Dusty May’s decision to leave Michigan for the Dallas Mavericks came down to a growing frustration with the demands of college basketball and an opportunity to focus more directly on coaching, according to The Athletic’s CJ Moore.
May told Moore that Mavericks general manager Mike Schmitz initially contacted him on May 24 to discuss Michigan’s NBA Draft prospects. Schmitz then asked whether May would have interest in the Dallas job, a question that came at a pivotal moment for the coach.
“When you go there and you’re just like, ‘Oh my God, nothing’s getting fixed. Ever,’” May told The Athletic, describing his reaction to the Big Ten’s spring meetings. “I was so excited for Big Ten meetings, like ‘we’re going to find some solutions.’”
May had just returned from those meetings after coaches gathered to discuss the state of college basketball. The experience reinforced his concerns about the direction of the NCAA game and helped make Schmitz’s question particularly timely.
The other major factor was the amount of time May spent on responsibilities outside of coaching. While college coaches have significant control over roster construction, May said fundraising and administrative duties increasingly prevented him from spending time on the parts of the job he valued most.
“I just spent so much more of my time doing everything but coaching,” May said.
May specifically identified basketball and relationships with players as his favorite aspects of coaching. Moving to the NBA gives him the opportunity to concentrate more heavily on those responsibilities while working with an established professional roster.
The Mavericks enter May’s tenure after a major offseason overhaul around Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving. Dallas added Santi Aldama and Marcus Sasser through trades, selected Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. with the No. 9 pick and also added Sergio de Larrea and Tobi Lawal in the draft.
Dallas also retained Naji Marshall on a three-year, $51.8 million extension while bringing back Moussa Cisse and adding Tarik Biberovic. The roster includes veterans such as Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Caleb Martin, Daniel Gafford and Max Christie alongside the younger Flagg, Johnson and Dereck Lively II.
The Mavericks are coming off a difficult 26-56 season that left them 12th in the Western Conference.
