With training camp and the NBA season closing in, the Dallas Mavericks still have business to handle, and the numbers are starting to point in one direction. The roster sits at 16 players, the frontcourt is crowded, and that combination makes Daniel Gafford the clearest trade piece on the board.
Gafford has been in Dallas for just two and a half seasons, but that still makes him one of the club’s longer-serving players. He ranks third among current Mavericks in games played for the franchise.
Even so, continuity only goes so far with this group. Dallas has a new head coach who has not coached an NBA game yet, a president of basketball operations who has been on the job only a few months, and a 19-year-old soon-to-be sophomore as its best player.
That’s a very different setup from the one Gafford joined, and it’s even farther removed from the one Dallas had a few months ago. The frontcourt, in particular, has been transformed.
Since the season finale on April 13, the Mavericks have watched Marvin Bagley III, Khris Middleton, Dwight Powell, and Brandon Williams walk, while also trading AJ Johnson and Ryan Nembhard. At the same time, they’ve brought in Santi Aldama, Tarik Biberovic, Zaccharie Risacher, and Marcus Sasser, and they’ve added Sergio De Larrea, Morez Johnson Jr., Tobi Lawal, and Vsevolod Ishchenko in the draft, though Ishchenko will play overseas next season.
That’s a lot of new bodies, and the biggest shift has come up front. Aldama, Biberovic, Johnson Jr., Lawal, and Risacher all count as frontcourt additions, which only adds to an already crowded group from last season. Dallas also doubled down by re-signing Moussa Cisse and Naji Marshall.
Not every one of those players fits the same mold, of course. Risacher will likely spend time at shooting guard, and Marshall is expected to handle some playmaking duties as a de facto point guard at times.
Neither one cuts directly into Gafford’s minutes. But the center rotation is still tight, and Gafford is one of three true centers on the roster.
That’s where the case against him gets harder to ignore. Dallas drafted Johnson Jr., brought back Cisse, and has even started exploratory extension talks with Dereck Lively II. Gafford may be penciled in as the Opening Night starter, but he still looks like the most movable big on the roster.
Aldama only sharpens that reality. He and Johnson Jr. offer a different kind of value than Lively II, while Gafford’s skill set overlaps heavily with Lively II’s. Add in the fact that Gafford is the oldest of the bigs and the most expensive, and the fit becomes even less clean.
Gafford has been in trade rumors since last season’s deadline, but Dallas’ latest wave of frontcourt additions and its overstuffed roster have made the situation louder. A move now feels increasingly likely.
In Other News...
Klay Thompson Just Put A Real Mavericks Offseason Question In Play
Klay Thompson has become one of the more interesting names hanging around the Mavericks offseason conversation, not because anything is official, but because the noise around him keeps growing. Reports have linked him to possible interest from the Lakers and Heat, and the chatter has been hard to ignore as Dallas weighs what comes next with a veteran shooter whose fit still carries obvious appeal.
What makes the situation more notable is the tone coming from Thompsons side, where the messages have sounded at least somewhat open-ended rather than defensive. No trade has been completed and the Mavericks have not said how they view his future, which leaves this as one of those slow-burn summer questions that can linger for a while before anything actually happens. [Read more 🡒]
Mark Cubans Mavericks Role Just Got More Complicated
Mark Cubans place around the Mavericks keeps getting harder to define, and the latest wrinkle comes from the business side rather than the basketball side. Cuban filed a court discovery request saying governor Patrick Dumont had left him out of business opportunities tied to the new arena site at the former Valley View Mall, a sign that the franchises next chapter is already carrying its own internal friction.
Dumont then pushed the case into business court and said no opportunities had been put in front of Cuban yet, while Cuban later withdrew the petition. Even so, he has made clear he still wants to remain involved in the arena development process, which leaves his role around one of the organizations biggest long-term projects very much unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Klay Thompson Just Raised A Real Mavericks Question About His Future
Klay Thompson has given the Mavericks another layer of uncertainty as his first season in Dallas moves along, with the guard posting an Instagram story that only amplified the chatter around his future. Thompson is in the final year of his contract, and the backdrop has already included Dallas exploring different paths to address the situation while other teams keep an eye on the veteran sharpshooter.
The speculation has a familiar pull because of the family connection, too, with his father, Mychal Thompson, publicly voicing support for Klay to end up with the Lakers. Add in reported interest from Los Angeles and Miami, and Dallas is left weighing a situation that could become one of its more delicate roster questions as the season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]