The Dallas Mavericks are apparently not a serious candidate to land James Harden. Marc Stein of The New York Times inquired as to the legitimacy of the Mavs trading for the disgruntled Houston Rockets star amid recent linkage.
The reply: “No chance.”
The Mavs have been in the market for another player to take pressure off Luka Doncic. Dallas previously showed interest in 2-guards like Victor Oladipo, Spencer Dinwiddie and Zach LaVine. But the Mavs erred on the side of caution in the hopes of maintaining cap space for a potential run at Giannis Antetokounmpo this upcoming summer.
Of course, Antetokounmpo is no longer on the table after he signed a five-year supermax with the Milwaukee Bucks. Might this mean the Mavs will pick up their pursuit of another superstar? Perhaps, but it does not look like Harden is involved in the team's future.
It is pretty difficult to envision Harden in Dallas. The Beard has, in the past, shown displeasure when the offense is not run directly through him. This would obviously present a problem on a Mavs team with Luka Doncic orchestrating things in the half court.
Plus, the Mavs would probably have a hard time acquiring Harden without parting with — at least — Kristaps Porzingis and a massive amount of draft capital. The goal, ideally, would be to bring a third star into the fold, rather than ship Porzingis out for another star.
Harden has been the talk of the basketball world in the last few weeks. The Rockets are reportedly trying to get a deal done, but concerns over Harden's influence on a team's culture could limit what kind of return teams are willing to offer up.
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