NBA Rumor: Mavs Could Trade 10th Pick for Pistons’ Bojan Bogdanovic; Full Details
DALLAS — As the 2023 NBA Draft nears on June 22, the Dallas Mavericks continue to be among the top trade candidates to watch around the league. They finished the season with a 38-44 record, failing to qualify for the play-in tournament. There is a need to add more talent around Luka Doncic and impending free agent Kyrie Irving.
Among the top communicated focuses for the Mavs' offseason plan includes defense and rebounding, which general manager Nico Harrison has stated as both being needs to address in media comments. Dallas ranked 26th in defensive rating and 30th in total rebounding percentage in 2022-23.
"I think for us going into the offseason, the two biggest things that we need to work on is defense and rebounding," Harrison said during his media exit interview. "That's going to be addressed."
With only the 10th pick and a 2027 first-round pick as being available to use outright as first-round draft capital in trade scenarios this offseason, the Mavs are limited in the magnitude of move they can pull off. It only becomes further challenging to execute on the trade market when factoring in their underwhelming contracts.
Included in ESPN's latest NBA mock draft was a report about the Mavs' interest in trading Tim Hardaway Jr. and the 10th pick to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic and the 31st pick.
"Some trade scenarios could be in play for the Pistons with the No. 31 pick as well, for example, packaging Bojan Bogdanovic for Tim Hardaway Jr. and the No. 10 pick, sources tell ESPN," Jonathan Givony wrote.
Bogdanovic, 34, is entering the first season of a two-year, $39 million contract, which will earn him a base salary of $20.0 million in 2023-24. He is coming off a campaign in which he averaged 21.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assist in 59 games. He shot 48.8 percent from the floor, 41.1 percent on 3s, and 88.4 percent on free throws.
Bogdanovic, who stands at 6-foot-7 and weighs 226 pounds, has primarily played at the four spot over his last two seasons after spending much of his career at the three. While the Mavs do need to address an underwhelming defensive roster, he would slot in at the four.
While the Mavs would be upgrading their designated sharpshooter in terms of size and offensive talent, they'd be get even older around Doncic, while also still needing to address the primary limitations of the current roster, being defense and rebounding.
With limited assets to use in a subsequent trade, it would be challenging for Dallas to achieve that objective without more being involved in an initial trade with the Pistons in order to part with the 10th pick. With the Pistons having a frontcourt logjam, perhaps there'd be a path to adding a center in an expanded trade given Christian Wood and Dwight Powell are impending free agents.
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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