Dallas Mavericks: Will the Mavericks Regret Trading Deividas Sirvydis?

The Dallas Mavericks had their selection at pick 37. The player they drafted was Deividas Sirvydis who was quickly dealt in an agreed upon trade with Detroit. But will the Mavericks regret dealing the 6’8″ Lithuanian wing?

The 2019 NBA Draft is set in the books and there is an abundance of pending trades that will become official within the next few weeks. There were a total of 19 draft day trades with the young college stars shuffling around until they land on their final team. One of these trades happened between the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons.

Donnie Nelson and the Mavericks were included in the trade market by moving a couple of draft slots down, trading the rights for Lithuanian forward, Deividas Sirvydis, to the Detroit Pistons for Nebraska Cornhusker, Isaiah Roby, and two future second-round picks. The two future picks the Mavericks will receive will be Utah’s 2020 second rounder and Portland’s 2021 second.

What could be good about those future second-round picks is that it gives the Dallas front office ammunition to unload bad contracts or move up in a future draft. With the way the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers have been playing the past couple of seasons. It makes it look like they will be late picks, but assets are assets and they can always be used in multiple ways.

Pistons fans probably won’t see Deividas Sirvydis play a regular season game for at least a couple of seasons. But, that doesn’t mean that the Lithuanian won’t be a better long term investment than Isaiah Roby.

The soon to be Detroit Piston just turned 19 years old and is about as raw as it gets when it comes to being NBA ready. NBA teams have a better chance at molding prospects the way they want to with how much younger the player is and that is exactly what Detroit is going to get a chance at.

With a silky smooth three-point shot, his overall value is always going to be in high demand in the modern NBA. The young prospect also shows great ball handling skills that can move through defenders. In the 2018-19 Euro Cup, Deividas Sirvydis shot 52 percent from two-point field goals and 46 percent from the three-point line.

With the success of Dirk Nowitzki, Luka Doncic and most recently the confidence in Kristaps Porzingis, it would’ve made sense to hang on to Sirvydis’ draft rights. With Dallas set to have plenty of cap room to chase after a few veteran free agents this summer, the young prospect wouldn’t have made the final roster.

Just like the Pistons plan on doing, Dallas would’ve sent him to play overseas as well to develop his game before playing a minute as a Maverick. Vice President Donnie Nelson and owner Mark Cuban have also made it clear that they are at a win-now stage with the franchise. Even with the retirement of the greatest Dallas Maverick of all time, fans have a team that is young and on its way up.

The biggest area of concern is Sirvydis’ weight, he is very thin right now and lacks power in the upper body. With the ability to play the two and three positions, it will only help to add muscle for an NBA future. With a great facilitator and playmaker in Doncic.

It would only make sense for the Mavericks to have a future of Sirvydis with his exceptional offensive IQ. The way Sirvydis would have helped the Mavs would be in a tall ball, sharpshooter line up with Sirvydis at the two guard position and Luka Doncic at the one.

For Detroit, this is a win for the future of the guard and forward position. Obviously, they are thinking ahead and will have a second option moving forward if guard Luke Kennard does not work out long term. Draft and stash options don’t always work out, but this gives insurance for a future shooter on a two way or cheap rookie contract.

Only time will tell if the young Lithuanian will turn out to be a future three-point specialist for the Pistons. Dallas and Detroit both got the guys they wanted. But let’s hope the Mavericks didn’t just pass on the next Bojan Bogdanovic.