Luka Doncic's Mavs Expected to Trade 10th Pick For Win-Now Help?
CHICAGO — On Tuesday, the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery was hosted in Chicago, revealing that Victor Wembenyama's team will be the San Antonio Spurs after Gregg Popovich's squad landed the 1st overall pick. As for the Dallas Mavericks, they retained their top-10 protected selection and will be 10th in the order.
The Mavs shifted course to prioritizing the maximization of their outlook to retain the pick before the regular season ended. After sitting key players for the final two games of the regular season, the organization was fined $750,000. Those efforts created a 79.8 percent chance of retaining the pick.
As far as how the Mavs intend to use the pick, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported that Dallas is expected to evaluate trade options using the 10th pick ahead of next month's NBA Draft.
"Now, the Mavericks are expected to evaluate options to trade that pick," Fischer wrote. "Dallas is looking for win-now talent to put alongside Luka Doncic, and a potentially re-signed Kyrie Irving."
It's not the first time the Mavs have reportedly been linked to possible trade plans involving their 2023 first-round pick. Long before it was confirmed that Dallas would even be retaining the selection, there was reporting from Marc Stein about the team's expected plans to explore the trade market for win-now help.
While covering the lottery, DallasBasketball.com had a chance to ask Mavs general manager Nico Harrison about recent reporting regarding the team's possible trade plans using the 10th overall pick. He expressed the sentiment that all options are on the table as opposed to being set with trading it.
"I was going to ask you to give me the trade speculation, so maybe I add it to my board," Harrison said. "I don't know anything about the trade rumors. We got to look at every possible scenario, so we'll do that for sure."
The quickest path to contention would involve the Mavs likely moving the 10th pick for veteran help to pair with Doncic and Irving. However, with an increasingly restrictive Collective Bargaining Agreement being put into action, teams have to be more calculated in their spending. Adding contributing talents signed to rookie contracts could help to balance that spending.
It's early in the process to have concrete plans for not only the Mavs, but for all NBA teams. There is still over a month before the NBA Draft on June 22. In the meantime, there will be plenty of evaluation of draft prospects and potential trade targets.
If the Mavs do end up trading the 10th pick, there is a continued need to bolster the team's defensive capabilities after finishing as one of the worst teams in the NBA in that regard last season.
Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).
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