The Mavericks are hiring Mike Penberthy to their coaching staff, sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).
NBA insider Marc Stein first mentioned Penberthy as a target for the Mavericks’ staff on Wednesday, while Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com later referred to the team’s interest as “serious.”
Penberthy, who has spent the past three seasons with the Nuggets, is known as a shooting specialist and has earned praise from Mavericks star Anthony Davis for helping him improve as a shooter, Afseth notes. Davis and Penberthy worked together in Los Angeles from 2019-22, when Penberthy was an assistant under Frank Vogel.
The Mavericks are reuniting several members of that Lakers coaching staff for the coming season. Current Dallas head coach Jason Kidd was also an assistant from 2019-21 under Vogel, who will serve as Kidd’s lead assistant in 2025/26. Kidd, Vogel, and Penberthy won a championship together in L.A. in 2020.
Another former Lakers assistant, Phil Handy, who was with the team from 2019-24, is also considered a candidate to join Kidd’s staff, though he’s drawing interest from New York too.
The Mavericks, whose assistants weren’t under contract beyond the 2024/25 season, have been overhauling Kidd’s staff since the season ended. All three of Dallas’ top assistants from last season have found new jobs in recent months, with Sean Sweeney joining the division-rival Spurs as associate head coach, Alex Jensen becoming the head coach at the University of Utah, and Dudley heading to Denver. Player development assistant God Shammgod, who has been with the Mavs since 2019, was also hired away by the Magic.
The Mavericks replaced Sweeney with Vogel, while ex-Raptors and Suns coach Jay Triano is the new No. 2 assistant.