National Football League

Why this Mavericks team reminds Patrick Mahomes of 2019 Chiefs

Published May. 22, 2024 7:15 p.m. ET

Patrick Mahomes is a man of many titles — two-time NFL MVP, three-time Super Bowl MVP, "dad bod" icon, and widely considered the greatest active quarterback in the NFL. He's also a proud Texas native and Dallas Mavericks fan.

So when Mahomes stopped by "First Things First" on Wednesday, host Nick Wright invited the superstar Kansas City Chiefs quarterback to weigh in on Wright's NBA tiers, in which Wright compared the four remaining teams in the NBA playoffs to either the Chiefs or one of the teams they faced en route to one of Mahomes' four Super Bowl appearances.

Wright's list was as follows:

4. Indiana Pacers (NFL comp: 2019 Tennessee Titans)
3. Boston Celtics (NFL comp: 2022 Philadelphia Eagles)
2. Minnesota Timberwolves (NFL comp: 2020 Buffalo Bills)
1. Dallas Mavericks (NFL comp: 2023 Kansas City Chiefs)

Mahomes, however, pushed back on the final comparison, saying that this current Mavericks team, led by 25-year-old superstar Luka Doncic, reminds him more of a different Chiefs title team — the 2019 squad.

"That [Chiefs] defense kind of came on at the end of the season and made a lot of timely stops in timely fashion, and that's what got us over the edge," Mahomes said. "I was still young and hadn't won my first championship yet, and that could be Luka."

That prompted Wright to concede that, for the first time in the history of his tiers, he was wrong — to the delight of his co-hosts, Kevin Wildes and Chris Broussard.

Mahomes said he loved the way the Mavericks gained athleticism at the trade deadline by acquiring P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford to bolster their frontcourt. It's why, along with the star tandem of Doncic and Kyrie Irving, he believes the Mavericks can win it all this year.

"I think the Mavs have what it takes," Mahomes told the "First Things First" crew. "Kyrie's playing great ball. Derrick Jones Jr. is playing great defense. P.J. Washington's been great on defense and offense. They did a lot of great things at the trade deadline — I went to a game where they played the Nuggets right after the trade deadline, and you could see the athleticism they had brought in. I think if Luka plays the way that Luka can play and Kyrie plays like Kyrie, they've got as good a chance as anybody of winning it all."

Mahomes did concede that the Mavericks face a tough challenge against the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals — even going as far to say Dallas would lose Game 1 of the series Wednesday night. (He did say he told his Chiefs teammates that he expected the Mavericks to have a 2-1 series lead when the Chiefs returned for their next round of offseason practices after Memorial Day.)

"It's gonna be a great series," Mahomes said. "Anthony Edwards has been dominant. That team is a great team, plays great defense. It's gonna be a hard series."

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