The Mavericks got a little more than they expected out of the six-team deal that brought Santi Aldama to Dallas. What initially looked like a straightforward use of the team’s $20.8 million traded player exception from the Anthony Davis trade has now shifted, with Khris Middleton being sent back to the Washington Wizards in a sign-and-trade. That change keeps Dallas’ TPE intact.
That matters. A lot.
If Middleton had not been included on the Washington side of the deal, Dallas would have lost access to the traded player exception from the Davis trade. Instead, the Mavericks preserve that flexibility while still moving forward with the rest of the transaction. They also still have the Non-Taxpayer’s Mid-Level Exception available for free agency this summer, though with many of the top names already gone, the TPE now looks like the more useful tool.
The bigger advantage is timing. Dallas does not have to use the TPE immediately. It can sit on it through next season’s trade deadline, which gives the front office a wide runway to make another move if the right player becomes available.
There are plenty of role players and younger contributors on contracts below $20.8 million next season, and that gives Dallas options. It is not common for a team to hold a trade exception that large, and Masai Ujiri and company are in a position to take advantage of that asset.
Even with that flexibility, it would still be a surprise if the Mavericks are finished dealing this summer. The roster construction points in the other direction. Dallas could still make more moves, whether they come through the MLE, the TPE, or another route entirely.
The names already floating around in trade chatter tell that story. Daniel Gafford, P.J.
Washington, Klay Thompson, and Naji Marshall have all been mentioned in rumors going back to early last season, and Dallas is crowded on the wing. One path would be using one of those contracts to chase a high-level guard.
Another would be using the TPE to help make a deal work.
Either way, the Middleton maneuver gives Dallas more room to operate than it would have had otherwise. What could have been a simple free-agency loss instead became a way to keep maximum flexibility in place. For a front office trying to keep its options open, that is a strong piece of business, and it makes the Davis deal look even better.
In Other News...
Mavericks Finally Land Long-Stashed Shooter After One Major Hurdle
Tarik Biberovic is finally on the verge of making the move the Mavericks have had his rights stashed for, with the 24-year-old wing informing Fenerbahce that he will leave the EuroLeague to sign in Dallas. The deal is expected to run two years and carry a second-year team option, a tidy bit of business for a team still looking to add shooting and long-term flexibility around its core.
The path to getting it done was not simple, though, and the timing mattered. Biberovic had to clear an opt-out deadline tied to his Fenerbahce contract, and the Mavericks also had to navigate the buyout process under NBA rules before the signing could become official. For Dallas, it is the kind of overseas holdover resolution that can quietly matter, especially when a player has been on the radar long enough to become part of the franchises future planning. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks May Have Finally Fixed The Problem Around Cooper Flagg
The Mavericks spent the offseason attacking the same flaw that showed up too often last year: too many lineups that could not punish defenses from the perimeter. Through the 2026 draft and a series of trades, Dallas has added a cluster of players who at least bring shooting into the conversation, including Morez Johnson Jr., Sergio De Larrea and the draft rights to Vsevolod Ishchenko, while also bringing in Santi Aldama and Marcus Sasser to help reshape the spacing around Cooper Flagg.
Aldama is the most intriguing of the bunch because he gives Dallas a 7-foot forward who can stretch the floor, and Sasser offers another backcourt option who can score and shoot from deep. The bigger question now is how much of this shooting makeover actually sticks once the roster is finalized, because the Mavericks still have one more move in the pipeline that could determine whether this really is the fix they were looking for. [Read more 🡒]
Lakers Are Chasing Luka's Old Mavs Formula For Better Or Worse
The Lakers latest roster-building push has a familiar feel for anyone who watched Luka Doncic operate in Dallas, because the pieces around him are starting to resemble the kind of setup the Mavericks used in 2024. The comparison is obvious in the way Los Angeles is trying to match up key positions and give Doncic the same sort of structural support that helped Dallas reach the Finals, even if the exact names and fit are not identical.
But there is a reason this kind of copycat approach comes with caution attached. Dallas version of the formula did not end with a championship, and the Lakers still have to answer the same kind of roster questions that can make or break a contender, especially on the wing where a dependable perimeter defender remains a major need. For Los Angeles, the challenge is not just looking like the Mavericks did, but proving the blueprint can actually take a team all the way. [Read more 🡒]