The Dallas Mavericks surprised some people when they took Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. 9th overall in the talented 2026 NBA Draft.
They already have a busy frontcourt, and they only added bodies there when they traded for Santi Aldama and matched the offer sheet for center Moussa Cisse.
Putting them with P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II (if he ever gets healthy), the growing Cooper Flagg, and the re-signed Dwight Powell makes it difficult to find too much playing time for the rookie.
New head coach Dusty May, who coached Johnson at Michigan, was asked about what role he envisions his rookie playing in, and while he wouldn’t get too specific, he was very high on Johnson.
“I know one of the things that makes him so valuable is he checks a lot of boxes,”May said at media day on Friday. “Whatever that moment needs, or that game needs, or what the team needs, he is adaptable. He transformed his game last year for us [Michigan] because of his adaptability, but the things that make ‘Rez, ‘Rez, are his tenacity, his heart, his physicality, doing whatever it takes to win and assist his teammates. I don’t know the specifics of what position yet, but I think he’ll find a way to be in the rotation, impacting winning.”
While you don’t always want to hear that the 9th overall pick will “find a way to be in the rotation,” Johnson does a lot well defensively. That alone should help him make an impact.
The frontcourt is deep, but with injuries to Lively and Aldama, that could leave some opportunity, even if Johnson is working his way back from his own injury, but the specifics of that are unknown as of now.
Because of his limited offensive game, Morez Johnson Jr. will probably be best as an undersized center. They could experiment with lineups with him and Aldama when they’re both healthy.
Aldama has the shooting ability to be on the perimeter on offense but the height to last down low on defense, while Johnson is a premier versatile defender on the perimeter and down low, but his offense is most refined to the paint right now.
The quicker Johnson can get used to shooting NBA threes and hit them consistently, the better this Mavericks team will be. He only attempted 35 threes at Michigan, but that’s a big step up after he didn’t take any in his freshman season.
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