As things currently stand, the Dallas Mavericks have two picks in the first round of the NBA Draft later this month, namely their own #9 and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s #30. In what is clearly a deep draft, the Mavs would do well to get as many bites of the apple as possible to build around Cooper Flagg, and the Thunder are an excellent candidate to help them out.
We previously considered swaps with the Sacramento Kings for Malik Monk and the Philadelphia 76ers for former MVP Joel Embiid, both of
which featured incoming picks. Today we take another approach at an optically smaller, but no less meaningful, swing.
Joining me for this potential transaction are MMB’s Jack Nowicki and Bryan Porter.
The trade proposal
The Mavericks use their Traded Player Exception (TPE) and their 2026 #30 pick (which ironically belonged to the Thunder originally) to move up to #17 by way of taking on the contract of Isaiah Joe.
The discussion
Mike: I like this trade a lot. I am very hopeful the Mavs will actually take advantage of the TPE. If they can get an improved pick while retaining all other tradable assets, that is a major win and possibly the best asset management this franchise has demonstrated in years. If we could do OKC a favor by taking that salary off their books and they reciprocated by helping us jump 13 spots in this year’s draft, we ought to be sending a limo north to pick Joe up.
Brian: Yeah, I’d love to upgrade in this way and make use of our TPE to absorb a deal like this to move up in the draft. If I could quibble with it a bit, I would rather Aaron Wiggins than Joe because he’s bigger and cheaper, but the lesser of the two is probably the only one OKC considers accepting a deal like this for if they can’t move them into someone else’s space.
Jack: This would be an amazing trade for the Mavericks for multiple reasons. First, moving up to #17 allows them to take another blue chip player that could compliment #9, with Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie being my first choice. Second, adding another useful role player that fits next to Cooper Flagg is a large bonus, as Joe is an elite shooter who could open driving lanes for both Kyrie Irving and Flagg. I agree with Bryan’s point on preferring Wiggins, but I believe the Thunder would want to move Joe instead. Overall this is the type of opportunistic trade the Mavericks should be seeking this offseason.
Bryan: As slanted as this is towards us, considering Joe has some value and could probably net OKC a couple of second round picks on his own, the real question is how much would you comfortably add to this deal to make it happen? A second round pick? Two? Maybe a player would be too much, considering the idea is to cut money on OKC’s end.
Mike: I’m hoping OKC’s loss in the Western Conference Finals changed their thinking. If they repeated, I could have seen them paying out the nose to largely stay together. Now, I feel like ditching $11M would be very appealing to them. If we had to add a second round pick (even two), I’d generally be very open to that. That said, OKC certainly must realize they have a plethora of picks in the near future and not enough roster spots for them. I’d like to believe they’d be inclined to swap spots. And Jack, your commentary makes me want this to happen even more now!
Switching gears, I suspect one or more of P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall and Klay Thompson are moved this offseason. Closing thoughts to each of you on which of the three you’d prefer it being, assuming Joe is incoming?
Bryan: Washington is the one that makes the most sense. He likely has the highest value of the three, has reached the highest individual peak over the last two years and is still only 27 years old on a good, long term contract. Also his particular archetype should be very enticing to teams like OKC, the Spurs, etc. with versatile offensive bigs like Victor Wembanyama, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Nikola Jokic, contenders need big, defensive forwards who can hit corner threes, attack off the catch, be defensive playmakers, etc. His skillset is very much in demand right now.
Mike: I feel like Thompson is surely gone either way – I just can’t imagine he’d want to stick around for a rebuild. Ironically, Joe would be a solid one-to-one replacement for him in a lot of ways. That said, this trade proposal makes moving Washington sensible. I’d hate to see it as a fan, but in practical terms, this trade brings back value without moving player assets, and Washington could bring a lot back and really bolster this proposed trade if he was moved in a separate transaction. I also have an unsubstantiated hunch that Marshall sticks around here to take some of the offensive load off Flagg and whatever rookie(s) are added.
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