Vsevolod Ishchenko

Eddie Sefko

As the Mavericks wrap up summer league, it’s time to look at what we saw and what we learned during the NBA’s biggest offseason event for players.

Remember, while rookies and other hopefuls to make an NBA, G League or foreign team in the coming season were playing in the Summer League, a lot of the league’s proven veterans were attending those games. And while they were in Las Vegas, they were holding some veteran workouts on their own.

It’s an NBA convention. Maybe not on par with All-Star Weekend, but a huge gathering of NBA executives, players, league representatives and agents.

So here’s our key takeaways from the extravaganza:

Change your Rez-ervations: If anybody had concerns about the Mavericks drafting Morez Johnson Jr., you can ditch any of those apprehensions.

The guy they simply call “Rez” had two impactful games to start the summer league, then shut it down the rest of the way. What’s interesting is that the Mavericks surprised a lot of people by drafting Johnson with the No. 9 pick last month.

Many thought they would take whoever was left from the five guards that were expected to go from picks five through nine. But rather than take the fifth of those players, they went with a strong big man who also has a feathery touch.

The 6-11 Johnson can step out to the perimeter if he gets the chance, but his biggest asset is around the rim, especially at the defensive end. He gets offended if people score on him. He tries to block every shot. Succeeds a lot of the time.

The early verdict is that Johnson is going to be a mainstay for the Mavericks, even as a rookie.

Who are the point guards? The play of Sergio De Larrea and Vsevolod Ishchenko should give Mavericks’ fans some level of comfort about who will play behind Kyrie Irving (and perhaps alongside him, at times).

De Larrea proved he can dish the ball with anybody. He has all the passes. If he has enough of the shots to go with those passes, he will be a steal with the 25th pick in June’s draft that they acquired from the LA Lakers.

Ishchenko probably is a bit more of a project, but he showed enough toughness (belying his boyish looks) to show that he can handle NBA physicality.

At the very least, coach Dusty May has options going into training camp at point guard.

What to do with the athleticism? The Mavericks already have Moussa Cisse on a two-way contract. But it’s hard to ignore what former Mesquite Poteet standout Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu brings to the table.

Kao, as he is called for obvious reasons, has been on the radar of general manager Mike Schmitz for years and he did enough in Las Vegas to earn a trip to training camp, unless he gets a better offer from another team.

He was the recipient of a handful of lob passes that he converted into rim-jarring dunks. His vertical leap is legendary, with the ability to touch the top of the backboard on a good day.

And then there’s Tobi Lawal, who was the 48th pick of the draft last month. Like Kao, he can leap with the best of them. He had several notable moments during the summer league.

Flagg looking the part: Cooper Flagg is the Mavericks’ superstar, and he looked fit on top of keeping a low profile. It’s almost like he’s sitting on a secret for the coming season.

We know all about the talent Flagg possesses. He was a worthy rookie of the year. Now, it’s a matter of what he brings in his second season.

The guess here is that he’ll be better at everything – especially with a stronger supporting group around him.

Looking ahead: The biggest unknown as the Mavericks set their sights on training camp in less than two months is Dereck Lively II.

The surgery to fix his foot was a success. But it was complicated enough that he still hasn’t done a lot of heavy work on the foot. The Mavericks are a different team when they have a healthy Lively. It’s going to be an important storyline for them heading into camp.

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Morez Johnson Jr. tops our takeaways from NBA Summer League

Dwain Price

LAS VEGAS – Summer league play started very slow for the Dallas Mavericks. But they finished it with a bang.

After losing their first two games in Sin City to the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, the Mavs re-grouped and showed some promising signs while winning their final three games against the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder and New York Knicks. Before players went their separate ways following Friday’s convincing 110-88 victory over the Knicks, the Mavs looked back with fond memories over the summer league’s 3-2 record.

“Our goal was to win, and I think we did it,” center Jorge Diaz Graham said. “We struggled a little bit at the start, but it was normal – it was our first games.

“I feel like once we knew each other a little better we just got so much better and we started having more fun. We just figured out each other, we started knowing who’s doing what and we just played our best basketball at the end.”

Rookie Morez Johnson Jr., the No. 9 overall pick in last month’s NBA Draft, only played the first two games and averaged 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. That includes scoring 27 points, grabbing eight rebounds, making three steals and blocking two shots in the summer league opener against the Warriors.

Ryan Nembhard, undrafted in 2025, also played just the first two games and averaged 13.5 points and eight assists. That includes a 15-point, 11-assist game against the Warriors.

As the summer league progressed, the Mavs picked up steam and players like Sergio De Larrea, Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, John Poulakidas, Darin Green Jr., Vsevolod Ishchenko, Jaden Springer, Tyler Smith, Tobi Lawal and Graham stepped up their games with the increased amount of minutes that came their way.

De Larrea’s finest moment came when he collected nine rebounds and 14 assists during Thursday’s 97-87 win over the Thunder. He also finished with 16 points and 12 assists in the 96-88 win over the Grizzlies.

Both games represented a masterful playmaking performance by De Larrea, who displayed some exceptional passing skills and an uncanny feel for the game.

“I think the next step for him will probably be I think a lot of teams will be so scared of him playing in pick-and-roll against coverage that he’ll face a lot of more switching in the regular season and there will be opportunities for him to create one-on-one and to go finish at the rim and finish contested layups,” summer league coach Joe Boylan said. “I think that’s going to be the next step in his growth. Just the ability to break down his man and go in and finish contested layups.”

Akobundu-Ehiogu’s best game came when he used his amazing leaping abilities to turn five passes near the rim into picturesque alley-oop dunks. Meanwhile, Poulakidas scored 37 points and converted 10-of-19 three-pointers in the final two games against the Thunder and Knicks.

Also, Smith completely turned the game against the Knicks upside down when he nailed four three-pointers in a little over two minutes in the pivotal third quarter. Overall, he scored 21 points and was 6-of-12 from three-point land against the Knicks.

“Early on I didn’t play much,” Smith said. “You’ve got guys in this league that get paid a lot of money to come off the bench and knock down a few shots and come right back out the game. I showed coach that I can do that as well.

“Just showing coach that I can play at this level. Whether it happens or not, just showing him that I can compete at the highest level.”

When he was on the floor with De Larrea, Smith knew there would be more opportunities to get buckets since the rookie from Spain is a pass-first point guard.

“Playing with Sergio, he made it a lot easier on the court,” Smith said. “When you have 14 assists and nine rebounds, there’s not many rebounds out there for me to get when the point guard is out there getting (nine) of them.

“But like we say, we want to play fast. And 14 assists kind of helps me out as well.”

Boylan was particularly pleased with the 6-11 twins – Guillermo and Jorge Diaz Graham.

“I think their ability to shoot, dribble, pass, bring length to the defensive end, block shots, shrink the court, their personality, their character, how they cheer for their teammates, those are guys you want to have around,” Boylan said. “I’m so happy that they’re around and that they’re in the program right now. I think those guys have major potential.”

Jorge was especially pleased with what he was able to show the Mavs’ coaches. After scoring just three points and playing only 13 minutes in the first two games, he had 11 points, 10 rebounds and two steals against Memphis, and 15 points, 12 boards and five against the Knicks.

“I was not expecting anything that happened this week,” Jorge said. “I appreciate the Dallas Mavericks and the entire coaching staff for supporting me and giving me the confidence to go out there and play my basketball, which is what I did.

“So, I’m super happy with what I did and I’m super grateful.”

The Mavs as a whole are also super happy they were able to end summer league play with a three-game winning streak.

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Mavs start slow, but ended summer league play on a roll

Dallas Mavericks

Dallas acquires Russian guard from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for cash considerations

DALLAS (June 24, 2026) – The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have acquired the draft rights to the 56th overall pick Vsevolod Ishchenko (vSEV-o-lod ish-CHEN-co) from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for cash considerations.

Ishchenko (6-8, 218) averaged 8.7 points (.516 FG%, .463 3FG%, .801 FT%), 4.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals in 23.7 minutes per game in 43 games for Russia’s Lokomotiv Kuban in 2025-26. He was named a VTB United League All-Star and took home the league’s Young Player of the Year award.&nbsp;

The 21-year-old earned two VTB Youth April MVP awards for Lokomotiv Kuban-2, where he averaged 16.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.6 steals in 30.0 minutes per game as an 18-year-old.

Vsevolod Ishchenko

Morez Johnson Jr. tops our takeaways from NBA Summer League

Mavs start slow, but ended summer league play on a roll

Mavericks Acquire Draft Rights to 56th Overall Pick Vsevolod Ishchenko