If the Dallas Mavericks have any shot to salvage the current blueprint, they may have to consider this one extremely bold but reckless move.
Heading into the NBA offseason, the Dallas Mavericks are not in a great spot, and I don't think we quite understand how much the injury to Kyrie Irving is going to impact this team's future. At this point, the Mavs may be a couple of months away from making a huge decision that will greatly impact their future as the team currently finds itself at a bit of a crossroads.
After making the polarizing Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis deal, which was bad enough, there was at least an argument to be made that the Mavs could potentially rebuild a new contender on the fly around AD and Kyrie. While trading Luka made little sense, it's not that big of a stretch to envision Dallas emerging as a contender with their new-look roster.
However, all of that went out the window as soon as Kyrie suffered a significant knee injury. After tearing his ACL, he's going to miss the remainder of this season and probably the majority, if not all, of next year. That injury will force the Mavs to face even bigger questions heading into the offseason.
The two bold options the Dallas Mavericks must decide between
At least in my mind, Dallas has two options heading into the summer. First, they could try and acquire another star talent to play next to AD as the team buys time to hope that Kyrie can return for the second half of next season. If the Mavs can make a bold move for a star player, there's reason to believe the current blueprint can be salvaged.
The alternative is probably blowing up the roster and trading AD at some point between the offseason and next year's NBA Trade Deadline. If I had to guess, I'd expect the Mavs to want to avoid a complete rebuild. But that's where another problem lies for the team.
Even if the Mavs wanted to trade for a star player, they don't have a ton of assets to get a deal done. For example, if Dallas wanted to get in on the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, they'd have to guy nearly their entire roster to even make a deal work financially. Players like Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Caleb Martin, and Daniel Gafford would probably all have to be involved. Even then, there's no guarantee Phoenix would want to take on all of those contracts.
It's also not as if the Mavs can build a package around a large number of future first-round picks. In fact, the Mavs have a couple of picks they could legally include in a trade. On top of that, they would still need to gut a good amount of salary with Kyrie and AD still on their roster.
Should the Dallas Mavericks trade Dereck Lively II?
Of course, there is one other bold (and somewhat reckless) move that the Mavs could consider to help them salvage this blueprint heading into the offseason. It revolves around the willingness to trade Dereck Lively II. Aside from Kyrie and AD, Lively II is probably the most valuable asset the Mavs have on their roster. If they truly wanted to target a star player in hopes of saving this build, trading Lively II could go a long way in helping the team accomplish that.
While the Mavs would want to see how a frontcourt of AD and Lively II would look together, this decision is to help Dallas add a star player they desperately need to help them remain afloat in the time that Kyrie is going to be sidelined. This type of move would effectively accomplish what Dallas probably needs to do heading into the offseason. But it would certainly be costly.
I suppose the question is, how badly do the Mavs want to compete next season? Are they willing to trade their best young building block for the future in the process?