The Mavs are already up against the first salary cap apron for the 2024-25 season, which will complicate things as Nico Harrison and the front office look to make moves.
The Dallas Mavericks are among the most interesting trade deadline test cases in the NBA this year. As currently constructed, the Mavs are leaning right up against the first salary cap apron, but suddenly, star guards Luka Dončić (calf) and Kyrie Irving (back) are on the shelf with injuries. An argument could be made for a bold move to keep the team in the hunt in the Western Conference playoff race, but once again, they don’t have a ton of assets with which to take a home run swing in the trade market.
Underestimate Nico Harrison and the Mavericks’ front office at your own peril, though. He put on a moving and shaking masterclass to bring PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford into the fold last year, when Dallas was also famously asset-poor.
So, who might be on the trading block this year? The moves the Mavs make over the next month — the NBA trade deadline is Thursday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. CST — will shine a light on not only the Miriam Adelson regime’s appetite for spending over that first cap apron, but also on the front office’s level of belief in staying the course after disastrous injuries have threatened to derail the season. In no particular order, here are six Mavericks who might be moved before then.
Quentin Grimes
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No one wants to see Quentin Grimes go at this point, but circumstances may be conspiring against him staying in Dallas long-term. The “Does Grimes stay or does Grimes go?” question is a bellwether for whether Miriam Adelson and her ownership team are willing to spend above the first — and maybe even the second — salary cap apron and incur the penalties that come along with doing so. Grimes is averaging 10.4 points in 22.5 minutes per game, plus career-high marks of 4.2 rebounds and 40.7% 3-point shooting this year. He’s come up big in some big moments when called upon to fill a larger role, too.
Dallas is currently about $500,000 under the first apron. Expanding the team payroll past that would limit the Mavericks’ ability to use various trade exceptions, make sign-and-trade deals and take back salary in trades this offseason. If the consequences for passing the first apron don’t sound all that punitive, the team payroll currently sits about $11,000,000 shy of the second apron. Passing that threshold would mean losing the mid-level trade exception, the ability to trade first-round picks, the ability to send cash as part of deals and a host of other slaps on the wrist that make the cost of doing business this off-season prohibitively high.
Grimes is currently in the last year of his rookie contract and reportedly turned down Dallas’ qualifying offer, believed to be in the neighborhood of teammate Naji Marshall’s deal (three years, $27 million), in October. Turning that offer down was a bet on himself, one that will likely net him a bigger contract in free agency this summer. All this is to say that the Mavericks are left with a big decision to make at the trade deadline.
If Dallas doesn’t want to fool around with going above the first apron, the move is probably to trade Grimes in a package including one or more of his teammates below, or possibly the team’s 2025 first-round draft pick at the deadline to get something nice in return from a team that has more cap space. Sure, in theory, Dallas could get creative, dump other salaries at the deadline and make more room for re-signing Grimes this offseason, when he’ll become a restricted free agent. But that would mean less wiggle room for Harrison & Co. to make wonderful things happen this trade season.
If Dallas decides that going above the first apron is okay but staying below the second is the priority, keeping Grimes might be the thing to do. It will be a tall task to stay under the first apron, keep Grimes and add a worthwhile piece at the deadline, but again, underestimate Harrison at your own peril. Trading the next two guys on this list might be a good start to solving that puzzle. All this makes Grimes the most interesting potential trade chip on the Dallas roster, as well as the biggest difference-maker of the bunch on the court.
Maxi Kleber
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The most attractive thing about Maxi Kleber as a potential trade asset is that he makes $11,000,000, which can be useful in salary matching to make trades work. He becomes indispensable in the Mavericks’ upcoming trade talks when you realize that most of the rest of the Mavs’ movable pieces are either on their rookie deals or minimum deals. $11,000,000 isn’t a ton in today’s NBA, but it’s one of the bigger numbers the Mavs could move at the trade deadline, unless Harrison breaks glass in case of extreme emergency and does something crazy, like moves on from Klay Thompson or Kyrie Irving. Neither of those appears likely at all, though.
It’s also worth noting that ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on Tuesday that Harrison and the Dallas front office have been “one of the most active teams on the phones so far this trade season” and that both Kleber and Grimes “are players who have a market.”
But now, an outline of an idea starts to form. What might the Mavs command for Grimes, Kleber and that 2025 first-round pick? Whatever pieces end up moving this trade deadline, expect Kleber to be a throw-in to make the numbers work.
Daniel Gafford
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Gafford is on the books for just over $13,300,000 this season and is under team control for next season, after which he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. He just suffered a sprained ankle in the second quarter of Monday’s 119-104 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies but was back in action for Thursday’s 117-111 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, so the injury, as close as it came to the trade deadline, shouldn’t hurt Gafford’s potential trade value at all. Gafford certainly has value, and moving him becomes even more interesting if a big man, preferably a dynamic four who can defend, is coming back in return. It becomes a little safer to trade Gafford in the context of Dereck Lively II’s recently increased workload. Lively needs to be a 30-plus minute per game type of player, and Gafford’s stint with the Mavs may be a casualty of that team need.
Jaden Hardy
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Wouldn’t it have been cool if Jaden Hardy could have developed into a player with literally any trade value whatsoever since he first started flashing a bit of scoring pop in 2022? Well, that hasn’t happened, so consider him another throw-in piece this trade deadline. Last month, I mused that he might hold more value on the Mavs roster than he would as a trade chip, simply because he wouldn’t command much of anything in return, but that was during his best stretch of play of the year, in a fill-in role when teammates were injured. He was relegated to the bench as the team got healthier, but he may have one last chance to improve his trade stock as he fills in once more with Dončić and Irving out. Scoring 40 combined points in the team’s last two games is a good start on that front.
Hardy will make just over $2,000,000 this season before his 3-year, $18,000,000 deal kicks in starting next season. Moving Hardy as part of a trade package could be part of the creative salary clearing that would be helpful if the Mavs want to keep Grimes in the long term.
Spencer Dinwiddie
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Spencer Dinwiddie has been a pleasant surprise this season at the veteran minimum. He’ll get about $3.3 million this year, but his cap hit is just over $2 million. Since he’s outplaying that contract at the moment, he might hold more value than Hardy, but he occupies the same tier in trade talks. If the Mavs need to add a couple million more in salary to make a move work, they might ask the potential suitor which piece they prefer: Hardy, Dinwiddie or this next guy.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper
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O-Max is just 22 years old and in the second year of his rookie contract. That’s probably why Dallas would hesitate to include him in a deal as a mere throw-in, like Hardy or Dinwiddie, but that doesn’t make him off-limits. Dallas exercised its team option on Prosper in October, meaning he’s under contract for at least one more year at just over $3 million. He’ll make about $2.8 million this season.