Daniel Gafford's dominance makes Mavericks' trade decision much harder

Despite having a better-than-expected start to the season, the Dallas Mavericks still have a roster imbalance that they'll need to address before the trade deadline. Dallas' roster is overflowing with wing and big-man depth, but they don't have enough initiators.

Dallas could trade Daniel Gafford to fix their biggest flaw

Walter Clayton Jr., whom the Mavericks signed on opening night, is playing big minutes due to the team's lack of guard depth behind Kyrie Irving, and the easiest way to get Kyrie some help would be through a trade. Doing so would open up minutes for more players in the frontcourt while giving the offense the shot creation it needs.

Daniel Gafford may be Dallas' most logical trade candidate, given that he has been in trade rumors for multiple years, has a valuable skill set, and the Mavs have multiple quality centers behind him, but his play recently makes this idea much more complicated.

Gafford has flipped the script after a rough 2025-26 season

During the offseason, many Mavs fans were fine with the idea of trading Gaff. He had a rough 2025-26 season, as he played in just 55 games and was limited by a nagging ankle injury, but this season has been a different story.

Gafford is averaging 9.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, a career-high 2.0 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 67.4 percent from the field. His athleticism is back to normal, as shown by his significant increase in blocks per game, and he's had some big games recently.

He had 20 points against the Sacramento Kings earlier this week and 18 points against the Houston Rockets last week, and he's back to being a force in the paint. Gafford has been crucial to Dallas' success, as he and Morez Johnson Jr. have been the only two healthy big men that Dusty May trusts. However, it may be in their best interest to capitalize on his trade value and move him for a guard.

Trading Gafford could give the Mavericks the guard depth it needs

Dereck Lively II and Santi Aldama both haven't played yet this season, and their returns will naturally cut into Gafford's playing time. May can't realistically give Gafford, Lively, Aldama, and Johnson a significant role, and the team may have to make a move to clear this logjam.

The Mavericks being forced to play Clayton big minutes shows how desperate they are for guard depth, and moving on from Gafford before the trade deadline could be a strong solution to this problem. Dallas needs more balance if they want to be a dangerous playoff team, and trading one of their big men would help them achieve this goal.

Both sides of the coin come with risks

Trading Gafford could be very risky, especially if he keeps playing well, and this is why the decision to keep or trade him is complicated. Add in the fact that Lively has struggled to stay on the court, and Dallas is in a real pickle.

The result of trading Gafford could be exactly what the backcourt needs, but the risk of trading him can't be ignored either.

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