A conversation with Moses Wright of the Summer League Dallas Mavericks

The 2022 Las Vegas Summer League is over, and the Dallas Mavericks were... less than successful. They didn’t have an exciting team — we knew that going in — but I still didn’t expect them to go 0-5.

Despite a tough Summer League as a team, there were a few guys who impressed. Jaden Hardy showed some positive flashes. A.J. Lawson was exceptional and earned a two-way spot with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The other guy who stood out? Moses Wright.

Moses Wright finished out the 2022 NBA season on a two-way deal with the Mavericks but didn’t end up playing much with the big boys. He spent most of his time with the Texas Legends in the G League where he absolutely dominated. During the G League regular season, Wright averaged a cool 20 points and nine boards on .562/.395/.657 shooting splits.

After a killer collegiate career where he was named the ACC Player of the Year during his senior season, and a nice G League stint, Mavs fans had high hopes for Wright in the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League, but things didn’t start as planned for the 23-year-old big man.

I chatted with Moses Wright after his first two games of Summer League. It’s safe to say he wasn’t pleased with how he was playing.

“For me personally, I haven’t been having the Summer League that I wanted to have,” Wright told me. “I’m disappointed in myself when I’ve played because honestly I’ve had two bad games, and I’m not playing as I should be playing.”

In those two games, Wright averaged 9.5 points and shot a brutal 31% from the field. He didn’t look like himself. Part of it was the nature of Summer League. It’s a time for ball handlers to show what they’ve got, not big men. It’s a guards and wings league. But Moses wasn’t about to give me any excuses for his play.

“It’s more so just me finding my pace of play again and just being able to play how I played when I got my accomplishments with being ACC Player of the Year and being named All-First Team G League, so it’s just getting back to finding Moses Wright.”

I asked him to grade his first two games. He gave himself a D. I also asked what he’s focused on improving over the final Summer League games.

“Finishing around the rim,” Moses told me. “I’m a really explosive undersized big. I haven’t gotten around the rim once since I’ve been up here. I’ve just been missing easy stuff that’s usually makable shots for me. So it’s just getting back to slowing down and being confident in who I am.”

Wright didn’t play in Game 3, but he showed out in Game 4, dropping 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field to go along with 11 rebounds, three assists, and two steals. All of that was in 25 minutes off the bench. Talk about a monster, bounce-back performance from a guy who knows how good he is.

Earlier in our conversation, he told me, “I’m very talented. [Not to be] cocky or anything. I just gotta believe in myself and slow down on the court when I go out there.”

In the final game of Summer League — Game 5 — Moses did more of what he did in Game 4, scoring 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field in only 22 minutes.

He played his last two games exactly how he said he was going to. He slowed down. He finished around the rim. He did everything you could expect a big man to do in Summer League.

Will Moses Wright be on the Mavs next year? Too early to say. They do have one more two-way spot open, and Wright seems like a shoo-in for it. He has a history with the team. He closed Summer League in a strong way. And the Mavs need more big bodies. If I was going to bet on who gets that last two-way spot, I’d bet a lot on Moses Wright.

Let’s close this out with some fun, off-the-court stuff. I did a quick lightning round of questions with Moses to help Mavs fans get to know him better.

The most recent TV show he binged? Spriggan (it’s a Netflix anime). His favorite movie of all time? Dope. Favorite fast food restaurant? Cook Out. What sport would he play if he wasn’t a hooper? Tennis.

Finally, I had to ask him about something I was super curious about.

The Dallas Mavericks Tweeted some fun facts about the guys on the Summer League roster.

Here’s a close-up of Moses’ card:

Notice anything odd? His hidden talent says that he can talk to animals. I needed some answers.

Do animals listen to him? Does he speak to them like specific animals or like a human? Can he hear what animals are saying?

Moses started laughing and told me he was talking to a member of the strength and conditioning staff and said, “I’m just gonna write down that I can talk to animals.” He confirmed to me that he is not having conversations with animals. Thank goodness.