Mavs, Bucks Discuss Trade Involving Grant Williams, Bobby Portis Jr.

NBA insider Marc Stein is reporting that the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks have discussed a trade involving Grant Williams and Bobby Portis Jr.

Dalton Trigg | Feb 5, 2024

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Trade rumors are swirling with just three days remaining until the NBA trade deadline, and the Dallas Mavericks have been involved in plenty of them.

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Mavs are now linked to the Milwaukee Bucks, as the two teams have reportedly discussed a trade that would swap Grant Williams for Bobby Portis Jr.

37D3308E-AC64-4745-B6FF-842D8207FD11 — USA TODAY Sports

“The Bucks and Mavericks, league sources say, have held exploratory discussions on a trade that would swap Milwaukee's Bobby Portis Jr. and Dallas newcomer Grant Williams,” Stein wrote in his latest newsletter on Monday afternoon.

“It is not yet known if the talks will progress to something more serious. Williams' first season in Dallas has been undeniably disappointing, but his ability to guard a wide variety of players is said to intrigue Milwaukee, which is known to be searching for defensive upgrades.”

To say Williams has been a disappointment during his first year in Dallas would be an understatement. The 6-6 forward is averaging 8.1 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting a career-low 41.0 percent from the field. Over his last 25 games, Williams is shooting just 37.7 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from deep.

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Money-wise, Williams and Portis make nearly the same amount annually around $13 million, but Williams’ deal goes through the 2026-27 season, where Portis’ goes through the 2025-26 season. This season, Portis is averaging 12.6 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Bucks while shooting 50.0 percent overall and 38.0 percent from deep.

UPDATE from Stein at 2:45 p.m. CT: “One source briefed on the process, confirming discussions between the teams after this story posted, indicated that Milwaukee is unwilling to swap Portis for Williams straight up, meaning that a simple one-for-one trade construction would likely have to be expanded to include other players to advance these talks.”

Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for all Mavs-related trade deadline updates over the next 72 hours.

Published Feb 5, 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.