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PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford Celebrate NBA Finals Berth With Mavs After Midseason Trades

Stephen Douglas

PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford celebrate finishing their season on a good team.
PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford celebrate finishing their season on a good team. /
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The Dallas Mavericks are headed back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011. For some perspective on how long that's been, Mark Cuban was the majority owner, Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was roaming the sidelines, and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was the starting point guard. As you can see, a lot can change in a decade or so. Not that things need that much time for serious change.

Take PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, for instance. On February 7, 2024, less than four months ago, they were both playing for incredibly bad teams. Teams with the second and third-worst records in the entire league, the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets. Then, the next day they were traded to the Mavs and now they're about to play in the NBA Finals.

Gafford and Washington celebrated that after Dallas wrapped up the Western Conference finals on Thursday night with Washington posting a short video of the two rescued basketball players on his Instagram Stories. (Language NSFW)

Washington was drafted by the Hornets with the 12th overall pick in 2019. In four-plus seasons he experienced one winning season and zero playoff appearances. While the team was horrible, Washington was a starter some seasons and came off the bench in others. Since he was traded to Dallas he started 28 out of 29 regular season games and all 17 postseason games.

Daniel Gafford has also started all 17 postseason games for the Mavs. He was also drafted in 2019, but he got a taste of the postseason with the Wizards in 2021 when the Philadelphia 76ers beat them 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs. Four months ago, Gafford was starting alongside Jordan Poole.

And now they're here.

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Stephen Douglas

STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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