BREAKING: Hornets Trade P.J. Washington to Mavs; Full Details

The Mavs reached an agreement with the Hornets to acquire P.J. Washington before the NBA trade deadline.

NEW YORK CITY — The Dallas Mavericks were strongly linked in trade rumors to P.J. Washington and managed to get a deal done with the Charlotte Hornets before Thursday's 3 p.m. Eastern deadline. 

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Mavs are finalizing a trade to acquire Washington from the Hornets in exchange for Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and a lightly protected first-round pick.  

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Washington has averaged 13.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 44 games. He is playing in the first season of a three-year, $46.5 million contract, with a descending annual salary that pays him $16.8 million in 2023-24. 

The Mavs' pursuit of Washington comes without surprise, considering sources tell DallasBasketball.com that Dallas has a "longstanding" desire to trade for Washington. He was a target in restricted free agency. 

Dallas had been motivated to upgrade at power forward for months due to underwhelming production from Williams, who was acquired in the offseason in a three-team sign-and-trade involving a 2030 first-round pick swap.

Another element of this trade, a source tells DallasBasketball.com, is that Williams' personality had worn on the Mavs' locker room in recent months. In terms of on-court production, Williams had a solid start to the season but quickly fell off in his impact. 

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Williams averaged 15.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in his first eight games in 31.9 minutes, shooting 55.6 percent from the floor and 54.3 percent from beyond the arc. He appeared to provide precisely what the team sought. However, his production plummeted over his last 40 games, averaging 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 25.2 minutes, shooting 37.8 percent overall and 32.9 percent from the perimeter. 

Since being moved to the bench before the Mavs' Christmas Day matchup against the Phoenix Sun, Williams often slid over to the small ball center role after he had failed to impact playing power forward consistently but proved unable to make much impact on either end of the floor. 

In addition to the trade with the Hornets, the Mavs are reportedly nearing a trade agreement to acquire Daniel Gafford from the Washington Wizards. Dallas will have upgraded at multiple frontcourt spots around Dereck Lively II.