The Dallas Mavericks hired a draft expert in Mike Schmitz to be their new GM alongside new team president Masai Ujiri, and Schmitz’s pedigree can easily be backed to Mavericks fans by looking at some of his old posts on X. Schmitz was previously a draft insider for ESPN before entering into NBA front offices, and in a post on X right after the 2018 NBA Draft, he ranked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the top point guard in the draft.

Love the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pick for the Clippers. I ranked him as the top PG in the draft because of his combination or size, length, feel and touch. https://t.co/xHnr3wMAvd

— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) June 22, 2018

While hindsight is 20/20 and Gilgeous-Alexander proved to be the top point guard in that draft and even the best player (over Luka Doncic) in the 2018 draft, this wasn’t the obvious consensus at the time. Gilgeous-Alexander was a lottery pick, sure, but he was selected 11th in the 2018 draft, behind other point guards like Trae Young and Collin Sexton.

Schmitz’s SGA prediction from 2018 should give Mavs fans confidence

Gilgeous-Alexander’s offensive game wasn’t close to as polished as it is in the current day, but Schmitz saw the vision of his ceiling given Gilgeous-Alexander’s combination of size, length, touch, and work ethic. Most people would’ve called Schmitz crazy for picking Gilgeous-Alexander over Sexton at the time, and especially Young, as Young had a prolific scoring season for the Oklahoma Sooners back in 2017-18.

This is the exact type of decision-maker the Mavericks need next to Ujiri, as Schmitz clearly has elite evaluation skills when it comes to prospects, particularly with point guards. This comes in handy given the Mavericks are in position to select a point guard or shooting guard in this coming draft, and it’s crucial they get this pick correct, considering they don’t fully control their own first-round draft picks until 2031 following this draft.

It’s far-fetched to say the Mavericks will find another Gilgeous-Alexander at pick nine in this upcoming draft, but it’s certainly not impossible with someone like Schmitz in the front office. Lengthier guards who play both sides of the ball and have high basketball IQ are clearly a prototype Schmitz covets, so Mavericks fans should be on the watch for someone like Mikel Brown Jr. with the ninth pick.

Schmitz’s draft expertise will be huge with three upcoming picks in 2026

Most of all, it’s great that Mavericks fans can have multiple members in the front office with proven track records that they can trust, like Schmitz and Ujiri. The Nico Harrison disaster stained the way Mavericks fans viewed the future of the team because of the lack of confidence in the front office, even after Cooper Flagg was drafted, but this is clearly no longer the case with this new regime.

It’s impossible to predict the future and how a given player’s career will fare in the long run, but Schmitz is one of the best in the business when it comes to forecasting young talent, so Mavericks fans can be confident that he and Ujiri aren’t going to draft a bust at pick nine, even if they don’t get a future All-Star there.

He’ll also help immensely with Dallas’ 30th and 48th picks, as these are the picks where Dallas can win in the margins by finding diamonds in the rough for cheap, and many other front offices tend to overlook.

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