Jason Kidd Is Officially an ESPN Analyst; Dusty May Inherits the Defense He Left Behind

The Mavericks' offseason bookkeeping is finally complete. On Oct. 15–16, Jason Kidd was formally announced as an ESPN studio analyst, closing out a five-season run in Dallas that ended in May when new president Masai Ujiri parted ways with him. The timing was tidy: Kidd's media rollout landed in the same week Dallas wrapped a 1-3 preseason and turned toward Wednesday's opener in Houston.

It also landed alongside a pile of retrospective commentary on Kidd's tenure. Whether or not that's fair, the more useful question for Dallas is what his successor actually inherited — and the preseason offered a blunt answer.

The same leaky defense showed up

Dusty May, hired straight off an NCAA championship at Michigan, spent October installing a more three-point-heavy offense, and the volume did tick up. The efficiency didn't. Dallas dropped its preseason opener 135-117 to Houston in Macao, then closed with a 135-111 loss to Atlanta in which May was direct: "We didn't guard the ball nearly as well as we're capable of."

That tracks with last season, when Dallas went 26-56, allowed 119.6 points per game, and finished 20th in defensive rating at 116.6. A points-based power rating put the Mavericks 22nd at minus-8.37, with an additional adjustment for missing Naji Marshall, P.J. Washington and Marvin Bagley III. The market's preseason expectation — a 34.5 win total at BetMGM — implies modest improvement rather than a leap.

Kyrie Irving's return is the real variable

The genuinely encouraging news came from China. Irving started against Houston in Macao and scored on a baseline reverse layup ten seconds into his first start in more than 19 months, after tearing his ACL on March 3, 2025. He missed all of last season. One preseason game proves nothing about a 33-year-old guard's durability, but the early returns suggested the burst is intact.

His presence matters most for Cooper Flagg. The second-year forward averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists on 46.8 percent shooting as a rookie, then closed the year on a tear: 25.6 points per game over his final ten, including 51- and 45-point nights. The obvious hole was the jumper — 29.5 percent from three — and the reported summer work on shot creation and range is exactly the right target. Flagg had 19 points in 19 minutes in the preseason opener.

Frontcourt questions remain unresolved

Santi Aldama's timeline for return from right knee surgery remains undefined as of this week, and May has offered little beyond acknowledgment. That's a real loss for a team that was already thin up front, since Aldama averaged 14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in 43 games last season. Moussa Cisse also exited a preseason game with an ankle issue.

Meanwhile the rotation is genuinely unsettled. May started rookie big man Morez Johnson Jr. in the preseason opener, a signal he's willing to trust the frontcourt youth immediately. Zaccharie Risacher — acquired from Atlanta, where he averaged 9.6 points and shot 36.8 percent from three — flashed but was inconsistent, and the coaching staff has been public about not handing him a starting job.

What Wednesday actually tells us

Opening on the road against a Houston team that went 52-30 and outscored opponents by 5.2 points per game is a harsh first exam for a first-time NBA head coach with a rebuilt roster and a point guard still shaking off 586 days of rust. The result matters less than the process: whether May's defensive messaging translates against a real offense, and whether Irving and Flagg look like a functioning partnership rather than two talented players sharing a floor.

Kidd is in a studio now, talking about other teams. The problem he left behind is still in Dallas, and it's May's to solve.