Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are among the teams that have already been linked as a potential Rudy Gobert trade suitor. After moving on from Kristaps Porzingis ahead of the NBA trade deadline, the Mavericks do not have a rim protector to anchor their unit.

The mobility of both Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber has played a vital role in the Dallas Mavericks’ overall defensive improvement. Being able to switch and have confidence it will be handled effectively has a lot of benefits, but again, there are limitations in some matchups.

There is a lot of switching that takes place against the Dallas Mavericks due to Luka Doncic’s effectiveness at attacking the big defender in traditional pick-and-roll coverages. Can Gobert consistently succeed against switches? Dallas would need to be confident he can.

Gobert’s physical tools make him an intriguing dump-off pass option for Doncic after switches. Doncic is effective at breaking down switches off the bounce to get deep on the drive — forcing the defense to commit two at the ball at times.

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It may be strange for the Jazz to send Gobert to a team they compete against so closely in the Western Conference. However, if there was a theoretical understanding between Gobert and the Jazz and he wanted Dallas, perhaps that would change the situation.