Mavericks' Jason Kidd gets brutally honest on Daniel Gafford's offensive role
11/21/2024 01:59 PM
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks will be without Luka Doncic for at least the next week due to a wrist injury. The Mavs will need players to step up around Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson. One player who has made an immense impact throughout the season is Daniel Gafford, as the veteran center is currently averaging a career-high 12.5 points per game.
“I think he’s taking advantage of starting and also he’s taking full advantage of coming off the bench for us,” Kidd said of Gafford after practice on Thursday. “We play to him, I think, a little bit more than we have in the past.”
Gafford is leading the league in field goal percentage as of this story’s writing. The 26-year-old is efficient from the field to say the least, given his 70.8 percent field goal shooting mark.
“I’m just getting better as the days go by,” Gafford said on Thursday. “Just trying to have more patience down the stretch and just trying to be able to upgrade my offensive side of the game just to be able to make plays honestly. There’s going to be a lot of teams… blitzing guys off of screens and stuff, so there’s going to be a lot of passes that are thrown to the pocket. We just have to figure out ways to make plays and that’s kind of like the next step that I’m trying to take honestly.”
Daniel Gafford explains important Mavericks’ change
Gafford played well for the most part during the 2023-24 season, averaging 11.2 points per outing with Dallas after getting traded to the Mavs from the Washington Wizards. Gafford is seemingly seeing an offensive role increase, though, something that has helped him to take the next step from a scoring standpoint.
“The trust that the guys are giving me,” Gafford said of what has changed from last year to this year. “You know, running plays for the bigs… the trust that guys are giving the bigs… We’re taking that next step into including pretty much everybody on the floor.”
The Mavericks will need Gafford to continue playing at a high level throughout the season. They will need him to play at an especially high level during their upcoming three-game road trip amid Doncic’s absence.
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