Mavericks' Dante Exum deal just lit the fuse on a heartbreaking trade

While many Dallas Mavericks fans felt a little underwhelmed with D'Angelo Russell seemingly appearing as Dallas' only offseason fixture to their stopgap guard solution with Kyrie Irving poised to miss somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-60 games next season, Dallas re-signed Dante Exum to a one-year deal on Wednesday afternoon.

Exum will once again provide Dallas with point-of-attack defense and secondary playmaking/shot creation, as it would've been a tough ask for Brandon Williams and Russell to be Dallas' sole offensive initiators while Irving is out, and Exum will be able to help mitigate their ball handling load while also being able to anchor down defensively on some of the more explosive guards in the West.

Unfortunately, the Mavericks are now at 16 players on their roster, and they are hard-capped at the $207.8 million second apron for this upcoming season, so they are going to have to make some sort of consolidation trade before the season starts.

Dante Exum's return hints at a looming roster shakeup

NBA insider Marc Stein revealed Dallas may be shopping young wing Olivier-Maxence Prosper in an effort to create space for Exum, but he also noted in a post on X today that Dallas doesn't have to make a cap-relieving trade immediately to re-sign Exum, as the hard cap of 15 players per roster with three two-way slots won't go into effect until the start of the regular season.

This gives the Mavericks time to explore what options are going to be best for them via trade, and it will be interesting to see if the Mavericks make a mere salary dump trade with one of Prosper, Jaden Hardy, or Dwight Powell, or if they decide to maybe trade multiple of those players to bring one player back. While Stein reported Dallas was shopping Prosper, it wouldn't be surprising to see them dump Powell or Hardy in a trade instead, as both of those players only have a slightly higher amount of money owed to them next season compared to Prosper

It would be heartbreaking for the Mavericks to trade Powell, for instance, as the soon-to-be 34-year-old has been the ultimate professional through 11 seasons in Dallas, and is a steward of the community as well as a great veteran locker room presence. However, Powell's best days are certainly behind him, and Dallas moving his $4 million salary to a team needing a backup big could be the best solution here.

Trading Hardy or Prosper wouldn't be quite as heartbreaking to long-time Mavericks fans as trading Powell would be, as they are both younger players who haven't developed at the pace fans and analysts have been pining for. However, both players have had their moments where they've blossomed, as fans have coveted Prosper for his energy and hustle, and Hardy for his microwave scoring ability, occasionally getting the Mavericks out of offensive dry spells.

While the Mavericks have flexibility in terms of how long they have to make this trade to open up room for Exum, it appears it will most likely involve dumping one of these players somewhere else since they have some of the smallest deals on the roster financially. A Powell departure would be rough for Mavericks fans emotionally, and there's always the possibility Hardy or Prosper could go somewhere else and fully blossom, but Dallas will have to take this course of action if they want to be contenders next season.