Mavs Trade Reactions: P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford Make Dallas Title Contenders?

The Dallas Mavericks pulled off two trades to acquire Charlotte Hornets' P.J. Washington and Washington Wizards' Daniel Gafford before Thursday's NBA trade deadline. Could it be enough to make Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving's squad title contenders?

Dalton Trigg | Feb 8, 2024

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Dallas Mavericks

Going into Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks knew they needed to make significant frontcourt upgrades in order to make some noise in the Western Conference as the postseason inches closer. Mavs GM Nico Harrison did just that, as he pulled off two trades: one for Charlotte Hornets versatile forward P.J. Washington and one for Washington Wizards center Daniel Gafford.

Not only did the Mavs effectively give Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving the most weapons they've ever had to work with in their Dallas tenure, but they did so while only giving up Grant Williams, Seth Curry, Richaun Holmes and some draft compensation.

On today's special edition of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we discuss Dallas' exciting trade deadline moves at length while envisioning what the future could look like for this team not only in the present, but in the future as well. Are the Mavs officially championship contenders in the West? Can they build enough chemistry with their new guys in order to climb out of the Play-In Tournament range and secure a top-six seed? One thing is for sure: the talent is now there.

Mavs Attempting to Sign Spencer Dinwiddie on Buyout Market After Raptors Trade

As exciting as the Mavs' moves were, they might not be finished. Dallas opened up a roster spot with Thursday's trades, and they're in the running to sign free agent point guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who was bought out by the Toronto Raptors on Thursday after being traded from the Brooklyn Nets. If Dallas can cap things off by also adding Dinwiddie, who played the best basketball of his career with the Mavs two years ago, then pretty much all of this team's pressing needs will have been addressed in a very short period of time.

You can watch or listen to the entire episode below, and be sure to hit that "SUBSCRIBE" button! Leave us your takes in the comments on YouTube!

Published Feb 8, 2024

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.