The Dallas Mavericks Should Trade a Big

With the plethora of bigs on the roster in Dallas, the Mavericks should entertain trading one of them for more wing depth off the bench.

The Dallas Mavericks decided on Monday to convert the contract of Gian Clavell into a two-way contract. This made the roster in Dallas official heading into the home opener on Wednesday night.

With Clavell moving into the last two-way spot, this meant that all of Salah Mejri, Jeff Withey and Maxi Kleber made the official 15-man roster. This is in addition to Josh McRoberts, Dwight Powell and Nerlens Noel all coming off the bench also.

This means six out of the ten non-starters on the team are 6’10” or taller.

The other four non-starters on the team are Yogi Ferrell (6’0″), J.J. Barea (6’0″), Devin Harris (6’3″) and Dorian Finney-Smith (6’8″). At the moment, Harris is the backup three with Finney-Smith the only lengthy wing off the bench that can play the three and the four.

This is why Dallas should trade one of their bigs for another wing.

Nerlens Noel isn’t going anywhere. Since Jeff Withey and Maxi Kleber were signed over the offseason, they can’t be moved until December. I’m going to go ahead and cross McRoberts off at the moment just because his contract could really come in handy at the trade deadline.

This leaves you with Dwight Powell and Salah Mejri.

Dwight Powell is still just 26 years old, but is due roughly $30 million over the next three years. His contract might be harder to trade, but it doesn’t mean you couldn’t find another team in a similar situation with a wing.

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Would a Dwight Powell straight up for Moe Harkless or Alec Burks work for both sides? What about helping Oklahoma City with their front court depth in Powell for Alex Abrines and Josh Huestis?

Dallas might not be ready to give up on Powell yet and his contract is harder to trade, that is why trading Salah Mejri would make the most sense. With a salary of $1.4 million this year, before hitting restricted free agency, teams would be interested in the fearless shot blocker off the bench.

The return wouldn’t be massive, but you could still get a capable wing back in the deal.

Jerami Grant in Oklahoma City, Furkan Korkmaz in Philadelphia, Rashad Vaughn in Milwaukee, and Semi Ojeleye in Boston are all players that Mejri could be traded straight up for and their respected teams have a need for Mejri.

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Either way, Dallas is loaded with bigs on the roster and it’s time they entertained unloading one of them for some wing depth behind Barnes and Matthews.