Of all the basketball sins committed by the Mavs coaching staff so far this season, underutilizing Klay’s gravity for Coop’s development might be the most unforgivable. Klay has the most gravity – on & off ball – on the roster & Coop’s played just 32.7% of his mins w/Klay on the floor w/him.

% of Coop's total mins played this season with the below players on the floor with him:

• Max: 60.4%
• Naji: 54.8%
• PJ: 48.2%
• BWill: 39.5%
• AD: 33.6%
• Klay: 32.7%
• Nembhard: 30.7%
• Gafford: 28.5%
• DLo: 19%
• Powell: 16.8%
• Hardy: 10.5%
• Caleb: 9.8%

For context re: the significance of Klay's 10.1 average overall gravity score, the 14th highest in the league, here are just some of the 252 players with lower overall gravity scores:

To be clear, these stats have been calculated from *this season's possessions only*, ie yes, Klay does, in fact, still scare opposing defenses more (and in the vast majority of cases, to a significantly higher degree) than the following players, to name just a few, despite playing just 21.7 mins per game and averaging 11 ppg on career worst percentages because he never has a passing PG on the floor with him (ie I don’t count BWill as a true PG in that he's hunting his own shot first and foremost and not looking to set other guys up like a passing PG like Nembhard does).

• Austin Reaves: 8.4
• Jalen Brunson: 7.8
• Jamal Murray: 7.7
• Jaylen Brown: 7.6
• Brandon Ingram: 7.1
• Pascal Siakam: 6.2
• Jaren Jackson, Jr.: 5.7
• De'Aaron Fox: 5.6
• Paolo Banchero: 5.1
• Franz Wagner: 4
• Alperen Sengun: 3
• VJ Edgecombe: 2.2
• Chet Holmgren: 1.8
• Julius Randle: 0.3
• KAT: -0.3
• Jimmy Butler: -1.2
• Scottie Barnes: -1.7
• Stephon Castle: -3.0
• Amen Thompson: -4.8

Note: I'm guessing AD hasn't played enough yet this season for his gravity to be quantified, which is why he's not listed in the table as his stats aren't available (same goes for Nembhard, Gaff, DLive, etc.). For reference, there are 266 players for whom there are Gravity stats available, which is what leads me to the conclusion that it's a playing time/games played threshold reason for why the aforementioned Mavs aren’t among the available player stats.

That said, Coop has played marginally more of his minutes alongside AD as he has Klay so the underutilization of Klay is no less egregious regardless of how much gravity AD may generate, were his gravity stats available, as Coop hasn't gotten to be on the floor enough with AD & his gravity to offset how much they’ve underutilized Klay when AD hasn’t been available.

The stats above and those in the screenshotted table of Mavs players are from the NBA's new Gravity metrics. Per their explainer of the metrics:

Gravity is a new way to quantify how much a player pulls defenders out of their normal assignments, essentially measuring how much attention they draw compared to what the spacing on the floor predicts.

In simple terms, Gravity tells us who forces defenses to react, even before they touch the ball.

Gravity is the NBA's first stat designed to quantify how much defensive pressure an offensive player draws both on and off the ball. Leveraging positional tracking data and powered by advanced Machine Learning models, Gravity scores show how much a player distorts a defense — opening driving or passing lanes, shifting rotations, and creating opportunities for teammates.

The NBA's optical tracking system uses 3D pose detection to track 29 points on every player's body, 60 times per second. Those detailed body-position coordinates fuel the Machine Learning model, allowing it to capture every movement and spatial relationship on the floor.

The Gravity model compares the defensive pressure a player would receive on average based on the location of the ball and their position on the floor (Expected Defensive Pressure Score) to the pressure they actually draw (Defensive Pressure Score). The model learns how defenders typically behave in each scenario, and measures deviations that signal defensive adjustments. The result is a Gravity differential that measures how much attention a player pulls from the defense beyond expectation.

Why does it matter? Gravity captures a player's ability to impact the game before the play even begins. It highlights players who generate high-value spacing, draw mismatches, and make their teammates' job easier — often without taking a shot.