Dallas, TX
Former Mavericks Prospect Opens Up on Struggles in Dallas
When Willie Cauley-Stein entered the NBA, some scouts saw him as a Tyson Chandler-like player who could patrol the paint as a shot-blocker and be an effective lob finisher on offense. That potential paired with an NBA-ready frame led him to be selected 6th overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2015 NBA Draft.
His last two seasons with the Kings were promising, averaging 12.3 PPG and 7.7 RPG while starting 139 games. Those seasons never led to the contract extension he thought would come and that started a downward spiral for the big man from Kentucky.
Cauley-Stein recently interviewed with Kyle Tucker of The Athletic (paywall) following his play in the Throwback Tournament, a reunion of sorts of former college stars. In this interview, he opens up on the struggles he faced while in the NBA in his personal life because he “could easily be dead.”
READ MORE: One Thing This Young Player Must Improve for the Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks traded for Cauley-Stein in January 2020, acquiring him from the Golden State Warriors for a second-round pick. At just 26 years old, the Mavs hoped they could unlock some of the talent hidden inside. He’d then sign a 2-year, $8.4 million contract with an option on the second year before the 2020-21 season but would be waived before the contract could expire after taking a “leave of absence.”
While on that leave of absence, Cauley-Stein was checked into an inpatient rehab center for substance abuse for 65 days. He had been buying fake pills, according to Cauley-Stein and Tucker. What he thought was Percocet was actually pills laced with fentanyl and he was “taking hundreds of them, for months and years.”
While he was with the Warriors following his Kings stint, three of his friends were shot and killed in his house in Sacramento, which started his downward mental health spiral and he turned to pills to cope. Soon after that, the grandmother who raised him was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and he “could not bear to watch her wither away,” causing him to fall further into the pills.
He checked into rehab 6 days after her death and told Tucker “The team could tell I had no energy, no love, no personality, no nothing. The drugs took everything from me. I think I’m playing hard, balling, doing my thing, and then I hear, ‘He doesn’t look like he loves basketball.’”
Thanks to a newfound love of golf and wanting to do right by his three kids, Cauley-Stein is now clean and looking to return to the NBA. He performed well for La Familia in the Throwback Tournament, even winning Defensive Player of the Year. He most recently played for the Houston Rockets’ G-League affiliate in 2022-23 and in 20 games for an Italian Club last season, breaking the Europe Cup record for rebounds in a game.
For more on his journey to recovery and finding happiness again, it’s highly recommended to check out Kyle Tucker’s full-length piece on The Athletic.
READ MORE: Shrewd Move By Mavericks Led To Heavy Criticism For Rival Team
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Jeff Kolb and Sam Gannon welcome Cowboys insiders Clarence Hill (All City Dallas) and Calvin Watkins (Dallas Morning News) for a hilarious breakdown of the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. Giving insight, arguments, and plenty of laughs as two of the best Dallas Cowboys writers in the business go head-to-head on what Dallas should do next.
Dallas, TX
New video of Lake Dallas explosion draws focus on order decades ago to remove old plastic pipes
The search for the next general manager or president of basketball operations of the Dallas Mavericks has begun. They terminated Nico Harrison in November, which was about nine months too late, and gave any available candidates clear notice that they were open for business.
The plan was always to wait until after the season to start the search. While names popped up as the season reached an end, they didn’t begin turning over the staff until the Monday after the season ended. However, Dallas Mavericks fans are not going to like how the team is going about the search.
Patrick Dumont Leading Search for General Manager
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the Mavericks are not hiring a search firm in their hunt for a new lead executive. Instead, team governor Patrick Dumont is “acting as his own point person.”
This is an… interesting decision, to say the least. Dumont is not a basketball person whatsoever, and most organizations usually hire a search firm. The Chicago Bulls hired one as they look for their replacement for Arturas Karnisovas. Just because a firm is hired doesn’t mean a team will listen, though.
The Mavericks hired a firm in their last search for a GM. They let Donnie Nelson go in 2021 after a long tenure with the Mavs. Instead of listening to the firm, though, Mark Cuban ignored it to hire Nico Harrison, who had no previous NBA front office experience. Harrison had been an executive with Nike, which gave him connections with players like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and plenty of others.
For a while, that seemed to be working out okay. While he still had some questionable transactions, such as trading for Christian Wood and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they were still able to make a run to the NBA Finals in 2024. Then, he blew it all up, trading away Luka Doncic for an older and injured Anthony Davis, and the team hasn’t been the same since.
It’s imperative that the Mavericks get this hire correct. The interim Co-GM setup with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley has performed admirably, but the 2026 NBA Draft is important for the Mavs to get right. It’s their best chance to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star, as they don’t own their first-round pick again until 2031 after this.
Hiring the right GM could help bring in more draft capital by bringing in bad contracts or flipping veterans into picks.
Dumont was able to convince Rick Welts, a Hall of Famer, to come out of retirement to be the CEO and lead the charge for a new arena. Maybe Dumont pulls another rabbit out of his hat for the GM.
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