The Dallas exodus of assistant coaches continues this offseason.
Reports are in that the Denver Nuggets will hire Jared Dudley, the now former Dallas Mavericks assistant coach who joined the team ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Dallas Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley is finalizing a deal to become the top assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets under David Adelman, Andy Miller of Klutch Sports tells ESPN. Dudley has been on Mavs’ staff since 2021 after a 14-year NBA career. pic.twitter.com/sA5gN2yp8h
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2025
Dudley was hired by the Mavs shortly after he retired from a 14-year NBA career with seven different teams. Now he will be on David Adelman’s staff in Denver, after Adelman took on the role of interim head coach this season upon the firing of Mike Malone, then was promoted to head coach in May.
The Denver Post reported last week that Dudley would meet with the Nuggets in Denver at some point this week. NBA Insider Marc Stein had previously reported that Denver had received permission to interview Dudley for a spot on David Adelman’s coaching staff.
Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley will meet with the Nuggets in Denver this week, league sources say. As @TheSteinLine wrote, Denver has received permission to interview Dudley for a spot on David Adelman’s coaching staff.
— Bennett Durando (@BennettDurando) June 29, 2025
Dudley’s departure follows former assistant Sean Sweeney’s exit last week. Sweeney is now the associate head coach for the San Antonio Spurs under new coach Mitch Johnson, who recently replaced the retired legend, Gregg Poppovich.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said more recently on his Hoops Collective Podcast that Dudley and God Shammgod, the Mavs’ player development coach, would likely leave as well after Sweeney’s departure, citing a reunion with another former Mavericks assistant coach, Jamahl Mosley, who has coached the Orlando Magic for the last four seasons.
While Sweeney was Jason Kidd’s de facto defensive coordinator, Dudley was always the vibes guy on the staff. He related to the players and helped keep whatever shreds of culture the Mavs had in place, in place. Dudley had also reportedly received interest from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies.
It’s been a turbulent offseason with regard to the Mavs’ coaching staff, to say the least. All the recent shakeup follow’s the departure of two more assistants, Alex Jensen, who left last year to go coach at the University of Utah, and Darrel Armstrong, who left under more unceremonious circumstances.
The Nuggets, I’m told, have also shown strong interest in ex-Mavericks guard J.J. Barea for a spot on Adelman’s staff.
Barea has been HC for multiple teams in his native Puerto Rico’s Baloncesto Superior Nacional.
More NBA from @JakeLFischer and me: https://t.co/H5WFmIVlQt https://t.co/e9IxxnB70G
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 29, 2025
Former Mavericks guard JJ Barea agreed to join Adelman’s Denver staff on Tuesday. Barea had spent his time coaching for multiple teams in Puerto Rico’s professional league, the Baloncesto Superio National (BSN).
The staff turnover to this degree is rather surprising but given the coaches who are coming in as replacements, there should be some optimism about the coaching staff. The team now boast three coaches who have been head coaches before and Phil Handy is highly regarded.
How the team changes as result of these coaching changes is worth paying attention to.