Pistons Wanted Jalen Brunson Trade; Dallas Mavs Asked for Cade Cunningham
DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks trading for Cade Cunningham?
Not exactly.
The Mavs ended up being a busy team ahead of the trade deadline. After being expected to have a quiet deadline, the team moved on from Kristaps Porzingis in a trade with the Washington Wizards.
There were plenty of teams attempting to see if the Mavericks would be willing to part with some of their more intriguing complementary players like Jalen Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith.
The Mavericks did not end up moving either player as they seek to retain both. Dallas ended up getting a contract extension done with Finney-Smith and still seek to re-sign Brunson in free agency. Brunson, who is averaging 16.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.4 assists, is in the midst of an impressive career year.
One team that has been linked to Brunson that did attempt to acquire him at the trade deadline was the Detroit Pistons. The Mavericks did not entertain those discussions. When asked about Brunson, they responded, "Sure, we have interest in Cade."
That would be "Cade Cunningham,'' Detroit's budding standout and the No. 1 pick in the recent NBA Draft.
With the Pistons being one of the few teams around the NBA with salary cap spending room in the offseason, they will surely be linked to plenty of pending free agents. Detroit was even linked to Dorian Finney-Smith for a short-stint before his contract extension was finalized.
Detroit seems to view how the Mavericks have experienced success surrounding Luka Doncic with complementary talents could serve as somewhat of a template when it comes to building their team around Cunningham, an Arlington native who grew up a Mavs fan.
Between Tim Hardaway Jr. drawing interest from the Pistons in his free agency to Brunson and Finney-Smith, the pattern is clear: Detroit has an eye for the Mavericks' supporting cast pieces.
Deploying Brunson as a secondary ball-handler next to Doncic has been a helpful personnel choice made by the Mavericks this season. The Pistons perhaps could view that as something to emulate and remain a future suitor to monitor, along with the New York Knicks after missing out on CJ McCollum at the trade deadline.
But Cade's probably not going anywhere.
