Suns Sign Eric Gordon; Mavs' Deandre Ayton Trade Officially Dead?

The Dallas Mavericks discussed a Deandre Ayton trade with the Phoenix Suns on draft night, and those talks probably won't resume now that Phoenix's roster has filled up.

Dalton Trigg | Jul 2, 2023

On the day of the NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks reportedly engaged in trade trade talks with the Phoenix Suns revolving around former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton. Those talks never materialized into anything, but according to NBA insider Marc Stein, those talks picking back up couldn't be ruled out at the time.

"Sources with knowledge of the Phoenix/Dallas trade discussions said a resumption of the Ayton talks could not be ruled out," Stein wrote in his newsletter.

However, as of Sunday afternoon, any hope of Ayton-to-Dallas trade talks resuming could officially be dead. The Suns completed their 15-man roster by getting 15-year veteran Eric Gordon to agree to a veteran minimum contract. Mavs shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. would've been the main trade piece going back to the Suns in a hypothetical trade for Ayton, but now that Phoenix has Gordon, that scenario no longer makes sense for them.

Heading into the offseason, the Mavs' top goal was re-signing Kyrie Irving. They accomplished that goal quickly when free agency opened on Friday, agreeing to a new three-year, $126 million contract with Irving. However, Dallas is still searching for wing depth and a veteran starting center in order to keep from putting too much on rookie big man Dereck Lively II's plate in year one.

There are still a lot of scenarios that could play out in the next week or so with stars like James Harden and Damian Lillard potentially being on the move. Could the Mavs benefit from the aftermath of those situations? Could they be a third team to take on Ivica Zubac if Harden finds his way to the Clippers? Could Portland Trail Blazers' Jusuf Nurkić be an option if Lillard gets traded? Could the Mavs revisit trade talks with the Atlanta Hawks for veteran big man Clint Capela? What's the latest going on with Myles Turner and the Indiana Pacers?

We could see all of those options potentially opening up for the Mavs at some point, but for now, it's a waiting game until some of the bigger NBA trade dominoes start to fall.

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Published Jul 2, 2023

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.