Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison knew his team needed to add talent at the trade deadline. But Harrison didn’t want to make short-term moves. He kept a long-term vision in mind when executing trades for Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington at the deadline.
“It wasn’t really about winning right now,” Harrison told ESPN. “It was just about continuing to build it. It’s like every step is, how do we continue to get better? And we’re not built for just right now; we’re built for the next three playoff runs.”
Harrison felt that Gafford and Washington would improve with the Dallas. Both players would have something to play for, as opposed to playing out the season on teams near the bottom of the standings. Gafford echoed his GM’s thoughts.
“No disrespect to any other team that we were on, but it’s just we went from playing for nothing to playing for something,” Gafford said. “It’s like we had to lock in a whole different way.”