Mavs Post-NBA Trade Deadline: Mark Cuban Wants ‘Great Core’ to ‘Grow Together’

The Mavs didn’t make any noise at this year’s NBA trade deadline, but greater opportunities to potentially add another core piece could be on the horizon — and Mark Cuban likes what they have already.

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and the Dallas Mavericks, despite being linked to a couple of rumors (including the idea that they thought Danny Green was theirs — again — if the Lakers had pulled the trigger on a trade for Marcus Morris Sr., who ended up on the Clippers), decided to stand pat with the roster it has now.

Although we believe the Mavs could’ve strongly benefited from adding to their wing depth, we also realize that it’s better to do nothing at all, rather than rush into a deal ‘just to do it.’ After all, the Mavs — sitting at 31-20 with 31 games remaining in the season and being in prime position to make the postseason for the first time in three years — have a chance to exceed last season’s win total before the All-Star break, even though the team has had to deal with a handful of untimely injuries that has disrupted the its flow since mid-December.

“We like this team,” Mavs owner Mark Cuban told DallasBasketball.com after the NBA trade deadline. “We will always look to improve, but we have a great core and want to see it grow together.”

Sure enough, that ‘great core’ starts with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis — two players who have proven to be superstar talents, but have yet to achieve their full potential as a duo when sharing the court together. Then, it trickles down to Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dwight Powell (who is now rehabbing his Achilles), and then to some of the more cost-friendly guys in the NBA like Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, Seth Curry, Delon Wright and Jalen Brunson.

All of those players have played an important role in the Mavs’ success this season, but outside of Doncic and Porzingis, none of them should be considered ‘untouchable’ like Roddy Beaubois infamously was back in the day.

That being said, unless you have a ‘no-brainer’ deal on the table, there’s no need to risk giving up too much right now anyway and risk messing with the teams’ chemistry. Besides, Dallas’ real chance to make a big splash will be this summer around draft time. Not only will the Mavs still have Golden State’s second round pick this year, which looks as if it’ll be pick No. 31, but a lot of people forget that they will have their own first round pick to use as well. 

Although the Mavs couldn’t dangle this year’s first-rounder in trade talks, they could, in theory, draft a player in June, then use that player in a trade if an opportunity presents itself — for example, high-profile wing players like Bradley Beal and Buddy Hield (we can dream, can't we?) will be eligible to be traded again at that point.

Another angle to consider here is the possibility of some of the Mavs’ current trade pieces gaining value over the next three or four months, depending on how they perform in the playoffs when the biggest, brightest spotlight is on.

Or who knows? Maybe the Mavs will fall in love with a couple of draft prospects in June if a big trade opportunity doesn’t materialize. If that’s the case, the Mavs would simply a couple of promising young guys on team-friendly rookie deals. Either way, there aren’t many ‘wrong’ routes the Mavs can take at this point; it’s just a matter of making the most of what’s in front of them.

One of those few ‘wrong’ routes would‘ve been the Mavs making a hasty, ‘Do Something!’ deal now that could’ve potentially messed up a good thing.

That didn’t happen, and now the Mavs will focus on getting (and hopefully staying) healthy for their playoff push in these last 31 games — and ‘growing’ with their ‘great core’ in the process.