DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks and Dusty May of national champion Michigan are finalizing a deal for the coach to make the jump from college to the NBA, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal wasn’t completed.
May and the Wolverines won their first NCAA championship since 1989 with a 69-63 victory over UConn in April to wrap up a 34-3 season. They opened the NCAA Tournament by becoming the first team ever to score at least 90 points in five consecutive games.
That came three years after May led Florida Atlantic to its only Final Four appearance. The Owls returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2024 before May was hired by Michigan.
The 49-year-old May replaces Jason Kidd, who was let go two weeks after Masai Ujiri was hired as president of basketball operations and alternate governor of the Mavericks.
He comes to the NBA with a chance to mould 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg. Veteran star Kyrie Irving is also on the roster for now after missing the entire 2025-26 season following an ACL tear in March of last year.
May’s first job as a college assistant was at Murray State in 2005-06. He then served on staffs at UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida before getting his first head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.
The Owls went 35-4 during their dream season in 2022-23, which ended with a 72-71 loss to San Diego State in the national semifinals when Lamont Butler hit a buzzer-beating shot for the Aztecs.
“I was a fan of Dusty’s when he was at FAU,” said Yaxel Lendeborg, who played for May at Michigan and is expected to be a lottery pick in the first round of the NBA draft on Tuesday night. “And now, after playing for him, I’m a bigger fan. I have so much respect for Dusty May, I can’t even tell you.”
Lendeborg said at last month’s draft combine that he believed May ran Michigan’s program like an NBA program in many ways.
“A lot of schemes, a lot of switching and stuff. And his offence was very much a pro-style offence,” Lendeborg said. “We played fast-paced, physical, all of that. … I’ve gained so much knowledge from him as far as those actions and just those little communication keys.”
May’s rise in coaching has been meteoric, particularly after the last four seasons.
He took over at Florida Atlantic in 2018 and had four consecutive seasons of finishing just over .500 — before striking gold in the 2022-23 season, going 35-4 and taking the Owls on that improbable Final Four run.
May went 25-9 at FAU the following season, then went to Michigan and brought the Wolverines back to prominence. He was 64-13 in his two seasons after replacing Juwan Howard with Michigan, coming off an 8-24 season, the school’s lowest win total since going 7-20 in 1981-82.
Michigan went 27-10 in May’s debut, won the Big Ten Conference Tournament and made it to the NCAA Sweet 16.
May’s record in his last four college seasons was 124-26, an .827 winning percentage that was third best in all of major college men’s basketball over that span behind Houston’s Kelvin Sampson (.861) and Duke’s Jon Scheyer (.832).
The Indiana native was a student manager for the Hoosiers and coach Bob Knight while he was in school there from 1996 to 2000. He gained experience in scouting, video operations and player development while with the Hall of Fame coach, who died in 2023.
After graduating from Indiana, May spent two seasons as an administrative assistant and video coordinator at Southern California. He returned to the Hoosiers in similar roles from 2002-05.
