The winds of change are blowing for the Dallas Mavericks. The magnitude of those winds is yet to be determined, but the likelihood of them being gale-force appears higher than not at this point. Already, the Mavs have hired a new President in Masai Ujiri, a new GM in Mike Schmitz and they will soon find a new coach to replace Jason Kidd.
ESPN’s Zach Kram recently suggested six different trade ideas for the upcoming NBA offseason, two of which featured the Mavericks. Specifically, one trade centered
on Kyrie Irving with another revolving around Daniel Gafford, as previously covered here at Mavs Moneyball. Each of the trade proposals held a logical basis for both sides and made for some intriguing discussions, but can the Mavs actually “win” either trade, much less the aggregate of both, as proposed?
The Gafford proposal
In this proposal, the Mavs ship Gafford out to the Los Angeles Lakers for a return of Jarred Vanderbilt, Dalton Knecht and pick 25 in this year’s Draft.
The Irving proposal
In this proposal, the Mavs move Irving to the Detroit Pistons and get Isaiah Stewart, Caris LeVert, Ron Holland and pick 21 in this year’s Draft.
If both deals were made, that means Dallas goes into draft night with first round picks 9, 21, 25 and 30. Not bad for a team that is currently all but devoid of draft capital until 2030, but also not the whole story. These deals would also add four wing players (Vanderbilt, Knecht, LeVert and Holland) to a roster that currently includes Cooper Flagg, Max Christie, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, Khris Middleton and Caleb Martin.
Of course, roster size and general logic dictate that further moves would have to be made before the final roster was settled upon, but there are concerning ramifications of these deals regardless.
Taking on contracts for too-few picks
The incoming players in these proposals cause more harm than good. Not necessarily because the players are bad or have bad contracts per se, but because none of those players necessarily move the dial more than what Dallas already has. The Mavs would be giving themselves unnecessary work trying to figure out who and how to move players like Washington, Marshall, Christie, Middleton, Vanderbilt, Knecht and/or LeVert. They simply can’t all fit. Dallas instead should use their resources to acquire players that fit a more pressing need, rather than stack more wings on a wing-heavy team.
Too many 2026 draft picks; too few picks overall
Consider this – it’s quite difficult to draft four players in the same draft, then actually implement all four toward a positive impact going forward. Yes, Dallas needs to restock the cupboard in a major way, but they aren’t necessarily achieving that efficiently with these moves. Getting two late-first round picks in the 2026 draft looks good on paper, but it does not solve the problem of having little control over future drafts through 2030. If Dallas is going to trade their starting point guard and former NBA Champion along with their (sometimes) starting center, they simply need to get many more picks, across many more years, than they would be getting in these moves as proposed.
If the Mavs selected four players in June, the presumption is that all four would be part of the youth movement rebuild around Flagg. It’s not a stretch to think at the very least two of those players would be starters (especially with the departure of two vets), maybe more. Sounds like a fun young team, but it also sounds like a college squad playing in the NBA. Further, all of said players would then be coming up for rookie extensions at the same time, so you had better hit and hit big on the selections, then be ready to pay everyone at the same time. It’s just hard to believe this is practical in any real sense. I understand the message from Ujiri is that all moves will be made for the future, but that doesn’t mean all moves need to be made right now.
If Dallas elects to move Gafford or Irving (especially the latter), they need to be targeting a better cross-section of picks over a wider range of future years. If they can manage to pick up a few current NBA players that fit a need, all the better.
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