Kristaps Porzingis Trade: NBA Odds - and Myles Turner as Mavs Target
The imperfect fit between the Dallas Mavericks and Kristaps Porzingis is, now that the team’s NBA season is over, a sort of “open secret.”
We are quite sure Dallas will attempt to trade KP this off-season in search of a different partner for Luka Doncic.
And the oddsmakers seem to be of the same mind.
This just in:
With every performance by Porzingis that didn’t live up to his max-money contract, more doubt inevitably started to creep in, and in the end, he was a sidebar contributor in Dallas’ Round 1 playoff loss to the Clippers.
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Our own Grant Afseth recently wrote about how the Mavs could take advantage of the dysfunction the Indiana Pacers are currently experiencing and snag T.J. Warren. And we will examine a host of other names, too. (Boston’s Marcus Smart, anybody? Buddy? Lauri? Oubre? Lonzo?) But one DallasBasketball.com source has us sniffing around another Pacers possibility.
According to said source, there could be interest that would unite the Mavs and Pacers’ versatile big man Myles Turner. If Dallas does ultimately decide to move on from Porzingis, trading him to Indiana for Turner might be one of the more realistic options the Mavs front office will have.
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Turner only averaged 12.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this season, but he also averages a league-best 3.4 blocks per game. Turner may not be the volume scorer Porzingis is (or at least that KP was in the regular season), but his consistent defense could make him a much better fit next to Doncic in coach Rick Carlisle’s offense.
Think of the impact Willie Cauley-Stein has on defense when he enters the game for Porzingis. That’s essentially what it would be like for Turner in Dallas, except he’s better and more consistent on both ends of the floor.
“He’s the future of the 5-position in the NBA,” said Carlisle of Turner a few years ago when it was again rumored that that the Mavs had interest in him.
“(Turner is) a guy that can roll and finish above the rim. Half-roll and make plays. He can shoot mid range and he can shoot long-range. And he can drive the ball. He’s got the whole skill-set and he’s still very young.”
Two years later, all of that still remains true. Also true is our willingness to bet that Porzingis’ moping and pouting has about reached its end in Dallas.
