Mavericks quietly just blew their perfect trade window on one polarizing veteran

The Dallas Mavericks missed their best shot at trading D'Angelo Russell last Tuesday, as the NBA's re-aggregation deadline passed on December 16. Now, whatever team trades for him can't combine his salary with another player's within a different trade. Dallas can still trade Russell ahead of the February 5 trade deadline, but trading him at the beginning of last week would've been ideal.

It would've given interested teams an easier out if he weren't the player that they were looking for, as rerouting a player after trading for him earlier in that season isn't as easy as it seems. Now, whoever trades for him may have to roster him for the entire season.

Russell has been in trade rumors for a few weeks now, and with Ryan Nembhard and Brandon Williams playing so well, it doesn't make much sense to keep him around for much longer. On top of that, Kyrie Irving is likely nearing a return, and his minutes are going to go down even more once Irving is healthy.

Mavericks missed the perfect window to part ways with D'Angelo Russell

Russell has played just 13.2 minutes per game in the last five games that he's played in, and his role in Dallas has not been what he expected. Dating back to media day, he seemed extremely confident in his ability to lead the offense in a prominent role while Irving was out, and he hasn't even been able to do that.

Russell is being utilized off the ball now, which isn't super common for him. Despite this, the reason that Dallas should've thought about trading him at the beginning of last week stretches far beyond his play on the court. It's more about the benefit that the team that traded for him would've received, but that train has unfortunately already left the station.

He became eligible to be traded last Monday, and he could've easily been rerouted by his potential new team to somewhere else ahead of the trade deadline if they had traded him before midnight on Tuesday. This would've been the ideal move for Dallas to make, as the team that traded for him would've had the chance to trade him again if he didn't work out.

Russell has long been known as a boom-or-bust-type of player, and that's why missing this deadline could end up hurting Dallas in the end. A team could've made a low-risk trade to bring him in, and if he didn't play well enough to impress the coaching staff, the team could've traded him again in a separate move, along with another player to help salaries match up.

We saw the Golden State Warriors utilize this tactic last season when trading for Dennis Schroder. They acquired Schroder in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets on December 15, but since he wasn't the fit that they were looking for, they sent him to the Utah Jazz as part of the massive Jimmy Butler trade.

The Warriors wouldn't have been able to do this if they had traded for him at a later date, and now the Mavericks are in a rough spot with Russell.

His value around the league is likely not very high, and whoever trades for him (if anyone) is likely going to be stuck with him for the entire season. They can still move on from him in a separate trade; it would just be much more complicated.

Russell can no longer be viewed as a flexible asset. Teams now have to look at him as a fairly long-term commitment, especially since he has a player option for nearly $6 million next season, and that's going to be an extremely tough sell for Dallas.