Dallas Mavericks: Justin Jackson will find his stride

The Dallas Mavericks made their big trade deadline splash pretty early on when they acquired Kristaps Porzingis, but they also made a move just before the end when they traded Harrison Barnes for Justin Jackson. This wasn’t a salary dump.

Harrison Barnes has been missed over the past few weeks. Although his time with the Dallas Mavericks over his last few months was less than stellar, Barnes represented a talented, no-nonsense type player that fit well with this team in attitude more so than play. Since he has been gone, the Mavs have often times struggled getting things going on offense.

Whether or not that can be directly attributed to Harrison Barnes is irrelevant, the point is the Mavs have no offensive punch and HB once offered that. When the team traded Barnes, they got Zach Randolph‘s expiring contract and Justin Jackson in return. Randolph was waived quickly, but the real prize in the trade was Jackson all along.

Justin Jackson had a stellar college career at the University of North Carolina, winning a championship in 2017 while being named the ACC Player of the Year. Although his pro career hasn’t taken off by any means yet, there is no doubt that the youngster is talented. Dallas knows that he may never be a starter, but he could be a key player on the bench.

The thing fans need to remember is that Jackson was just drafted in 2017. He turns 24 this month which makes him older than many in that draft class, but he needs some NBA experience before he will get to the level we want him at. And I believe that he will get to that level.

Jackson is a guy who prides himself in his basketball ability. He is not a showboater by any means but he knows what he is capable of and he works his butt off to do those things. Being traded is never easy and being traded to a team that is doing worse than your previous team is even harder.

If it doesn’t happen this year, Justin Jackson will start to see just how good this team can be by the summer. He may already see it and he may be excited for the future, but if he is not, the team is showing all signs of going in the right direction for the future.

I think Jackson brings a lot of potential for this Mavericks team. He could be a key scorer off the bench and find his way into another contract in the future. He has all the intangibles to be solid, now we just wait and see.