The 2022 NBA Trade Deadline was headlined by two major deals. Of course, the one that dominated was the Ben Simmons-James Harden deal. Yet, after that deal was confirmed, one more came out of the blue. The Dallas Mavericks moved on from Kristaps Porzingis and traded him to the Washington Wizards. While the deal could be considered a positive due to Porzingis' lack of chemistry with Luka Doncic, making this deal specifically might end up as the Mavericks’ biggest mistake at the 2022 NBA Trade Deadline.
Mavericks’ biggest 2022 NBA Trade Deadline mistake
As said above, making a deal for Porzingis is, in of itself, not a mistake. In his three seasons with the Mavericks, he was either stagnating or even taking steps back. He was never near the All-Star year he had in the New York Knicks, before the torn ACL in February of 2018. His efficiency fell off, and while he was better in some segments, the fit with Doncic seemed incredibly awkward. The deal for Porzingis was imminent for a long time but was likely stopped by his abysmal showing in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, where he averaged just 13 points per game on just 47.2% shooting from the field and a terrible 29.6% on three-pointers. There was also an issue with his contract, as he is set to make just over $100 million over the next three years.
Now, with an imminent trade with so many factors going against the team that is selling, getting a good deal is very hard. Everyone knew that with Luka Doncic playing MVP-level basketball, the Mavericks simply do not need selections in future drafts, as that would be a step back. Also, getting any star in exchange for Porzingis would be almost impossible, so the Mavericks were stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, the deal they did with the Wizards was a choice of solidifying their place between the said rock and hard place.
In the end, he was exchanged for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. Once again, it is worth reiterating that getting any sort of deal for Porzingis would be a tall task, but this just seems like the Mavericks took this deal for the sake of making a deal. If it makes any sort of sense, it makes limited financial sense, as both Dinwiddie and Bertans can be more easily exchanged. Dinwiddie just signed a deal with the Wizards in the offseason for $54 million over three years, while Bertans is set to make $65 million over the next four seasons, including this one.
Both of these deals give the Mavericks room to split their spoils of the Porzingis deal and get some more value out of Bertans and Dinwiddie as separate deals. However, then we arrive at the crux of the problem for the Mavericks and why this deal is their biggest mistake of the 2022 NBA Trade Deadline. Both Bertans and Dinwiddie, if they were to play one more season like this, are virtually untradeable. Now, it is worth saying that no deal is truly untradeable in the NBA, as there are many teams that are willing to do a salary dump if a pick is added.
With that being said, do the Mavericks really want to add their picks to these deals in the future? They are incredibly lucky that Luka Doncic is just 22, so they could get him to agree on a rebuild on a fly in the future, where they will need these picks. At least, with Porzingis, they knew that in three years, they would completely get rid of his salary. Now, they are bought into three years of Dinwiddie and four years of Bertans, crippling themselves financially.
However, we also need to consider that the Mavericks might have made this deal with the intent of playing both Bertans and Dinwiddie with Luka Doncic for the full extent of their deals. Then, we come to the second glaring issue of this deal, which comes in two parts. Firstly, Davis Bertans seemingly lost his shooting touch. He is averaging under six points per game this season on just 31.9% from behind the arc, which is not even the league average. Secondly, Spencer Dinwiddie is widely inconsistent and can barely play without the ball. If the plan is to bring him off the bench, it makes some limited sense, with Jalen Brunson starting. However, if he was to play with Doncic, it just does not make sense to get the ball out of one of their hands.
Overall, from whichever angle this is looked at, the Mavericks just lost this trade and now committed themselves to two bad contracts, rather than one. It does not make sense financially, it does not make sense on the court, and it can leave us feeling sorry for Luka Doncic who committed to be in Dallas for the foreseeable future. Doing this deal looks like Mavericks’ biggest mistake at the 2022 NBA Trade Deadline and something magical needs to happen for it to not be remembered as such.
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