NBA Preseason Matters For Players Like McKinley Wright IV Of The Dallas Mavericks

Fans like to think that NBA preseason games don’t matter. They say it annually while pining for the regular season to tip off. That may be true for them, but it is not the case for the 150 or so players on the fringe that teams bring in to fill out their training camp rosters. Every day is an audition for them as they compete to land an NBA contract.

McKinley Wright IV is one such player for the Dallas Mavericks. The team announced his signing on September 21, days before training camp began on September 26. During camp and in the two preseason games he has played, Wright has shown flashes of his potential, and it may earn him a roster spot—if not in Dallas, then elsewhere.

In his preseason debut, Wright was tidy and efficient. He checked into the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with 4:06 remaining in the first quarter and quickly made his presence felt. He hit three jump shots, grabbed a rebound and had an assist before the frame was over. Wright finished the game with eight points, 10 assists, no turnovers and a team-high plus-11 in just over 22 minutes.

“Coach has been harping all training camp and practice how important it is to take care of the ball,” Wright said after the game. “When they brought me here, they wanted to see me get others involved, get in the paint and create for others. I think that’s what I’m best at, so it was easy for me tonight.

“Credit to my teammates for making shots. Without them, I wouldn’t have had 10 assists. All the credit goes to them.”

He couldn’t replicate the same success in Dallas’ second preseason game against the Orlando Magic. The game had the look of a dress rehearsal, with the expected starting lineup and set rotations all playing heavy minutes in the first half. Still, Wright played nearly 14 minutes, notching two points, three assists and no turnovers.

“I think with the [open] two-way [contract], you have an opportunity to see some of these young guys play,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd told the media after a recent practice. “I think there are some candidates that we have here that can sign a two-way.”

Kidd said that the decision is ultimately in the hands of the team’s management, but it is not far-fetched to think that Wright has a chance at the open two-way spot—Tyler Dorsey holds the other two-way contract. Wright came into camp prepared after a long summer of playing basketball and competing at every level.

In August, he was selected to play for Team USA as a member of the World Cup qualifying team that competed throughout the month. He appeared in two games with the national team, against Colombia and Uruguay, and averaged 2.5 points, 1.5 assists and a steal in almost 11 minutes.

Team USA head coach Jim Boylen says that international competition is entirely different from the NBA, from how quickly rosters are assembled to the style of play. Still, he says that Wright was impressive during his time with the national team.

“We have a young player in McKinley coming in and trying to learn what we’re trying to do but also growing as a young player and now playing a different style of ball,” Boylen told me. “It’s a really tough mix. He’s very good at adapting, learning, of trying to understand what we needed him to do for us, along with everybody else… He’s very coachable, very teachable and played really hard.”

Before donning the red, white and blue, Wright was in Las Vegas playing for the Phoenix Suns in Summer League. He started all five games for the Suns and averaged 8.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists. Suns Summer League head coach Steve Scalzi said Wright is a “mild-mannered guy in conversation, but he’s a leader on the court” before the team decamped for the desert.

It has been a long road to now for Wright. Earning another two-way deal—he had one with the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2021-22 season—will land him in the G League for much of the 2022-23 season, but it also means that he’ll have a chance to log some NBA minutes. Two-way players can spend 50 games with their NBA teams. He’ll also earn over half a million dollars for the season, half the NBA rookie minimum.

As training camp and preseason wind to a close, every moment matters for Wright. He has one more game and a few more practices to make an impression. Teams must trim their rosters to 15 players—Dallas currently has 14 players under contract—and two two-way players by 5 p.m. ET on October 17. Even with that deadline looming and his future on the line, Wright doesn’t feel squeezed by the moment.

“There’s pressure, but I had a former teammate of mine, George King, who always told me there’s no such thing as pressure if you’re prepared. So, I came into training camp prepared,” Wright said. “I was prepared coming here. I don’t feel a whole lot of pressure. I’m just doing my job each and every day, doing whatever I can to try and make this roster, and provide whatever I can for this team.”