The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone and the Mavericks made several moves looking towards the future of the franchise.

The Mavs had a plan to expedite their rebuild through trades even before the season started. After tanking it out and trading up in the draft, the Mavs acquired the budding superstar Luka Doncic and ramped up the team’s momentum. Once the season started, Luka exceeded all expectations and expedited the rebuild even further, spurring the Mavs to cash in their assets to build the team of the future around Luka Doncic. NOW.

A week before the trade deadline, The Mavs kicked off the trading season by orchestrating a blockbuster with the NY Knicks.

What We Get

Kristaps Porzingis – (Out this season for ACL Rehab) 22.7 PTS, 39.5% 3PT, 6.6 RBs, 2.4 BLKs (Last Season)

Tim Hardaway Jr. – 19.1 PTS, 34.7% 3PT, 3.5 RBs, 2.7 AST

Courtney Lee – 4.7 PTS, 31.3% 3PT, 2.3 RBs Trey Burke 11.8 PTS, 34.9% 3PT, 2.8 AST

What We Gave

Dennis Smith Jr. – 12.9 PTS, 34.4% 3PT, 3.0 RBs, 4.3 AST

DeAndre Jordan – 11 PTS, 64.6 FG%, 13.7 RBs, 2.0 AST, 1.1 BLK

Wesley Matthews – 13.1 PTS, 38.0% 3PT, 2.3 RBs, 2.3 AST, 0.8 STL

2 First Round Draft Picks (1 Unprotected, 1 Top 10 Protected)

After Effects

Basically the Mavs gave the Knicks two large expiring contracts and Dennis Smith Jr so that they can chase free agents this offseason. The Mavs got back the superstar they want to pair with Luka “for the next 20 years” according to Mark Cuban. They took on longer term larger contracts to do so, but feel that it is worth it. In doing this deal, the Mavs had to clear roster space and waived young big man Ray Spalding. Additionally, the Mavs created a $12.9M trade exception that can be used through June 30th to trade for a player and give cash back. Unfortunately, this basically removed all of the Mavs summer Free Agent money, so this trade was essentially our summer haul and we weren’t complaining because…Kristaps and Luka, BABY!

Monday, the Mavs had their press conference to introduce the new players to Dallas and it felt like things were done for the team for this trade deadline. They had made 2 franchise altering moves in under 8 months. Donnie and Cuban were pleased at the direction of the franchise and the plan going forward was clear.

Then Tuesday, there was postulations that the Mavs weren’t done yet. With their summer cap room gone, it seemed the Mavs were motivated to move off of the contracts of Harrison Barnes or Dwight Powell or both to create room to chase some of the giant names this summer. There were a few teams interested in Harrison Barnes’ skills as a large wing who could shoot the 3 ball, so speculation began to build around potential Barnes trades.

Wednesday the Mavs played the Hornets where they debuted their new teammates, sans Kristaps, and Luka scored his 3rd triple double, making him the only teen in NBA history to record 3 before he turned 20, AND THE MAVS WON! While it should be a night to celebrate, all of it turned in a moment as it was announced that Harrison Barnes had been traded to the Sacramento Kings midway through the 3rd quarter. Barnes sat on the bench for the rest of the game and supported his teammates for the rest of the game like the consummate professional he is as we found out the specific details.

What We Get

Zach Randolph – Hasn’t played this year, will not join the Mavericks and will be waived.

Justin Jackson – 6.7 PTS, 34.6% 3PT, 2.8 RBs, 1.3 AST

What We Gave

Harrison Barnes – 17.8 PTS, 39.0% 3PT, 4.3 RBs, 1.3 AST

After Effects

The Mavs essentially move Harrison Barnes for space and get back a 6’8” wing in his second year of his rookie contract in Justin Jackson. He has a great college pedigree and the team opted to take a flier on him rather than a draft pick.

Trading Barnes is a hard pill to swallow, as he is everything you want in a veteran on your team, but this was a move showing the Mavericks still expect to add to the team in the offseason. This move creates $30M in cap space to pursue Free Agents after the Porzingis trade ate up our previous room. The Mavs are now the lowest payroll in the NBA with $13M in salary available under the cap this year. And finally, with this trade, the Mavs have potentially created a $21.7M trade exception that could be be used in another trade (BTW: This is the largest trade exception in NBA history). Additionally, Salah Mejri was waived to make room for the new additions.

What Now?

The Mavs have pulled triggers all season, especially this week, in moves to make this team better around Luka Doncic for the next 4-5 years, but has drastically altered this team from the one we started the season with. For instance, Doncic is the only player left on the team from the Mavs’ opening day starting rotation. All other starters have been traded.

So with all these trades, what does this mean for our playoff push? The Kings got better with the addition of Barnes, while we lost our second best scoring option. We lost our leading rebounder in DeAndre and a great defender in Wes. Luka is great, but we don’t want to put it all on Luka’s shoulders and wear him down unnecessarily when the focus is next year.

The team that takes the floor for the rest of the season is not the team we will field come opening day of next season as the Mavs have made these moves with the clear intention of more to come. We’ll see what else Donnie and Cubes can do to upgrade this team either through the buyout market (so many options now!) or Free Agency on July 1. Of course, we’ll bring you anything we come across right here, on Mavs Nation.

Featured Image: NBC 5 Sports
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