Would Dallas Mavericks team president (for now) Nico Harrison ever risk making a trade with his friend Rob Pelinka again?
The Lakers team president of basketball operations and general manager thoroughly obliterated Harrison, from purely an asset perspective, in a trade to acquire five-time All-NBA superstar guard Luka Doncic, 26, plus center Maxi Kleber and forward Markieff Morris. In return, Pelinka sent out a 2029 first-rounder, aging 10-time All-Star big man Anthony Davis (he’s 32, and injury-prone), and 3-and-D shooting guard Max Christie.
Both L.A. and Dallas sent 2025 second-rounders to the Utah Jazz, a needed destination for the Lakers to offload second-year guard Jalen Hood-Schifino.
Harrison was widely criticized for the shocking decision, which saw him ditching Doncic, in his prime, just a year removed from a run to the 2024 NBA Finals.
In a new episode of ESPN’s “The Hoop Collective” podcast, Tim MacMahon proposed the outline of a second deal between Dallas and the Lakers, that can hopefully see both clubs balance their rosters.
“Let me throw one at you. This is pure hypothetical, me trying to be GM, figure out things that might make sense,” MacMahon said. “The Mavericks quietly sniffed around the value of Daniel Gafford before this deadline. It certainly would make sense for them to do that this summer.”
Gafford, a rim-rolling veteran center, was the starter on that 2024 Finals squad. Dereck Lively II and Davis are probably Harrison’s intended frontcourt of the future, however. Gafford is also on an expiring deal.
“Dereck Lively is a year away from getting an extension, Daniel Gafford is entering the final year of his contract, Gafford reasonably and rightly wants to get starting center money,” MacMahon explained. “You can’t have AD (Anthony Davis) on a max, Lively on a big contract and pay Gafford starting center money.”
MacMahon proposes that the Lakers ditch their fourth-best player, combo forward Rui Hachimura, in exchange for a real lob target for Doncic, with whom he meshed so well in Dallas.
“I could at least put something together that would at least be intriguing for the Mavericks,” MacMahon said. “Rui [Hachimura], all those picks that they’ve got to give up, a swap or two, I can put something together to make sense to both sides.”
Gafford averaged 12.3 points on 70.2 percent shooting from the field and 68.9 percent shooting from the foul line, 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.4 assists in his 57 healthy games for Dallas last season.