The Dallas Mavericks have one of the best players in the NBA in the form of 22-year-old Luka Doncic. Doncic proved that again in their first round series against the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 35.7 points, 10.3 assists, and 7.9 rebounds, even though he did struggle in fourth quarters during the series. He needs some help, however, and that has not come from who we all thought would be the second star. Kristaps Porzingis averaged 23.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in the 2020 series against the Clippers, the same team they went up against this year. He was horrific in the 2021 postseason, averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds, over 7 games. He did not defend the rim and allowed the Clippers to play small, so Head Coach Rick Carlisle had to go to 7’4” Boban Marjanovic to try and force the Clippers to play Ivica Zubac, which did not happen. So Dallas was bounced and Porzingis was terrible. What should the Mavs do next?
Owner Mark Cuban already announced that Carlisle would return as coach. I would have considered a change but Dallas will not even do that. So, that leaves the first conversation that needs to happen is the potential of a Porzingis trade. Does Dallas want to do it? Would anyone take him? Should Dallas consider a trade, yes they should. Porzingis looked so bad not only defensively but he shot 29% from 3 for the series and Dallas could fill a hole using him. One place they could look is the Oklahoma City Thunder and Al Horford. Horford had a solid bounce back season with the Thunder and has 2 years left on his contract that Dallas could take and start him at center. Porzingis’ and Horford’s money matchup so that could be a clean swap. Dallas could look to add Dwight Powell and the 2 years and $22 million left on his contract to the deal with all of the traded player exceptions Oklahoma City has. However, why would the Thunder make that move without draft compensation? Porzingis looked terrible against the Clippers, not even addressing the fact that he also looked soft. He’s got 3 years and about $101 million left on his contract, why would anyone take it one without picks? The Mavericks already owe the Knicks 2 picks from the original Porzingis trade so even if they wanted to move The Unicorn, as he was nicknamed by Kevin Durant, I am not sure they could. The Indiana Pacers have shown interest according to reports. They have been looking into breaking up the Domantas Sabonis/Myles Turner front court but I don’t like the idea of a Porzingis and Sabonis frontline and do not think that Indiana should trade Sabonis for KP. There are a lot of interesting scenarios that Dallas could have.
Dallas played just 2 players that they acquired past January 2019 in the game 7 loss, Josh Richardson and Boban; they have not made major roster moves around Luka in 2.5 years. How can they improve this roster, well a Porzingis trade is one way. They can also use the cap space they have to pursue a couple of wings because they were not deep enough in that department. Tim Hardaway Jr., is a player they should absolutely resign as he has been a big part of their team. They should try and shorten their center rotation, there is no need to have Willie Cauley-Stein, Maxi Kleber, Porzingis, Boban, Dwight Powell, and Nicola Meli all on the roster. They should look to add more toughness at that position and then look to add some wings to better surround Doncic, because he is extension eligible and going to take up a lot of cap space come 2022-23. Even if it is just adding veterans like Garrett Temple, Tony Snell, or Alec Burks, Dallas needs to become deeper on the wings and without their first round pick, free agency or trade is the place to do that.
The Mavericks could always attach one of my favorite players in Jalen Brunson to a trade to upgrade this roster. This team needs upgrading via trade and free agency, they are projected to have around $17 million in cap space to play with this summer without moving a contract like Dwight Powell’s. They need to surround Luka with more talent and defensive players. They should also look too add some toughness to help in a playoff series. The Dallas Mavericks are a team who looks like they can rise to the top of the loaded West, they just need to surround Luka Doncic better than they have been.
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