. Dallas acquired D'Angelo Russell as a stop-gap measure in the offseason, and eventually tried No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg at point guard early in his rookie season. While Flagg is a tremendous player and prospect, that experiment did not go swimmingly, and Russell has underwhelmed in his first six weeks in Dallas.

As such, the Mavericks were in need of answers at the position, at least until Irving comes back, and a long-term solution would also be very helpful for Dallas from a team-planning perspective. Enter first-year guard Ryan Nembhard, who is enjoying a breakout at the moment.

The next point guard in Dallas?

The 5-foot-11 Nembhard went undrafted in 2025 despite leading the country in assists (9.8 per game) in his final season at Gonzaga. The 22-year-old guard is the brother of Pacers standout Andrew Nembhard but, unlike his brother, Ryan faces perceived limitations with his lack of size, particularly as the league gets bigger and more physical at the point of attack. Still, he landed in a strong situation with the Mavericks on a Two-Way contract and, within only weeks of his signing, the buzz picked up that Dallas was impressed by Nembhard's play over the summer and into training camp.

After he was used sparingly in the first 18 games of the season, Nembhard has joined the rotation, and the rookie guard has started three straight games for Dallas. In that three-game sample, Nembhard is averaging 17.7 points and 5.7 assists per game with 22-of-33 shooting from the field and, even if that cools off, he showcased his upside with a 28-point, 10-assist performance in a road win over Denver on Dec. 1.

It may seem unlikely that Nembhard could become the fully entrenched starting point guard for Dallas, given his pedigree and physical limitations. However, Nembhard can certainly contribute at a high level for the Mavericks and, given Irving's ability to thrive off the ball, there is a pathway to continued playing time even when Irving returns. Nembhard's ball security and passing vision are excellent and, if he can continue to generate scoring opportunities in an efficient manner, the Mavericks may have found another highly valuable guard at a bargain-basement price.