Ever since he was traded from New York to Dallas, Kristaps Porzingis has been a really solid No. 2 option next to Luka Doncic on the Mavericks in terms of his stats during the regular season, but there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the former NBA All-Star’s future with Dallas.
Porzingis really struggled in the postseason this past season and if these struggles continue, the Mavericks may be forced to find ways to move on from him.
After putting Porzingis “on the market” this offseason and receiving minimal interest, it seems like Dallas is going to look to roll into the 2021-22 season with Luka and Kristaps together, but things can change very quickly in this league! Doncic just agreed to a new five-year, $207M contract extension, and Tim Hardaway Jr. recently put pen to paper as well on a new four-year, $74M deal.
With Porzingis under-contract for three more seasons and owed a total of $101.5M, assuming he opts into the $36M player option he has for the 2023-24 season, he could very much end up being the “odd-man-out” for the Mavericks because of his lack of productivity.
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Sometimes being a 5’11” guard in a 7’3” man’s body, Kristaps Porzingis should be dominant on the interior, but he always seems to play passive out on the perimeter.
If this does not change, the Mavericks will be forced to make a move and they can definitely afford to move Porzingis seeing as they have Dwight Powell, Moses Brown, Willie Cauley-Stein and Boban Marjanovic all as other options to use in their frontcourt.
The market may not be too big, but a team like the San Antonio Spurs could be willing to take on Kristaps Porzingis and his big contract for a smaller price than imagined.
A third team would likely have to be involved in any deal the Mavs would make to dump the Latvian big man, only because his contract is a lot to take back for one team in a deal, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are always looking to get involved in trades, especially if there are draft picks involved for them.
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San Antonio could actually have some interest in Kristaps Porzingis, especially after they lost DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay this offseason, so let’s take a look at a hypothetical midseason trade involving the Mavericks, Spurs, and Thunder that would result in Porzingis being shipped to San Antonio.
