Dusty May admits he does not know the NBA yet as he starts his first season with the Mavericks

Dusty May will coach his first NBA game on Wednesday, and the new Dallas Mavericks coach is not pretending to have the league figured out. Speaking to the team’s website before the opener, May declined to set any win target for his roster and said the length of the season, not the level of the opponent, is what he is still learning to manage.

That candor matters because Dallas handed one of its most important jobs to a coach with no NBA bench experience. May, 49, was hired in late June, a few months after his Michigan team went 37-3 and won the national championship. If he ever wins an NBA title, he would join Larry Brown as the only coach to win both, Brown having done it with Kansas in 1988 and Detroit in 2004.

“I don’t know the league well enough,” May said when asked about expectations. His goal for the group is simpler: a connected team that fans enjoy watching, built on the belief that the habits that win in college, getting good shots and winning the small moments, also travel to the professional level.

What May says he is still learning

The biggest change, by his own account, is volume. A college schedule rarely asks a staff to stay level through a long losing stretch or a hot streak in the same month, and May described the 82-game season as a test of preparation and emotional balance more than tactics. He also said Dallas will need more variety than his college teams carried. “We need to have a curve ball. We probably need to have a slider,” he said, explaining that one or two base looks will not survive a full NBA season.

May added that a few current NBA head coaches, men he knew before they reached the league, have helped him plan his daily routine rather than his schemes. Atlanta coach Quin Snyder, whose Hawks beat Dallas on Friday, called him a friend and said good coaching carries from one level to the next.

The players sound sold. Kyrie Irving described his relationship with May as a partnership in which the coach expects him to lead the younger players more than ever. Cooper Flagg, last season’s Rookie of the Year, praised how quickly May has adjusted some of his college ideas, and Daniel Gafford pointed to his energy. Rookie Morez Johnson Jr., who played for May on the Michigan title team, followed him to Dallas.

THE BLUEPRINT: Head Coach Dusty May.
 
 #MFFL pic.twitter.com/nPbTlTuUCf

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) October 17, 2026

The preseason finale showed the work ahead

Friday’s exhibition finale was a reminder of how much is left to sort out. The Hawks won 135-111 at American Airlines Center, led for more than 46 minutes and built a 29-point cushion while making 21 threes. May started Irving, Flagg, Zaccharie Risacher, P.J. Washington Jr. and Gafford. Flagg played a team-high 29:48 and posted 26 points and 12 rebounds; Risacher added 18 on 8-of-12 shooting and Irving scored 18 in 24:36, hitting 5 of 7 from deep.

The bench told the story of a coach still experimenting. Sergio De Larrea logged 25:17, the most of any Dallas reserve, while Naji Marshall, Caleb Martin and Johnson all played between 14 and 20 minutes. Johnson grabbed seven rebounds in 14:03. Dallas lost the rebounding battle 55-42 and sent Atlanta to the free-throw line 45 times.

What comes next

May’s NBA debut comes on Wednesday, October 21, when the Mavericks visit the Houston Rockets at 8:30 p.m. ET. Follow it live in the Game Center, and keep up with the roster on the Mavericks team page.