Dallas Basketball

Bojan Bogdanovic Rumor: Mavs 'Trade Priority' is Veteran Center

More details have surfaced from the Dallas Mavericks' recent trade talks with the Detroit Pistons, but Dallas' main priority for the rest of the offseason is acquiring a starting, veteran center, if possible.

Dalton Trigg

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The Dallas Mavericks have had several trade talks with teams over the last month. Some of those talks have yielded tangible results, as the Mavs were able to acquire Grant Williams in a three-way trade with the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs. Others, like draft-night trade talks with the Phoenix Suns for Deandre Ayton and Atlanta Hawks for Clint Capela, never came to fruition.

Another team the Mavs have reportedly spoken with in recent weeks is the Detroit Pistons. Although Dallas is still seeking a starting veteran center, it has had interest in Bojan Bogdanovic for some time now. However, Detroit’s price tag for the 34-year-old forward has kept negotiations with Dallas from progressing.

NBA insider Marc Stein revealed more details on the Mavs and Pistons’ trade talks in his newsletter on Monday.

"Recent trade talks between Detroit and Dallas, I'm told, were sparked by the Pistons' determination to ease a backcourt logjam by trading Killian Hayes and gained little traction,” Stein wrote.

“While the Mavericks are indeed among the teams with a longstanding interest in acquiring Detroit's Bojan Bogdanovic, their trade priority at this point of the offseason is still believed to be an upgrade at center. The Pistons have been seeking no less than a future first-round pick for Bogdanovic for months."

If the Pistons refuse to let up on their asking price for a first-round pick for Bogdanovic, then it would be a safe bet to say he won’t be joining the Mavericks. Although Bogdanovic is still a very good player, Dallas is already limited with future draft assets that can be used in trades, and parting with its 2027 first-round pick for a 34-year-old with two years worth a total of $40 million remaining on his current contract wouldn’t be a smart move.

As Stein notes, the Mavs still likely prefer upgrading their starting center position more than anything else, so we’ll see if they can rekindle any of those trade talks for Capela, Ayton, or another center between now and the start of training camp in September.

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Dalton Trigg
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.

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