Does this trade make sense for the Dallas Mavericks?
The Dallas Mavericks would deal away a very hefty contract while adding some great talent to their roster. Kristaps Porzingis is set to earn over $100 million dollars over the next three seasons in Dallas, and they could benefit substantially by making a change this offseason.
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Kristaps Porzingis is a talented player, but he’s not worth $158 million dollars. Especially when teams aggressively switch screens and blitz Luka Doncic in pick-and-roll and he can’t make the opposition pay for doing so. The Mavericks have some great talent behind him in Dwight Powell, Maxi Kleber, and Willie Cauley-Stein, and retaining him when they already have serviceable replacements makes no sense.
The Mavericks would also greatly benefit from the additions of Norman Powell, Robert Covington, and Nasir Little; which merely puts icing on the cake to secure this trade. Adding more talent around Doncic for both sides of the ball could go a long way.
Norman Powell is a solid contingency plan with Tim Hardaway Jr. reaching NBA free agency. The Mavericks cannot afford to lose Hardaway Jr. without having a viable replacement. In an ideal scenario, Dallas would be repurposing their salary cap spending from Porzingis to bring in Powell and keep Hardaway Jr.
