The Mavericks have already shaken up their front office after the disastrous Luka Doncic trade last season and now appear poised to shop Anthony Davis and likely others prior to the trade deadline, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
The logic makes sense amid a dreadful 4-11 start for the Mavericks in a stacked Western Conference. Davis remains out with a calf injury, while Kyrie Irving is probably still months away from playing following a torn ACL last year. If the Mavericks want to start building around Cooper Flagg’s future now, they should probably begin by getting assets for Davis and other veterans while they still can.
Teams around the league are likely watching the Mavericks situation closely and that includes the Celtics. Boston finds itself in a good spot with a 8-7 record to begin the year despite Jayson Tatum’s injury and a host of offseason roster losses. Brad Stevens and his staff will be on the lookout to find building blocks for the future as they retool the roster in preparation for Tatum’s eventual return. Is there anything on the Mavericks roster that makes sense for Boston?
**Anthony Davis**
The superstar guard was linked to Boston nearly a decade ago in a potential pairing with Kyrie Irving but that obviously never came to be. The 32-year-old is a non-starter for Boston now because of his contract and durability. The Celtics could obviously use a big man of his caliber, but to make the money work for him, Jaylen Brown would have to go. That’s not a trade the Celtics would have any interest in making.
**Role players**
Daniel Gafford ($14.4 million) is certainly one big who will be available given the glut of centers in the Mavericks frontcourt. He’s on a reasonable deal for the next three years, but his skillset is pretty redundant to Neemias Queta (no shooting range). Not sure the Celtics want to commit that type of money to a big who can’t shoot, especially when it will cost them Sam Hauser or Anfernee Simons to make the money work.
Elsewhere, there’s not a lot to get excited about. Naji Marshall ($9.5 million) is a useful wing on a decent deal. Klay Thompson looks overpaid at $16.6 million. PJ Washington is ineligible to be dealt this year. Caleb Martin ($9.5 million) can only shoot when he’s wearing a Heat uniform, apparently. Kyrie Irving ($36 million) is not worth talking about for obvious reasons.
The problem for any hypothetical Celtics deal with the Mavericks is that Dallas is hard capped at the second apron. They sit just $1.5 million below that number with their current roster commitments. That means they really can’t take much more money back than they send out in a trade.
On the flip side, the Celtics are still deep in the repeater tax and certainly won’t be looking to take on additional significant salary this season unless it’s for a game changer. None of the realistic names available with the Mavericks are that level of player.
The Celtics may ultimately want to roll Simons deal over into some contracts for next season, but unless Dallas simply wants to dump some long-term money from their books, it’s difficult to see Simons being of interest to them. They can probably do better than that for some of their role guys on the open market, which makes finding a trade match between these two teams a long shot.
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