Mavericks' Quentin Grimes nightmare gets worse after latest draft pick

Dallas Mavericks fans were crushed on the morning of the NBA trade deadline, as Quentin Grimes was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in a deal for Caleb Martin. The Mavericks acquired Grimes from the Detroit Pistons last summer in a swap for Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round picks, and one of the picks involved in this trade was the Toronto Raptors' 2025 second-round pick (No. 37 overall), which the Pistons just used to draft Chaz Lanier out of Tennessee.

While Mavericks fans' disgust with the way the Grimes situation unfolded will always surround how they traded him to the Sixers just for him to morph into a young star after having an up-and-down journey in Dallas, the frustration will only continue to grow as Lanier heads to Detroit, as Dallas desperately needs guard depth and shooting.

With Lanier joining a young Pistons roster, he could get the opportunity to join the rotation right away for a team that has the chance to be a top-four team in the Eastern Conference. Detroit capped off their best season since 2008 (tied with the 2015-16 season) by taking the New York Knicks to six games in the first round of the playoffs and winning 44 games in the regular season, and they are definitely a team to keep an eye on as the rest of the offseason unfolds.

Mavs fans' pain from Grimes trades increases after Pistons take Lanier

Lanier was the Pistons' first pick of the draft, as they didn't have a first-round pick last night, and envisioning Lanier on a Detroit squad next to Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, and Jaden Ivey is something Pistons fans should be excited about.

With the Pistons making this selection, Mavericks fans could only watch from the sidelines as their Grimes situation only got worse. While the trade with the Pistons to acquire Grimes ultimately had to happen, as Dallas desperately wanted to move on from Hardaway Jr. after the 2024 NBA Finals, the Mavericks not holding onto him is what really stings. Especially after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, and knowing that they were going to need ball handling.

Not to mention, Hardaway Jr. had some big moments with the Pistons, as he started in all 83 games he played in (regular season and playoffs) and dropped 24 points in Game 3 against the Knicks. He took a step in the right direction when it comes to escaping the slump that plagued the end of his Mavs career, and now he enters unrestricted free agency after a decent year with the Pistons.

The Pistons drafting Lanier with the No. 37 overall pick only adds more pain to the hearts of Mavericks fans who are still disappointed with how everything went down with Grimes, as they wish that Dallas had this selection to go draft a guard to grow alongside Cooper Flagg.

The Mavericks had been in some trade rumors to acquire an additional pick to draft a point guard over the last few weeks, and they wouldn't have had to trade into the second round if they had just kept the 37th pick out of the Grimes-Hardaway Jr. swap.

Dallas had to tack on some draft capital to get off of Hardaway Jr.'s contract, but with how the new CBA works, second-round picks are becoming much more valuable, and this second-round pick in particular is one that Dallas could have used to improve their roster around Flagg.