WHAT??

Great, we just turned one of the greatest offensive players of this generation into Khris Middleton and a couple of here you go players. The Dallas Mavericks finally end this painful saga of Luka-AD, and finally start focusing on their future star, Cooper Flagg. One tiny problem though, the Mavs didn't go out there and get somebody who can move the needle, the got Khris Middleton from the Washington Wizards. Great job guys.

So let's start with the full details of this trade. The Dallas Mavericks gave away D'Angelo Russell, Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, and Dante Exum. Players the Mavericks really needed to move on from. Russell and Hardy were ineffective, and the Mavs really hadn't utilized Hardy in the correct way. The explosive, fast-twitch, scorer that could potentially provide some spark off the bench. Unfortunately, his play wasn't translating or developing for that matter. Exum and Russell were dealing with injuries and for the most part didn't really provide support. Exum especially who its a little bittersweet to see him off for the work he did in the late stages of 2024, but a necessary one nonetheless. Now we get to the white whale: Anthony Davis. No secret how he got here, we expected Davis to be somewhat the player he was in LA to make up for the whole that was left when Luka did. He didn't even come close to that here in Dallas. To say Davis was a disappointment is understating it, missed more games than he played, and the unfortunate thing is Davis was impactful for the team. The Mavericks were 14-4 with him in the lineup, only problem was he struggled to stay out there.

So what did Dallas get in return for 4 struggling and injury-prone players. What do you know they got 4, struggling, injury-prone players. Marvin Bagley hasn't been effective since his Kings days and Johnson and Middleton aren't the answers the Mavs need. I don't mention Branham's name because he was moved to the Jazz who were involved in the trade. Middleton hasn't been very efficient since his Bucks days back in 2024, when he came off the injury and put up decent performances vs the Pacers. The picks serve as a nice consolation price for essientially trading a bag of chips for a bag of chips.

It's hard to pass final judgement because the acquired players haven't made their impact on the Mavs just yet. I did say that the Mavs would benefit of veteran, off the ball shooters and drivers who could provide relief effort for the Mavericks. Still a little interesting that either Gafford or Washington wasn't moved in the deadline, but the Mavericks acquisiton of the picks shows me that there are focusing on the future and cutting their losses from the Luka Doncic situation a year ago. Which is everything we should be doing to provide Cooper with the necessary tools.