After he finished hosting his first boys and girls basketball camp on Saturday at The Sportsplex in North Dallas, Mavericks forward P. J. Washington had a
difficult time hiding his enthusiasm when discussing the upcoming 2024-25 season.
Following a season that saw the Mavs defy the odds and reach the NBA Finals, they followed that up by adding guards Klay Thompson, Spencer Dinwiddie and Quentin Grimes to their roster in the offseason, along with forward Naji Marshall. Those were all quality additions that have Washington doing cartwheels about the prospects of what could ultimately happen this season.
“They’re all going to be great (additions),” the 6-7, 230-pound Washington said. “I’m excited for y’all to see.
“They can pretty much do everything and they’re going to help us in every single way. I’m glad those new guys are here with us and I’m glad we get a chance to play with them as well.”
The Mavs lost to the Boston Celtics in five games in last season’s NBA Finals. The plan this season, Washington said, is to get back to the Finals and get those other three wins they left 
on the table and secure the second NBA title in Mavs history.
“That’s definitely the plan,” Washington said. “Everybody’s excited. Like I said, we’ve reloaded and everybody’s locked in and ready to go.
“So, I’m just excited to get to camp and get things rolling.”
After going 50-32 and finishing fifth in the Western Conference last season, the Mavs were underdogs in all four playoff series. But they defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in six games in the first round of the playoffs, dispatched Oklahoma City in six games and eliminated Minnesota in five games in the Western Conference Finals before falling to the Celtics.
Meanwhile, Washington knows the national media likely won’t be picking the Mavs to ascend to the top out West this season.
“We don’t really care about what they think,” he said. “At the end of the day we just got to focus on what we know we can do, and that’s going out and playing t
he best way we can.
“As long as we stick together and play our game, we feel like we can beat anybody.”
Looking back, Washington saw some things the Mavs did against Boston that — had they been able to correct them at the time — could have changed that series. Mainly, he noted that the Mavs just didn’t play the efficient all-around game that earned them a berth to the Finals.
“I think we got away from that early and I think that’s what cost us,” Washington said. “At the end of the day we had to play the way we played to get there, and I don’t feel like we did that in the Finals.
“It was a learning curve for us, but obviously everybody is excited to be back and everybody wants to get back to that mountaintop.”
The Mavs are so
eager to “get back to that mountain top” that 15 of their players — including Kyrie Irving, Washington and Thompson — collectively got together and staged their own mini-camp last month in Los Angeles. It was a bonding-type event the Mavs hope will bode well for them this season.
“It was great,” Washington said. “Not a lot of teams get to do stuff like that. That was my first time doing that. Just to be able to be with those guys in that time has been great.
“Like I said, I just super excited. That’s all I’ve been thinking about every day. I’ve been watching Mavs highlights – just trying to get myself ready. I just can’t wait.”
From a personal standpoint, Washington has been working this summer on his ball-handling skills, on becoming a better playmaker, on being able to finish at the rim through contact, on being able to shoot off the dribble, and on being able to grab the defensive rebound and push the ball up the court.
Washington also hosted his first-ever basketball camp, and added that he probably dunked on about half of the 200 campers who were in attendance on Saturday.
“The kids were all talking junk to me, telling me they were going to cross me up and dunk on me,” Washington said, while smiling. “So that’s why I gave it back to them and put smiles on their face.
“I had a lot of fun. It was good to just see them smiling and enjoying their time. I can’t wait to keep giving them memories and just keep trying to be in their journey as well.”
A solid case can be m
ade that the Mavs’ journey to the NBA Finals last season started on Feb. 8 when they made a pair of productive trades that netted them center Daniel Gafford and Washington. On that day, the Mavs were 29-23, but finished the season on a 21-9 run and ended up with their first trip to the NBA Finals in 13 years.
On the prospect of him and Gafford experiencing their first training camp with the Mavs next month, Washington said: “Just getting a whole season under our belt will be great for us just to be here every single day every single step of the way, so I’m excited.
“I can’t wait for Game 1 and just trying to go out and have a winning season and obviously be where we want to be at the end of the day.”
Media Day for the Mavs is Sept. 30, and they will spend Oct. 1-5 in training camp in Las Vegas. It’s a place Washington knows all too well since, after attending high school at Frisco Lone Star, he transferred and finished up his high school career at Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., a suburb of Las Vegas.
“My dad still has a place out there, so I think (training camp in Las Vegas is) going to be good for me,” he said. “It’s going to be my first Mavs’ training camp anywhere, so I’m just excited to be there with my guys and just trying to get some good work in.”
In 29 games with the Mavs last season, Washington averaged 11.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 32.2 minutes per contest. In their 22 playoff games, he increased those numbers to 13 points and 6.6 rebounds in 35.7 minutes.
Now a five-year veteran, Washington also was a key contributor to the Mavs on the defensive end of the floor and believes the 2024-25 roster has been upgraded so tremendously that the Mavs will turn some heads — again.
X: @DwainPrice
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