If Christian Wood Experiment Doesn’t Pan Out, Could Mavs Trade for Myles Turner?

Christian Wood started out the season hot for the Dallas Mavericks through the first three games, but he’s cooled off a bit in the last three games. If things don’t work out the way Dallas hopes, perhaps it could flip Wood for another intriguing big man on an expiring contract before the trade deadline.

Although the Dallas Mavericks have shown a lot of potential in the early stretch of the season, they only have a 3-3 record to show for it due to inconsistencies when closing games.

Christian Wood started out on fire as he averaged 24.3 points per game in the Mavs’ first three contests. In the three games since, though, he’s only averaging nine points in 25.5 minutes off the bench.

Before we get too deep into hypothetical trade talk, we want to clarify that we still believe the Mavs’ marriage with Wood can still be a long-term, successful one if he continues to buy in and coach Jason Kidd starts to trust him more as the season progresses. However, if those things haven’t happened by January, the Mavs might want to sniff around the Indiana Pacers’ Myles Turner situation.

Like Wood, Turner in on an expiring contract and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. And despite being regarded as one of the league’s most versatile rim protectors, his contract status paired with his lengthy injury history suppresses his trade value more than the Pacers would like. There have been rumors of the Los Angeles Lakers potentially being desperate enough to attach their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks to Russell Westbrook in a trade to Indiana for Turner and Buddy Hield, but so far, nothing has materialized.

Both Turner and Hield have been linked to the Mavs in past trade rumors, so it wouldn’t be a shock if that was the case this year as well, especially if Dallas can’t string together more consecutive wins in the next two months. Here’s a trade proposal we’ve had in mind:

Mavs receive: Myles Turner, Buddy Hield

Pacers receive: Christian Wood, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dwight Powell and two future second-round picks

If the Lakers are willing to part with both of their future first-rounders, the proposed trade above doesn’t really have much of a chance to become reality. However, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka might be thinking about how grim his team’s long-term future might be if he lets go of those picks. LeBron James is in the final years of his career, and the Lakers are already looking like a Western Conference bottom-dweller. Is it smart to sell out the rest of your future for players like Turner and Hield?

If L.A. determines the answer to that is “no,” then the possibilities for Dallas open up in our opinion. Hopefully for the Mavs, though, Wood will be the player they hope he’ll be and everything will work out as the team looks to build on last season’s playoff success.

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