Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Dallas Mavericks

Outside of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, the Mavericks do not really have anybody on their team that scares their opponents. Their whole gameplan right now is to give the ball to Luka and hope that he can either score or create an opportunity for one of his teammates to score, hence why we are seeing Doncic put up insane numbers and be close to averaging a triple-double for the season. 

No disrespect to Luka Doncic, as he is a terrific young talent and already one of the best players in this league, but the Mavericks are not going to do anything if this is their philosophy night-in and night-out. If they lean on Luka to do everything, they will not only miss the playoffs, but they run the risk of having Doncic get injured because of fatigue and stress. 

The Mavericks need to do everything they can to bolster this roster before the trade deadline, which is why Andre Drummond could be a terrific target for them. For a team that struggles to rebound, getting a big man like Drummond makes a lot of sense, but he is also a threat on the offensive-end of the court to score. 

Drummond has averaged a double-double for seven consecutive seasons now and for his career, has shot 53.8% from the floor. He does not stretch the court like Porzingis, but can create numerous second-chance opportunities for the Mavs because of his rebounding abilities and can draw a lot of attention to himself with the ball in the low-post, creating spacing opportunities for others on the perimeter. 

While they have struggled to shoot from the perimeter this year, a lot of the problems the Mavericks have are with rebounding and defensively, as they give up the 7th most points to opponents this year. Both rebounding and opponent’s scoring are directly correlated to one another and by getting a true center like Drummond, they can improve in both of these areas on the court. 

Other than giving up future assets, there is nothing bad about this trade for the Mavs, as it helps them win games now. This team has potential to be special and fight against some of the best teams in the Western Conference, but they are missing that third big name to be a real threat. 

Acquiring Andre Drummond should give the Mavericks enough firepower to make the playoffs in the West comfortably and give them a fighting chance against teams like the Lakers, Clippers and Jazz.