Mavs' rumored nightmare offseason trade scenario just got silenced by NBA insider

The Dallas Mavericks' 2024-25 season has been anything but easy, and many fans have reached their breaking point with just over two weeks until the NBA Playoffs begin.

After reaching the NBA Finals last season, led by Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic along with a perfect supporting cast, the team decided to make the most shocking trade in NBA history by trading Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis days before the trade deadline in the middle of the night on a Saturday. The Doncic trade, coupled with all of the team's injuries, including Irving tearing his ACL, has turned this season into a nightmare, and fans are praying for it to end as soon as possible.

Even though Dallas has shown promise with Davis back in the lineup and Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II returning to the floor recently, the brutal truth is that the Mavs can't make a playoff run without Irving. Fans continue to wish the trade deadline went differently, and their finger-pointing continues to go at the man in charge, Mavs GM Nico Harrison.

His disastrous decision to trade Doncic and Quentin Grimes at the trade deadline has not gone over well with fans, and there have been rumblings of another big trade that the Mavericks were eyeing as recently as this year's trade deadline that would have broken the internet just like the Doncic trade did.

Mavericks may not make another franchise-crushing trade after all

The Mavericks were reportedly eyeing a trade with the Phoenix Suns to bring Kevin Durant to Dallas to form a big three with Irving and Davis for the remainder of this season and into the future, which most Mavs fans were not happy with considering how much they'd have to give up to get him, but an NBA insider's recent report may indicate that Dallas' interest in Durant isn't as strong as it once seemed.

ESPN's Shams Charania listed five teams that showed mutual interest in a trade for Durant at the trade deadline, and the Mavs were not listed. Charania listed the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets as the teams that showed interest in a trade for Durant this season, and he expects all of these teams to be in the hunt for him this summer.

While Durant on the Mavs would look amazing on paper, as they would have a star guard, forward, and big on their roster who are all elite scorers, the negative consequences of making this move would easily outweigh the tempting positives. In order to get the deal done, Dallas would likely need to give up multiple first-round picks along with several elite role players to get the salary to match up, and doing this would doom their future even more than it already is.

The Mavericks' future is uncertain considering Davis and Irving's age and injury history, and their draft picks this summer and next summer could end up being their best friends when it comes to adding some young players to their core. Dallas needs to hit on these picks badly, and they can't afford to get any older while simultaneously giving up more draft capital.

Trading for Durant would turn Dallas' roster dilemma into a catastrophe, and while the Mavericks could still end up pursuing him in a few months, fans will be hoping that they don't join the list of teams that Charania listed as having mutual interest in Durant. He will likely end up having a say in where he goes, as he and the Suns are going to work together to get a deal done, and Mavs fans could end up quickly finding out if he wants to join Dallas or not.