Luka Doncic's Mavs Have Bold Trade Plans Using First-Round Pick
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks have made their intentions clear as far as prioritizing retaining their top-10 protected 2023 first-round pick is concerned. In what was described as a "managerial decision" before Friday's loss to the Chicago Bulls, the Mavs are officially tanking.
It's not yet a lock for the Mavs to retain their first-round selection in this year's draft. A win against the rebuilding San Antonio Spurs on Sunday could put Dallas into a tie scenario for the tenth best odds for the top overall pick, requiring a coin toss to decide the official order. Losing such a coin toss could result in falling out of the top-10 of the order. Regardless, how the ping pong balls bounce will ultimately determine their fate.
There is a more optimistic outcome that could happen as well. The Utah Jazz have just one more loss than the Mavs entering Sunday's NBA action. If the Mavs lose and the Jazz win, they would tie for the ninth worst record in the league, requiring a coin toss for a resolution.
What will be the Mavs's course of action if they manage to retain their pick? According to Marc Stein, the plan is to "explore trade prospects" in order to pursue win-now talent in the event the pick doesn't convey to the New York Knicks after staying within the top 10 of the order.
"Retaining this June’s pick would provide a crucial potential path to a quality player for a club low on trade chips or the salary-cap flexibility to make significant changes around Doncic and Irving," Stein wrote. "Sources say that the Mavericks plan to explore trade prospects with the pick if they retain it to potentially seek more win-now talent."
There are a variety of roster holes the Mavs must address in order to build around Luka Doncic. Firstly, they must determine if Kyrie Irving, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, is going to be part of it. If Dallas fails to retain his services, the pressure building a possibly looming Doncic trade request will only further intensify.
If Irving does re-sign with the Mavs, there is a need to add defensive talent, both on the wings and in the form of rim protection. The next obstacle to overcome will be the negatively valued contracts that Dallas would likely need to trade in order to add impactful talent.
Regardless of what the Mavs have in store this offseason, a record that finished well below the .500 mark is concerning for Doncic's fifth NBA season. He was overburdened early on, even with acknowledgement of those concerns from the organization. It proved costly, especially after failing to make subsequent moves to address both pre-existing and newly created roster holes after the Irving trade.
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