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The Dallas Mavericks are entering this season with a ton of expectations. They have MVP candidate Luka Doncic and he is now committed to the franchise long term. However, while Luka is a superstar talent, the Mavericks will still need valuable contributions from their other players going forward, or some new players coming in. There are some trade candidates for the Mavericks currently playing for other teams.
If the last couple of seasons showed us anything, it is that Kristaps Porzingis has been a disappointment. Additionally, the Mavericks' front office needs to surround the core, which is Doncic and Porzingis, with better role players. With both of these things being true, there might be something that can be done for the Mavericks to take a step forward this year.
Everyone around the NBA knows what the Mavericks need. They currently need a second star, someone new, and a starting center. Thus, the two biggest Mavericks trade candidates this season should be – Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic.
Mavericks trade candidates
As it pertains to Nurkic, he will definitely be on the trade market this season. The Bosnian center is in the last year of his contract and coming off of the worst season he had in Portland. The Trailblazers have not offered an extension yet and it is clear why. Nurkic will feel like he deserves $25 million or more and he will probably get it from some team. It would be difficult to see the Blazers offer that kind of money and commit to a player in that way that is not going to win them a championship.
Thus, they could go out and get some value for him. The Blazers will look to trade him and the Mavericks should be an option. Nurkic, when healthy, is exactly what Dallas needs. He can be a defensive phenom and a safety when the guards, who are not really proficient defensively, fail to stop a drive. Additionally, on offense, he can be the secondary playmaker from the elbows, a role he relished in his first season with the Blazers. It is somewhat odd that now-former Blazers coach Terry Stotts stopped using him like that, but Nurkic still has it.
Then there is the fact that he does not need a lot offensively. In terms of the offense, Luka Doncic is the king for the Mavericks. Surrounding him with complementary pieces like Tim Hardaway Jr. or Dorian Finney-Smith, guys that do not need the ball in their hands, is the recipe for Mavericks' success. Nurkic is in that vein, as he does not require to be the focal point of the attack. All the Bosnian needs is a couple of low-post chances and the rest of his points come from offensive rebounds.
Additionally, Nurkic would be joining Doncic and Serbian center Boban Marjanovic. That might not seem like a lot, but he would fit right in with people who speak the same language and can get him involved in the organization from day one. These small things mean a lot to players and Nurkic would appreciate that from Doncic and Marjanovic.
The other, and arguably more important trade target, is Bradley Beal. As it was outlined in the beginning and said over and over again, Porzinigs is and has been a disappointment. For about $30 million per year, the Mavericks are getting a player that completely shrinks in the most important games. He also cannot stay healthy and reliability is a huge problem when chasing a title, as the Mavericks are doing. Beal would solve all of that in a heartbeat.
Beal is a generational scoring talent and a player who's got the whole league chasing him this summer. While he remains adamant about staying in Washington, he simply cannot avoid these trade rumors. The Wizards will be bad again, but if he goes to the Mavericks, he might have a shot at winning a title. Doncic with Beal would be mesmerizing to watch and even thinking about that would make some Mavericks fans' dreams come true.
There are issues, obviously, with the trade. Ideally, the Mavericks would keep Porzingis in this scenario, given the fact that he as a third option would be top-class. However, the Wizards were and remain clear that even if Beal leaves, it will be for a league-breaking package. The Mavericks do not have any young stars and their picks are not that good, due to the fact that Doncic guarantees at least a playoff-fight on his own. There are so many other teams that can assemble a better trade package, like the Warriors, but Beal just goes well with the Mavericks.
Even without trades, this Mavericks team simply needs to be better this year. The regular season seems to always be just fine, but the postseason has been atrocious in terms of results. While always keeping it close, a team of this talent with Doncic still has not played in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. That should change this year, regardless of any personnel activity in Dallas. However, imagining this team with Beal or Nurkic or both by some slim chance instantly takes them among the favorites for the title.
