Will The Mavs Trade Kristaps Porzingis Before Next Season?

On this episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, Dalton Trigg is joined by his DallasBasketball.com colleague Grant Afseth for another installment of our offseason series "Upgrading The Mavericks." This episode focuses on how Dallas can upgrade from the Porzingis situation specifically.

It's no secret that the Dallas Mavericks have a huge offseason ahead of them. With just about two weeks left until the NBA Draft - the time where teams start becoming more active in trade talks again - and three weeks left until free agency begins, the new Mavs front office has a lot of work to do in order to build a true title contender around 22-year-old superstar Luka Doncic. The first step in that process, though, will be figuring out what the next step is with their current max contract player, Kristaps Porzingis.

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On paper, Porzingis had the most efficient offensive season he's ever had last season, but his defense took a considerable step back from where it was the season prior, and overall, he just didn't seem to mesh well with Doncic. Porzingis, who is set to make $100 million over the next three years, finished the 2020-2021 campaign averaging 20.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while shooting 37.6% from deep and a career-high 47.6% from the field. However, that production fell dramatically in the Mavs' playoff rematch with the Los Angeles Clippers this year, as he only averaged 13.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in the seven-game series.

READ MORE: A New Mavs Era: Will Nico Harrison & Jason Kidd Attract Stars?

On this episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, Dalton Trigg (@dalton_trigg) is joined by his DallasBasketball.com colleague Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) for another installment of our offseason series "Upgrading The Mavericks." This episode focuses on how Dallas can upgrade from the Porzingis situation specifically. Are there any realistic ways the Mavs could trade him right now while truly being able to improve the roster? Could certain sign-and-trade scenarios become relevant depending on what Dallas is able to do in free agency? Given that this is KP's first fully healthy offseason, should they wait it out and try to build his trade value back up in the first half of next season? Listen to all of this and much more right here:

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