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4 hours ago
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Can the Dallas Mavericks contend in 2025-2026?
With the Luka Doncic trade in the rearview mirror, the Mavericks' future got a little bit brighter when they won the 2025 NBA Draft lottery, meaning Duke Blue Devils star freshman, Cooper Flagg is likely headed to 'The Big D.'
While Kyrie Irving will likely miss at least the first-half of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL, a lot of pressure will be on aging, injury prone veterans in Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson to carry the load for Jason Kidd's squad, while Flagg works his way into being an 18-year-old professional basketball player.
Will Mavericks general manager, Nico Harrison opt to make minimal (or no) changes and simply make Flagg the top pick in next month's draft and allow him to potentially develop into the All-NBA talent everyone believes he can be, while hoping Davis and Thompson can stay on the court...or will he do what he's shown he's not afraid of and shake the franchise up for second time in just a matter of months?
The biggest trade chip in terms of value, age, and recent on-court play Harrison has to work with is Anthony Davis, who was the centerpiece of the aforementioned Doncic deal, earlier this year...and a potential three-team deal would see Harrison trade his second All-NBA talent since the turn of the new year.
The proposed three-team deal, which is centered by Davis ending up in his hometown of Chicago, while the Mavericks acquire a former All-Star forward, and the Utah Jazz act as the salary-filler third team and receive multiple expiring contracts and a lottery pick in this coming June's NBA Draft.
Chicago Bulls Receive: Anthony Davis
Dallas Mavericks Receive: Lauri Markannen
Utah Jazz Receive: Ayo Dosunmu, Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter, 2025 #12 overall pick (via Chicago), 2025 #45 overall pick (via Chicago)
The deal would work on multiple fronts for all three included teams. The Mavericks would receive an All-Star talent in Markkanen, who would provide some much-needed floor-spacing as well as some versatility in terms of playing either the three or the four, which projected number one pick, Cooper Flagg can also do. It doesn't hurt that the deal would allow the Mavericks to shed nearly $10 million while bringing in a younger, less injury prone player then Davis has showed over the course of his recent career.
For the Bulls, they'd likely be comfortable parting ways with Dosunmu, Collins, Huerter, and the 12th overall pick to bring a hometown, All-NBA talent. Even if Davis continued to struggle with injuries, the club didn't mortgage any of their future pieces in Coby White, Josh Giddey, or Matas Buzelis.
Finally, the Jazz would be maximizing the value of Markkanen by getting his $46.3 million cap hit off the books while acquiring the 12th pick in this year's draft and able to shed Dosunmu, Collins, and Huerter's deals after the season or cashing in on a potential trade deadline deal for any of the three.
Perhaps the only real holdup on the deal would be Harrison's appetite to sell his fanbase on trading another All-NBA talent and the centerpiece of the Luka Doncic deal in Davis.
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