Daniel Gafford

Gabe Flores

Daniel Gafford scored 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds against the Sacramento Kings. DALLAS MAVERICKS on Social Media: ► Follow us X: / dallasmavs ► Like us Facebook: / dallasmavs ► Follow us Instagram: / dallasmavs For more updates check us out on Mavs.com: https://www.mavs.com

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Daniel Gafford (20 PTS 7 REB) vs. Sacramento Kings | November 2, 2026

Dwain Price

Over the course of a long 82-game season, what happened to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night will likely also happen to the other 29 NBA teams on multiple occasions this season. For the Mavs, it just leaves a sour taste in their mouth when it happens.

Favored to win a game this season for the first time – against a Sacramento team that was the league’s only winless squad – the Mavs surprisingly played down to the competition and wound up losing to the pesky Kings, 115-100, at American Airlines Center.

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In having their three-game winning streak snapped, the Mavs fell to 4-3 as they head to San Antonio on Wednesday, while the Kings improved to 1-6. Afterward, Mavs coach Dusty May didn’t make any excuses for his team, who looked nothing like the team that swept through Miami, Oklahoma City and Houston last week.

“I want to credit Sacramento,” May said. “They were the more determined team tonight and the more prepared team, and they came in here and earned it.

“We didn’t put much pressure on the paint and on the rim, and we were on our heels. Win or lose, we’re going to look back at our process and see: Did we prepare the right way, did we have the right game plan, what would we do different the next time?”

The Mavs couldn’t contain rookie Darius Acuff Jr. (25 points, five rebounds, six assists), Malik Monk (24 points, seven assists) or Zach LaVine (23 points, 5-of-9 three-pointers). And for that, they paid dearly against a Sacramento squad that has lost five of its games by 11 or more points.

“To be honest, I think they were more hungry than us tonight,” said Mavs guard Walter Clayton Jr., who scored a team-high tying 20 points and converted 4-of-5 three-pointers. “I think we kind of played to their record.

“We didn’t play up to our abilities. We lost the rebounding battle (42-35). That was a big one. They beat us to a lot of 50-50 (balls). We just got to come out with more energy.”

Yes, the Mavs played without superstar guard Kyrie Irving, who was resting as Dallas played the first of five games in eight days. And when Cooper Flagg struggled with just 17 points on 3-of-19 shots, not many players stepped up to become a factor.

May acknowledged that the Kings loaded the paint and forced Flagg to become a jump shooter, and he kept missing the mark.

“There’s a cadence to it where he’s fanning out early and then we missed our first (10) threes and we thought several of them were good looks,” May said. “At that point it fuels their fire to get to him even more in the paint. . .and they’re running a second guy and a third guy at him.

“I don’t think our spacing or relocations were great as a whole, and we didn’t find any rhythm together.”

The Mavs, who got 13 points in 17 minutes from rookie Morez Johnson Jr., entered the fourth quarter down, 81-74. And whenever they tried to nip away at the deficit, either Acuff, Monk or LaVine kept burying big shots.

“They spread us out and they made tough shots,” May said. “I thought LaVine was very, very sound. Obviously, Acuff is dynamic. I thought they picked their spots well.

“But Monk, every time we made a run he came back with a step-back three dagger after dagger. It wasn’t as if they didn’t make plays.”

In the meantime, the Mavs missed their top playmaker – Irving.

“He does so much for us in making big shots and calming us down,” May said. “We haven’t been able to answer runs very well, and that’s one area that he does.

“When one of your guys is out and another one just has an off night, you’ve got to have some other guys step up. And making shots is part of that, and it just didn’t drop tonight.”

On playing without Irving, center Daniel Gafford said: “We definitely missed him. He has a lot of gravity when he’s on the floor. He makes everyone’s job a little easier.

“But whenever he’s not on the floor everybody knows it’s the next man up. Everybody has to take that next step and find ways to make an impact whenever one of our star players is not on the floor.”

Overall, the Mavs shot 41 percent from the field and just 21.2 percent (7-of-33) from beyond the three-point arc. They started slow – down 19-18 after the first quarter and 54-53 at the half – and finished even slower.

Indeed, it was not one of the Mavs’ finer moments, especially considering the competition.

“I felt like the energy was a little low,” said Gafford, who collected 20 points and seven rebounds and was 9-of-10 from the field. “P.J. (Washington) said it a lot in the locker room -- we played their record tonight, 100 percent. They came in and they played like pros tonight.”

Sacramento shot 52.4 percent from the floor and 44.2 percent (19-of-43) from three-point land. For the most part, the Kings were in command of this game.

“We’ll have several learning experiences from this game,” May said. “We do have a young team and when it’s not going well, we just kept stressing everything’s going poorly for us, but let’s just find a way to hang around and get it to the end.

“Their shot-making prevented us from doing that. Those guys, they found great connections -- especially in the fourth quarter -- found some matchups, and I thought they played unselfish basketball.”

Now the Mavs must regroup and battle a Spurs team that defeated them in Dallas, 122-106, on Oct.24.

“We can’t let the record fool us, at the end of the day,” Gafford said of the Kings. “An 0-6 team coming in with a fire under their tail. We had to be ready for anything. There were times when shots didn’t fall and I felt like we kind of let go of the rope in those situations.

“We’ll let this hurt until midnight, and then we’ll focus on the next one. We’ve got a big game coming up in two days against a good Spurs team. We can’t dwell too much on this one.”

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Mavericks fall to previously winless Kings, 115-100

The damage guard Kyrie Irving did to the Houston Rockets down the stretch of Friday's game reminded center Daniel Gafford of exactly what Irving did to the Rockets back on April 7, 2024.

Back then, Gafford had only been with the Dallas Mavericks for less than two months following a trade with the Washington Wizards. Irving, meanwhile, put on an extraordinary clinic in that late-season game against the Rockets as he poured in a season-high 48 points, with 25 of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Mavs escaped with a pulsating 147-136 victory.

Fast forward to Friday and Irving was just as electric against the Mavs’ Interstate-45 rivals. This time Irving poured in 16 of his season-high 35 points in the fourth quarter as the Mavs prevailed, 116-111, over the Rockets.

“It reminded me of that (April 7, 2024) game a lot,” Gafford said following Sunday’s practice. “I’m just like, man this is like déjà vu.”

Irving’s show-stopping performance had Gafford gushing about one of the NBA’s best performers.

“The game deserves a guy like him,” he said. “Seeing him out for (19 months). That’s too long for a guy like Kyrie.”

Irving returned for the first time this season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on March 3, 2025, against the Sacramento Kings.

“The game deserves him and he deserves everything that’s coming his way, especially when it comes to basketball in general,” Gafford said. “I’m happy for him.”

Gafford also is happy that Irving has a star-studded sidekick in 19 year-old Cooper Flagg, who scored 33 points against the Rockets.

“The sky’s the limit for the kid,” Gafford said. “Just seeing the stuff that he’s doing on a night-to-night basis, I’m still amazed with what he’s doing at the age that he is right now.

“He’s happy, when he comes in he makes the atmosphere energetic, he makes it fun. I’m pretty sure if he feels like if there’s anybody in a bad mood or anything, he’s going to try to find a way to lighten the room up for them. He’s just doing, I would say, everything he’s putting his mind to right now.”

And with Flagg and Irving both capable of hitting clutch shot after clutch shot, Gafford said: “It’s like watching your favorite movie over and over again. It never gets old. I know it’s going to be more and more games like that down the stretch of the season, and I’m prepared for it.

“It’s just exciting whether I’m out there on the floor with them during the stints when they go crazy, or if I’m on the sidelines cheering them on. The energy is just contagious.”

While Gafford may not be one of the Mavs’ primary offensive threats, he’s taking on the less glamorous – but very important -- role of setting hard screens to free up players like Irving and Flagg.

“I take a lot of pride in it because it gets guys downhill and it gets our main ball handlers in the open floor when they’ve got, of course, the main pesky defenders on them,” he said. “So getting them open is obviously my main priority, but when it comes to what I see, I just try to get guys downhill.

“I just try to make sure I set a physical screen -- whether they’re trying to double guys off of the screen or they’re not – and make sure we find some type of way to have some type of regulated flow into our offense. Setting screens the majority of time for me, that’s going to be my main job, so I’m definitely going to try to be elite as I possibly can at that role.”

And when the ball does comes Gafford’s way, he definitely knows what to do with it. The eight-year veteran scored a season-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shots against the Rockets.

“On the offensive side I’m really just taking what the game gives me, being confident in the shots that I take, and if there is any type of possession where I mess up or anything like that, I’m not really just letting that get to me,” Gafford said. “There was a lapse, but I really just had to take a moment to myself and control myself and just get back to the mindset of let’s go out and just have a good game instead of focusing on the mistakes that I made, because that’s in the past. If you make that mistake, it’s not going to make the whole game for you.”

That type of philosophy has worked wonders for Gafford.

“I get in here with Kai, I get in here with Coop and pretty much with anybody that’s out there, and I just try to pick and point and really just find ways that I can impact our offensive sets and just find ways to get us a basket,” he said. “Whether it’s me getting the basket or if my teammates are getting us the basket, that’s going to help us throughout the season, honestly, when it comes to the impact that I can have on the floor.”

Gafford is certainly having a decisive impact when it comes to protecting the rim. He currently is tied for fourth in the NBA in blocks with two per game, and also averages 8.5 points and seven rebounds.

“I’m really just trying to be better in my element,” Gafford said. “Of course, at the end of the day I want to be number one when it comes to blocks and in the defense in general. I’m really trying to assert myself in my role a lot more, being the captain of the defense.

“I’m really just being out there and being as loud as I possibly can. And it gets us a lot of transition buckets time and time again.”

MAVS ATTACKING THE BASKET: Mavs coach Dusty May has noticed something very positive during his team’s three-game winning streak when it comes to his players attacking the basket.

“I think guys have been timely whenever they’ve attacked,” May said after Sunday’s practice. “We’ve been less likely to take a marginal shot on the first pass. We did a couple of times in the first half against Houston – in the second quarter, I think it was.

“But other than that I think we’ve worked to use the leverage of our star players, and those guys are incredibly unselfish.”

One of those, Irving, scored 35 points and handed out nine assists in the win over the Rockets. Flagg, meanwhile, tallied 33 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

“It’s wise to use the attention they’re generating and garnering to get us good looks, and that’s part of us growing as a group – how to use how we’re being defended in our favor,” May said. “But more than anything else we’ve been very efficient with our two for ones.

“We’ve been able to steal some baskets, we’re getting a little bit better getting to the (free throw) line -- we still have a ways to go. And we haven’t turned it over at the same rate even though we’re still a high turnover team. I think it’s just a little bit of everything in incremental gains.”

BRIEFLY: After missing three games with an illness, Mavs forward Naji Marshall went through Sunday’s practice and will play in Monday’s home game against the Sacramento Kings. “Naji is feeling much, much better,” coach Dusty May said. “He looks good. He looks ready to go.” . . . May said center Santi Aldama is “doing more and more” during practice sessions and that “his starting date is in the near future.” Aldama underwent arthroscopic right knee surgery on March 17 while he was playing for Memphis. The Mavs acquired him in a July trade, but he has yet to appear in a game for Dallas . . . After the Houston Rockets shot 44 percent from three-point range (16-of-36) on opening day against the Mavs, Dallas’ long distance defense has since been very efficient. In the last five games from downtown, this is what the Mavs have allowed: Indiana (7-of-32 for 22 percent), San Antonio (15-of-42 for 36 percent), Miami (13-of-41 for 32 percent), Oklahoma City (5-of-32 for 16 percent), and Houston (7-of-29 for 24 percent). “We’re just playing with more intensity,” May said. “We’re starting to jump and contest the ball versus landing on shooters. We still had one or two the other night. But we had to be at the bottom in the NBA in fouling jump shooters the first couple of games and also in the exhibition season, so we made an improvement there. But overall, the intensity and the quickness to the ball in all facets has helped our defense improve.”

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Gafford a big fan of a show-stopping entertainer like Irving

Daniel Gafford put up 18 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in the Mavs 116-111 win over in the Houston Rockets. DALLAS MAVERICKS on Social Media: ► Follow us X: / dallasmavs ► Like us Facebook: / dallasmavs ► Follow us Instagram: / dallasmavs For more updates check us out on Mavs.com: https://www.mavs.com

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Daniel Gafford (18 PTS 7 REB) vs. Houston Rockets | October 30, 2026

When Dallas Mavericks center Daniel Gafford sat down this offseason and analyzed his performance — or lack thereof — from the 2025-26 season, he didn’t mince words. He was extremely hard on himself.

“It’s one thing that I always say and I’m going to keep saying it from last year, it wasn’t the best,” Gafford said. “There was a lot of frustration. There was a lot of adversity.

“It was pretty much one of the worst seasons I feel like I’ve had, especially injury-wise, because not everybody wants to sit on the sidelines and just watch the team battle on a night-to-night basis. I want to be able to come out and make the game feel as easy as possible for anybody I’m setting a screen for, behind playing defense, talking to them, navigating the defense and really helping out in any way I can.”

The possibilities of Gafford helping out to the best of his abilities last season were compromised after he sprained his right ankle on the first day of training camp in Vancouver, Canada. He also repeatedly re-aggravated the same ankle throughout the season, suffered a concussion during a collision with Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, and sustained a stinger against Milwaukee and a shoulder impingement late in the season.

Gafford was limited to just 55 games and wound up averaging 9.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. Meanwhile, he said he came to training camp with a clean slate, and that includes entering his eighth season by cutting off his hair and going completely bald.

“I’m not the type of guy that makes any type of excuses,” Gafford said. “There’s times when I could have played better, there’s time when I could have put more time into a lot of stuff, but life happens and it comes at you fast.

“Really just taking that aspect and implementing it into the basketball side, it helped me really just build a lot more confidence because I felt like I was at my worst last year. Really, about the bald head, it’s just cutting off my past.”

Although Gafford has shot an amazing 70.2 percent from the field in his career, he’s never made a three-point shot. He's attempted just one in his career. But that may be about to change.

“He makes them in practice,” Mavs coach Dusty May said of Gafford’s three-point shooting. “He went one-for-one in live play today.

“He’s going to shoot a few rhythm threes (and) he’s going to rim protect. We’ve got to get him a little bit better switching on the smaller players. He has a lot of ways that he can help this team.”

Mavs guard Max Christie, who shot 40.4 percent from long distance last season and is a career 38.6 percent shooter from downtown, said the advice he would give Gafford when he’s tossing up three-pointers is to launch them with confidence.

“He worked on it all summer and his shot looks great,” Christie said. “So, every time he shoots it, just believe it’s going in. And if he misses it, just forget about it and shoot the next one.”

Gafford also would like to forget about last year when he was in and out of the lineup due to injuries, thus preventing him from establishing any type of consistent rhythm.

“It was a lot last year,” he said. “It was a lot of negativity, it was a lot of things that I was telling myself that I felt that I wasn’t able to do, so it was a lot of self-doubt I would say.

“(I’m) just taking that next step into just being a man, a husband, soon to be father of two — I’m working on that, of course — and really just in general a brother and a son. I’m just trying to be the best that I can be on a day-to-day basis.”

From a family perspective, Gafford made a move during the offseason that he’s always had on his bucket list.

“I moved my mom to Texas with me,” he said. “I always love my hometown (of El Dorado, Ark.). I’ll never forget where I come from.

“But wanting to change the scenery for other people that brought you into this world was always my main focus. That’s my main goal, so moving her closer to me (was the) biggest achievement that I could possibly talk about.”

May, in his first year as an NBA coach after guiding Michigan to the NCAA title last year, knows Gafford has the skills to be a difference-maker in the middle for the Mavs. And he’s going to do whatever he can to help him cross the finish line.

“When we started studying him this summer we dove into the numbers and he’s one of the best finishers around the rim in the league,” May said. “And then you watch him and his ability to score quickly, score through contact, move the ball around, it’s something he already can hang his hat on.

“We’re just trying to add a little more to his game as far as it being a play-making decision maker on the perimeter, and also in our words he’ll be a connector on offense. And then just getting him to play more efficiently.”

In order for him to play more efficiently, Gafford knows he has to find a way to remain injury-free.

“My goal for this season is to stay healthy, 100 percent,” he said. “I want to play a full 82-game season. I don’t want any setbacks, any obstacles, and if there are any setbacks or any obstacles, I’m more prepared to really just take those head-on.

“I’m just trying to take that next step as a player, build my craft, be somewhat of a leader. Not necessarily a vocal leader, but with my work ethic. Just come in every day, put my head down and just be the best that I can be.”

While Gafford is busy trying to be the best he can be, he’ll be in a room of centers that include Dereck Lively II, Moussa Cisse, Dwight Powell, Santi Aldama and Morez Johnson Jr. The stiff competition between teammates, Gafford insists, will only make the Mavs become even more proficient.

“It gives us the ability to make each other better,” he said. “Whenever I talk to D-Live, of course I tell him every time it doesn’t matter who starts, it doesn’t matter who comes off the bench. As long as we’re coming in and making an impact on the game, that enhances our ability to win games."

With superstars Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg ready to lead the charge for the Mavs, whatever they get from Gafford is just icing on the cake.

“We learn from each other (and) we’re trying to build that chemistry with each other so we can be able to piggy-back off of each other whenever it comes to our times on the floor,” Gafford said of the team’s centers. “So, I would say day-in and day-out it helps us a lot 100 percent, because it pushes us just to be the best players that we can be.

“If we have a sense of competition and if we want to push past each other, that gives us all that competitive edge to come in every day and just work our tails off to really just be the best players that we can possibly be in this league.”

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Daniel Gafford on last year's injury-riddled season: 'I felt like I was at my worst'

Lauren Wyatt

School is back in session. Summer vacation may be over, but the only shade of blue Dallas ISD students are feeling this week is Mavs blue.

On the heels of hosting 10 weeks of summer hoop, dance and GEM camps across North Texas, the Dallas Mavericks are once again showing up for the next generation, casting a wide net to support back-to-school efforts.

The Mavs have been popping up at community school supply distributions since the start of August, teaming up with For Oak Cliff, Target, UnitedHealthcare, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Texas State Representative Rafael Anchía to outfit students with everything needed for their next chapters.

“The Mavericks show up, and we’ll continue to show up,” said Mavs President Ethan Casson. “Our role is to serve the community in which we work, live and play. But serving that community — at its core — is our children.

“I think the first day of school represents the beginning of the beginning. The work isn’t just about one morning. The work is about how we impact these schools day in and day out throughout the school year.”

That promise is best illustrated through the team’s Adopt-A-School program.

For six years, the Mavs have supported students and staff at Adelle Turner Elementary School, addressing needs from top to bottom.

Whether it’s buying new library books, renovating the gymnasium, installing drinking fountains, celebrating field day or Teacher Appreciation Week, the multi-year partnership has helped Adelle Turner improve to a B-rated campus, with rising education scores across the board.

The program’s quick success made expansion inevitable. The Mavs extended the Adopt-A-School model to Royce West Leadership Academy and James Madison High School, partnerships now entering their third year.

Royce West is looking to match Adelle Turner’s growth.

“Our goals for this school year are to be a B-rated campus, open our digital lab, get 100% of eighth grade students to the collegiate academy, and help all my students rise to the next level,” said Monnique Banks, principal at Royce West Leadership Academy.

But the work to prepare students for a successful school year didn’t begin when the first bell rang.

Through the Mavs Slam Dunk into Summer Learning initiative, the Mavericks teamed up with Dallas ISD to help students keep learning all summer long, providing math flash cards and books to students across the district.

Like the students, Mavs center Daniel Gafford used the summer to get better, too.

After making his Adelle Turner morning-announcement debut last year, Gafford returned to campus Tuesday ready to show off the results of an offseason spent sharpening his delivery.

“It was fun because I think I’ve done the school announcements maybe once in my lifetime throughout school, and I was a little shy to do it,” Gafford said. “Doing it here, I didn’t stutter as much. I did good this year. Last year I needed some work, so I took notes and I locked in this year.”

Gafford joined forces with Mavs leadership, Champ, Mavs Man, the ManiAACs and D-Town Crew to welcome students at Adelle Turner and Royce West, handing out school supplies, visiting classrooms and bringing plenty of Mavs energy to the first day.

For Gafford, helping students start the year equipped with everything they need also brought back memories of his own first days of school.

“I always remember going school supply shopping, and every year we always had this one sheet of paper, and it had the list of everything we needed,” Gafford said. “You wanted to get the best stuff, but at the same time, Mom, she was working two jobs and trying to make sure we had everything that we needed, so we just got whatever we were able to get.

“I cherish those memories because I wouldn’t be the person that I am today without that. So I always hold that in my back pocket.”

From summer learning materials and community supply distributions to long-term investments inside Dallas ISD schools, the first day of class represents just one piece of the Mavericks’ commitment to students across North Texas.

The backpacks are packed and the morning announcements have been delivered. Now, it’s time to get to work.

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Mavericks Show Up for Students Across North Texas

Watch Daniel Gafford dominate the paint all season long for the Dallas Mavericks! From thunderous dunks and clutch blocks to nonstop energy on both ends of the floor, relive the Landlord's biggest moments and best highlights from the 25-26 season. DALLAS MAVERICKS on Social Media: ► Follow us X: / dallasmavs ► Like us Facebook: / dallasmavs ► Follow us Instagram: / dallasmavs ► Follow us TikTok: / dallasmavs For more updates check us out on Mavs.com: https://www.mavs.com

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Daniel Gafford 2025-26 Full Season Highlights

DALLAS MAVERICKS on Social Media: ► Follow us X: / dallasmavs ► Like us Facebook: / dallasmavs ► Follow us Instagram: / dallasmavs ► Follow us TikTok: / dallasmavs For more updates check us out on Mavs.com: https://www.mavs.com