Mavs Among Teams Eyeing Naz Reid Before New Contract
DALLAS — After a 38-44 season, the Dallas Mavericks face the need to make major roster changes around Luka Doncic and impending free agent Kyrie Irving. The team finished as one of the least productive units on defense and rebounding, with plenty of need for change in key parts of the rotation.
The Mavs began the process of making major roster changed by getting creative using the NBA Draft to bring in Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper. Both players are raw offensively, but there is optimism that they can each at least provide some level of instant impact given their embrace of defense and filling a role.
There is still work for the Mavs to do, including the continued overhaul of the center position. Lively could develop into being a major answer, but again, there is a real learning curve required for the anchor of a defense going from facing ACC foes to squaring off against NBA talent and schemes.
According to Marc Stein, the Mavs were among the various teams with interest in pursuing Naz Reid had he entered free agency after creating a pathway to the non-taxpayer midlevel exception ($12.4 million) using draft night trades. He ended up agreeing to a three-year, $42 million contract extension to remain with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"Reid was expected to generate no shortage of interest in free agency from teams possessing the full non-taxpayer midlevel exception of $12.4 million — I'm told Dallas was among them — and possibly more from teams with salary cap space," Stein wrote.
Reid averaged 11.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 68 games this season. Most impressive of all is that he played only 18.4 minutes per game. Among all players that averaged 20 minutes or less per game, only Bones Hyland had a higher scoring average than Reid.
The Mavs' trade to acquire Richaun Holmes has yet to be made official and given he was not even a rotation player for the Sacramento Kings last season, it's very challenging to envision it being viable that he makes a major impact filling a major role next season. Dallas still could re-route $12.0 million salary for 2023-24.
The problem the Mavs may encounter with moving Holmes is that he lacks trade value. For example, the Phoenix Suns are not only disinterested in taking on JaVale McGee's contract in trade talks for Deandre Ayton, they don't want Holmes' deal on the books either. With there being an unwillingness to part with a young talent like Josh Green or Jaden Hardy, the next most viable asset to use is a 2027 first-round pick since the team's other future assets aren't eligible to be moved this summer.
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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