Mavs Trade Predictions Ahead of Thursday's Deadline
The Dallas Mavericks just found their co-star for Luka Dončić by landing Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets.
Now what?
Irving could be awesome for the Mavericks as the second shot-creator they desperately needed—or he could be a colossal headache; you never know—but they weren't a scoring guard away from capturing an NBA championship.
The rest of this roster still needs work, and Dallas has hardly any time to do it ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.
Can the Mavericks find more paths to (potential) improvement? Or will this be a one-and-done trade season in Dallas? We'll examine those questions and more with a round of Dallas-based deadline predictions.
Tim Hardaway Jr. Will Be Heavily Shopped—but Not Traded
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The Mavericks don't plan on stopping their deadline additions at Irving. Whether the market allows them to keep adding remains to be seen.
Dallas has shopped Tim Hardaway Jr., per Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News, which makes a ton of sense from the Mavs' standpoint. Hardaway is an offensive specialist who is shooting below 40 percent from the field and 35 percent from three for the second consecutive season.
He's also owed $19.6 million for this season, per Spotrac, and will collect another $34.1 million over the next two campaigns. Oh, and he turns 31 years old next month.
Unless Dallas plans to heavily incentivize someone to take on his salary, he won't be packing his belongings any time soon.
Dallas Deals Christian Wood for Defense
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Assuming Irving and Dončić find an on-court harmony, this offense could be absurdly efficient.
But what about the defense? Well, let's just say it ranks 24th in efficiency, per NBA.com, and there are zero reasons to expect that to improve. If anything, the Mavs should be bracing for even more breakdowns on that end since the Irving swap cost them Dorian Finney-Smith.
That's why it makes a ton of sense to shop Christian Wood and flip him for a defense-first replacement. He's no better than a clear-cut third option in this offense now, and he needs a new deal after this season.
The Mavs tried sending out Wood in the Irving deal, per Marc Stein, who added that the Los Angeles Clippers have shown interest in the scoring big man. Whether it's L.A. or elsewhere, Dallas needs to send Wood out for either a better-balanced player or even someone who specializes on the defensive end.
Mavs Won't Move a Young Player
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The Mavericks don't have a ton of trade sweeteners at their disposal, so they'll surely be tempted to dangle a young player like Josh Green or Jaden Hardy for established talent.
That temptation must be avoided.
While Dallas will make some kind of push to try competing this season, the present has too many pitfalls to sacrifice one of the few long-term assets this club possesses. We've seen this Irving show enough to know how easily things can slide into a disastrous ending.
The Mavs can't mortgage this part of their future. Green has taken huge strides this season, and if his shooting holds up (he's hitting 41.3 percent from range on limited volume), he's a ready-made replacement for Finney-Smith. Hardy, last summer's No. 37 pick, has shown enough flashes of shot-creation to be intrigued about his future but not enough of them to generate a ton of trade value yet.
