ESPN Wants Mavs to Trade How Much for Hawks' John Collins?
The 'immaculate vibes' the Dallas Mavericks enjoyed for most of January have have been temporarily shelved, as the team has now lost back-to-back games to two of the worst NBA teams in the Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA trade deadline is less than one week away, and although the Mavs want to avoid selling too low on some of their trade chips, the team should definitely be looking for ways to 'trim the roster fat' around superstar Luka Doncic to enhance their chances of winning a playoff series for the first time in over a decade.
On Thursday, ESPN's Bobby Marks posted his 2022 NBA trade deadline 'What to Watch and Potential Deals' piece that included an intriguing mock trade between the Mavs and the Atlanta Hawks involving big man John Collins, who has already been linked to Dallas in trade rumors this year.
The rest of the rotation outside of Jalen Brunson (a free agent this summer) and Dorian Finney-Smith does not have significant trade value (sorry, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dwight Powell and Reggie Bullock) unless of course Dallas is willing to attach a 2025 or 2027 first-round pick.
Dallas could trade both of those picks, but only if it amends the top-10 protection on the 2023 pick that is owed to New York.
Trade we would like to see: Push the chips to the middle and go after the Hawks' John Collins. The Mavericks would receive Collins in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, Reggie Bullock and two future first-round picks (2025 and 2027).
As much as the Mavs could use a roster shakeup for the first time in three years, would mortgaging the future for Collins really be worth it? Collins is only averaging 16.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game for the Hawks, but his minutes and field goal attempts have gone down in each of the last two seasons. He's also shooting nearly 54 percent from the field and a little over 39 percent from deep. In the 2019-2020 season, Collins averaged a career-high 21.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks when he was getting a bigger slice of the pie.
Regardless, this trade proposal seems to be a little lopsided in Atlanta's favor, especially when you consider that the Hawks' asking price for Collins was reportedly one starting-caliber player and a first-round pick. Trading away three rotation players plus two future first-round picks (which would restrict Dallas from trading anymore firsts for five more years) seems like something the Mavs should be trying to swing for a player like Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown.
Make no mistake, Collins would be an excellent addition to the Mavs, and on paper, it seems as if he would be a really good with Kristaps Porzingis in the front court. Collins running pick-and-rolls and pick-and-pops with Luka Doncic would be a thing of beauty. Perhaps the Mavs can work something out with the Hawks before the trade deadline buzzer, just with a little more middle ground.
Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for all Mavs trade-related updates.
