Detroit Pistons fleece the Mavericks in unlikely trade rumor
Detroit Pistons fleece the Mavericks in unlikely trade rumor
The Dallas Mavericks would need to achieve one of two goals in order to get value from trading the 10th pick, and ideally the trade would do both.
The first is that they need an upgrade of talent, and while Bojan Bogdanovic is definitely better than Tim Hardaway Jr. the difference is probably not enough to move the needle and that’s before you get into the fact that Bogdanovic is three years older.
Neither guy is a great defender or rebounder. Bogdanovic averaged 21.6 points last season while shooting 41.1 percent from 3-point range on six attempts per game, but he only played in 59 games after the Pistons shut him down and went into full-blown tank mode.
THJ averaged 14.4 points per game while shooting 38.5 percent from long range on 7.7 attempts per game. So yes, Bojan is a better offensive player, but he’s a worse defender and the shooting is nearly a wash when you consider Hardaway Jr. had more attempts in his 71 games played.
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This is an upgrade, but not one that would seemingly move the needle much, so it fails the first test.
The second goal would be to clear significant cap space so that the Mavericks could add more free-agent talent around Luka Doncic. In this deal they would actually take on money, as Bojan is making just under $3 million more than THJ next season, whose contract actually goes down the next two seasons. Even when you factor in the salaries of the draft picks, it’s pretty much a financial wash for Dallas.
The only savings would potentially be year two, as Hardaway Jr’s second year is fully guaranteed and Bojan’s isn’t. There are some potential savings, but not until year two and the Mavericks are trying to win right now.
So would Dallas really give up the 10th pick for a marginal upgrade in talent that didn’t give them any immediate cap relief? Seems unlikely. They’d probably ask the Detroit Pistons to take on Davis Bertans as well, so they would at least clear some cap space.
From the Mavericks point of view, this trade doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, so how about the Pistons?