The Dallas Mavericks have a chance to think big over the next few years, and with Cooper Flagg in the picture, the temptation to chase another star is obvious. That kind of move can go sideways in a hurry, but it also explains why a recent trade idea has Dallas connected to a player with real name value: Joel Embiid.
Bill Simmons floated the framework on Complex, and the setup would be anything but simple. In his view, Dallas would need a third team involved, with Milwaukee pulled into the mix to make the money and pieces work.
“Dallas is run by Masai Ujiri. He has a long, long standing relationship with Joel Embiid,” Simmons said.
“I think [Ujiri] would be the one guy that would be a little more favorable about rolling the dice [on Embiid]. The other thing is, the Mavericks have contracts.
They have [Daniel] Gafford at $17 million, $18 million, $19 million. PJ Washington at 19, 21, and 23.
And Klay [Thompson] at 17.4. Which a recent trade proposal recently suggested was possible.
“You’d need a third team. So you’d have to bring Milwaukee into it, and send [Myles] Turner and [Kyle] Kuzma to Philly.
Send Embiid to Dallas, and then send Gafford, Washington and Klay to Milwaukee. It would have to be something like that,” Bill Simmons said, per Complex.
That’s a lot of moving parts for Dallas to land Embiid, and the 76ers are the team with the final say in all of it.
Right now, there’s no sign Philadelphia is eager to move him. The source material points to the 76ers having moved on from Paul George to get Jaylen Brown, a decision that reads more like a push to stay among the NBA’s better teams than a step toward breaking up Embiid and building around Tyrese Maxey and Brown.
Still, in the NBA, the door never really closes. And as Mavericks fans know all too well, anything can happen.
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