NBA Trade Rumors: Mavs Interested in Wizards’ Rui Hachimura

The Dallas Mavericks could use some big-man help before the NBA’s Feb. 9 trade deadline. Could a deal with the Washington Wizards for Rui Hachimura be the answer?

Dalton Trigg | Jan 23, 2023

Due to the rest of the Western Conference having a weird season, the Dallas Mavericks are still occupying fifth-place in the standing despite having just a 25-23 record and losing seven of their last 10 games.

One area of concern for the Mavs is their big-man depth. Both Christian Wood and Maxi Kleber are out with injuries, and JaVale McGee has proven to be nearly unplayable so far. That leaves Dallas with Dwight Powell as its only option at center.

There are many routes the Mavs could take ahead of the NBA’s Feb. 9 trade deadline, but could one of those routes be a familiar one with the Washington Wizards? According to a report from HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, it could be something for us to keep our eyes on.

Several teams have expressed interest in trading for Hachimura, including the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings, league sources told HoopsHype.

In 30 games for the Wizards this season, Rui Hachimura is averaging 13 points and 4.3 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per game. He’s shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from deep. Last season, Hachimura shot a career-high 44.7 percent on 3s.

Adding Hachimura into the mix doesn’t necessarily fix the Mavs’ rebounding issues — Dallas is dead-last in the league in rebounding — but any serviceable big man would be a sight for sore eyes at this point. Perhaps the Mavs could find a way to get Daniel Gafford in a potential package deal as well.

The Mavs are familiar with the Wizards when it comes to making deals, as they traded Kristaps Porzingis for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans last year. Dallas is just as close to home-court advantage (1.5 games) as it is to being outside the play-in tournament range all together, so it’ll be interesting to see how the next few weeks play out.

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Published Jan 23, 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.