PJ Washington became a beloved figure for the Dallas Mavericks after the 2024 trade that brought the passionate forward over from the Charlotte Hornets for Grant Williams and a protected 2027 first-round pick. PJ established himself as a vocal leader of the team, an ever-reliable defensive presence, and a hometown hero who played a vital part in the story of the 2025–2026 Dallas Mavericks.

Washington played a career low 56 games this past season, which fell just short of last year’s total of 57 games, and started 53 of those games. Despite spotty availability due to enduring ankle issues throughout the season, PJ put up counting stats very similar to last year’s, averaging 14 points, seven total rebounds, just shy of two assists, and one steal and block each per game on the season. As the originally intended “tall ball” starting lineup morphed early to accommodate injuries to both Dereck Lively II and Anthony Davis within the first seven games, PJ Washington’s role and involvement both bloated to an unmanageable degree. The typically off-ball forward was asked to create for himself more often alongside other inexperienced shot creators like rookie “point guard” Cooper Flagg, Hall of Fame corner-sitter Klay Thompson, and the inexperienced Naji Marshall. This led to many ugly offensive possessions, early shot clock heaves with no advantage created, and horrible floor balance that Washington contributed to by averaging a near career low 32.5% from three.

Despite scoring points seemingly through sheer volume of minutes and attempts, PJ did still provide real value in one part of his original role. The often out-of-position forward contested nine shots at the rim per 100 possessions, causing opponents to shoot 7% less than expected on those field goal attempts (which is good for the 83rd percentile at his position group) while only fouling on 8.4% of his rim contests (which is in the 90th percentile for his position group). When slotted in his proper role on defense as a weak-side rim protector, PJ was still stellar at blocking, altering, and even deterring shots at the rim for the Mavericks.

Choosing the best game from Washington’s season was surprisingly difficult given the up-and-down nature of his play as the result of having extra responsibility foisted upon him by the roster Nico Harrison constructed. I almost chose a mid-March 20-point, 11-rebound, and five-steal Sunday afternoon game against the supposedly competitive Cleveland Cavaliers, but even at the time, that felt more like the Cavaliers laying down and having a lazy Sunday than the Mavericks rising and claiming a statement win amid an abysmal season.

The game that I’ll choose 23 point, 12-rebound, three assist, two block, and one-steal performance on the road against the Houston Rockets in early November. In typical PJ Washington fashion, this game came after one of his worst shooting performances of the season. Cooper Flagg and PJ each spent most of the previous game against the Detroit Pistons being hounded by a star Thompson, Ron Holland, and Beef Stew with the chairs of Mexico City, basketball fans ringing in the background. In this game, the Mavericks face the other Thompson twin, and gave Amen Thompson all he could handle despite suffering a loss to the Rockets in the end.

After signing a healthy contract extension just before this past season began, PJ will be under contract with the Mavericks for the next four years for roughly $89 million over that span. His salary for the upcoming year will be $20 million.

It would take a severe misunderstanding of how he has succeeded on both ends of the court or the rosiest tinted glasses one could find to not see that the Mavericks have come to a fork in the road with PJ Washington after drafting last year‘s rookie of the year, Cooper Flagg. PJ Washington is best played at forward. Flagg can play on the wing, but has been most productive at forward. Washington’s most effective Defensive role is as a low-man help defender that rotates over from the weak side to break up rim attempts, switch onto uncovered bigs, and secure tough defensive rebounds that kickstart the Mavericks’ fastbreak. Cooper Flagg’s Best defensive role is much the same. Both players suffered offensively from the lack of consistent playmaking and shot creation within the Mavericks’ guard room this season, but the lineup data suggests that both players were more effective when on the court without each other. 

The Mavericks posted a -2.4 net rating in 1254 minutes played with Flagg and without Washington. With Washington and no flag, the Mavericks posted a -4.4 net rating in 683 minutes. That rating sank to -5.8 in the 709 minutes neither player was on the floor, but plummeted to an untenable -6.9 in the 961 minutes they shared the court.

I’ve appreciated the prodigal son story that was PJ Washington’s early tenure with the Mavericks, where he played a key role in a March to the 2024 NBA finals and appeared poised to take a big step as a player early in the next season. However, that story was balled up and cast aside by the previous general manager of the team. PJ Washington is no longer an ideally aged core piece to a contending team looking to get back in the NBA finals. He is now 27 years old veteran forward making over $20 million a year on a team revolving around a player who won’t be able to legally drink until a year and a half from now. For as awesome as many of us believe Cooper Flagg to be, and as soon as we believe, you will be ready to make his presence felt among the winning teams that reached the postseason, the writing could be on the wall as soon as draft day as to what direction the team will be moving in going forward, and what that means for the veterans on this squad not named Kyrie Irving, and possibly even him.

PJ Washington came into the 2025-2026 NBA season knowing that the Mavericks had just drafted his positional replacement with the number one overall pick a few months prior. Whether he had truly accepted that or not was unclear, but the veteran embraced the rookie as well as could be expected under the circumstances. He set out to fulfill the innumerable insane on-court tasks that the coaching staff presented to him with all the professionalism you could reasonably expect and weathered the Dallas fans’ smoldering anger that was always intended for the team’s basketball operations, but inevitably was felt by the players as well. This was a weird season for everyone,e and frankly, not the way that anyone involved would’ve liked to have seen his potentially last season in a Mavericks uniform unfold, but his lack of three-point shooting consistency, inability to defend smaller wings or guards, and deficient shot creation spell the end of his time here. We would do well to remember it fondly, because the NBA and sports at large rarely allow for this kind of Hometown kid success story to end as well as this is likely going to.