P.J. Washington ‘Very Important X Factor’ for Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are coming off a somewhat surprising NBA season in which they came up narrowly short of winning the 2023-24 championship, after their series loss to the Boston Celtics.

But with an off-season full of new additions, most notably that of Klay Thompson, it is actually one of their standouts from last season, P.J. Washington, who league insider Mark Medina touts to be the ‘X Factor’ in helping determine whether Dallas could reach the Finals for the second consecutive season.

Mavericks’ Quest To Return to the NBA Finals

Added Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall among others

After a stellar year in which they sent shockwaves around the NBA and made it to the Finals as the fifth seed in the Western Conference, the Mavericks decided to go all-in on making another title push, being one of the most active teams in the off-season in order to keep up with the extremely competitive West landscape, and provide premier talent around their superstars, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

While the addition of sharpshooter Klay Thompson via a sign-and-trade from the Golden State Warriors was considered their blockbuster signing of the summer, there is an argument to be made that their best off-season move was acquiring wing Naji Marshall in free-agency.

After signing him to a three-year, $27 million deal, he is seen as the perfect 3-and-D replacement for Derrick Jones Jr., with him averaging 38.7 percent from three-point distance last season, and 42.0 percent from corner threes, more than that of both Jones Jr., who is now with the Los Angeles Clippers, and P.J. Washington, who was widely touted as a standout performer for the Mavericks last season.

The Mavericks further bolstered their roster with the addition of Spencer Dinwiddie in free agency, who is now back for his second stint with the team, having been crucial in their 2022 run to the Western Conference Finals, while they also swung a trade with the Detroit Pistons for Quentin Grimes, who has shown he can be a solid shooter and defender in the right system.

As such, there is a lot of excitement – and deservedly so – brewing around the Mavericks, which has them believing internally that they could go one step further next season and clinch the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Washington Has ‘Always Had the Right Mindset’

Medina believes that Washington is a player that is ‘hungry’ to continue developing his game, and that his mentality has never wavered.

The journalist also recalls a conversation he had with the power forward last season, whereby he spoke about how he has had to go from being one of the leading options on the Charlotte Hornets to being a contributor and knock-down shooter for the Mavericks, with him having to adjust his game to fit that.

Washington Has ‘No Weaknesses’ Defensively

While he has always been a valuable option offensively, though he needs to become even more consistent, Medina feels Washington has no weaknesses on the defensive end of the ball, with him being able to defend from virtually any area on the hardwood to a good level – something the journalist feels will be integral if they are to reach the NBA finals or even go that one step further and win a championship.

An Underrated Two-Way Player?

Washington stepped up considerably on defense in the post-season

There was a reason that the Mavericks opted to trade for Washington at last season’s deadline – they felt he could significantly contribute to the team on both sides of the ball as they geared up for a playoff run.

In his 29 regular season games for his new team, the 26-year-old very quickly became Dallas’ fourth-leading scorer, behind Dončić (33.9), Irving (25.6) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (14.4), averaging 11.7 points shooting at a 42.1 percent clip, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals.

In the playoffs, he would become the third scoring outlet, in which he recorded 13.0 points on 42.7 percent shooting from the field, along with 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists.

But it was his work on defense which was standout for the Mavericks.

Prior to him coming over at the deadline, the Mavericks ranked 22nd in the league with a 117.4 defensive rating, but in the span from his arrival up until the end of the regular season, they had an improved defensive rating of 110.5, which was ranked eighth in the Association.

This is largely as a result of Washington holding his opponents to just 43.7 percent shooting from the field overall, which was 4.6 percent less than their average of 48.3 percent shooting, with him particularly effective when defending two-pointers, in which he held his opponents to just 45.7 percent shooting, down 9.1 percent from their 54.9 percent average.

This trend continued in the playoffs, whereby the former Kentucky Wildcat held his opponents to 47.5 percent shooting from two-point field goals, a decrease of 8.3 percent, while overall, he managed to restrict his opponents to 45.2 percent shooting, down 4.4 percent from their 49.6 percent average field goal percentage.

Undoubtedly, Washington is a crucial thread of the Mavericks’ defensive fabric, and they will be relying on their power forward to be just as consistent next season in what will be his first full season with the team, as they seek to make a return to the NBA Finals.

While they aren’t necessarily highly-touted favorites, they were far from that last season, and yet, they proved to everyone that they are built to make a deep post-season run, so don’t rule anything out this early.

All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.