Mavs Considered ‘Dark Horse’ Trade Candidate for Spurs’ Jakob Poeltl

With the NBA’s Feb. 9 trade deadline looming, the Dallas Mavericks have been pegged as a team to watch for San Antonio Spurs big man Jakob Poeltl.

Dalton Trigg | Jan 24, 2023

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It’s no secret that the Dallas Mavericks could use some big-man help before the NBA’s Feb. 9 trade deadline passes.

Although Dallas has some talented bigs on its roster in Christian Wood, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell, the first two of that group are injured. But even if the injuries weren’t a factor, having that entire stable of big men healthy still probably wouldn’t be enough to keep the Mavs from being near the bottom of the league in rebounding. Right now, Dallas is dead last in that category.

So what are some realistic center options for the Mavs on the trade market? According to a report from SpursTalk.com’s LJ Ellis, San Antonio Spurs big man Jakob Poeltl could be a name to watch for Dallas.

A scout for a team in the Western Conference told me that he believes that the Dallas Mavericks are the dark horse in the Poeltl sweepstakes.

“[Poeltl] would be a talent upgrade in a position of need and he’d be a great fit for Luka’s read-and-react style,” the scout explained.

That said, I haven’t heard of any trade discussions between the Spurs and the Mavs on the Poeltl front.

Poeltl is set to be an unrestricted this summer and is reportedly looking for a contract in the $20 million per year range. In 38 games for the Spurs, Poeltl is averaging 12.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 blocks in 26 minutes of action per contest.

Although the 27-year-old doesn’t shoot 3s, he does shoot a stellar 63.3 percent overall and would be an excellent fit in Dallas — not only with Luka Doncic specifically, but in coach Jason Kidd’s system as well.

The question is, do the Mavs like Poeltl enough to potentially burn an unprotected first-round pick on him? Because that seems to be where the bidding starts for his services.

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Published Jan 24, 2023

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.