Dallas Mavericks need to pursue Kemba Walker this summer

The Dallas Mavericks need one more cornerstone to form one of the most exciting big threes in the NBA. Kemba Walker is that piece.

The Dallas Mavericks are searching for that third piece to pair with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis to vault into title contention.

Kemba Walker is in a unique position this offseason. While in a small market in Charlotte, he has still cemented himself as one of the league’s best scorers and an extremely coveted free agent this summer.

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson are the free agents that everyone will be gushing over come July 1st, but Walker should not be seen as a tier two player. This season, Walker is destroying the competition scoring 25 points per game. He has dropped 30 or more in each of his last five games.

Fit in Dallas

Walker could be a perfect fit in the Mavs’ offense. With Luka being the primary facilitator, the Mavs have been looking for one other player to be a consistent shot creator all season. They pulled the plug on Dennis Smith Jr. and Harrison Barnes. Fans will have to wait until next season to see what they have in Porzingis.

Walker is what the Mavs were hoping DSJ could become offensively. Inefficient offense, inconsistent decision-making, and questionable body language made Smith Jr. expendable with Doncic next to him. Porzingis is the ideal second star, but the Mavs still need the true off-ball scorer to become an offensive juggernaut.

The Mavs will have the cap space this offseason to offer Walker a max contract, which will leave them plenty of options to re-sign some of their own free agents. The Mavs will be able to go over the cap to keep both Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber, so spending their available cap space on a max level free agent will go a long way towards increasing their depth on the bench as well.

If the Mavs were to add another perimeter piece to their starting lineup, then they could start both Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber while putting Tim Hardaway Jr. on the bench. Keeping both Kleber and Finney-Smith in the starting lineup would afford the Mavs the ability to keep their best defenders in the lineup, and limit the opposing team’s ability to jump out to significant leads early in games.

Hardaway Jr. would also be an ideal sixth man for the Mavs. Adding Walker’s 25 points per game while putting Hardaway Jr.’s 19 a game on the bench would round out one of the scariest offenses in the NBA.

A team core of Luka Doncic, Kemba Walker, and Kristaps Porzingis could very well be a 55-win team next year, and would surely be a contender in the playoffs. Suddenly, just one year removed from a season that saw the Mavs pick third in the NBA draft, they may well be one player away from being a long-term force in the NBA.