Masai Ujiri's history makes one potential Mavericks trade stand out

The Dallas Mavericks have been quiet in recent days, but it seems unlikely their offseason is over, as there are still veteran players on the roster who have been in trade rumors for some time now, such as P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson, and Naji Marshall. However, due to Masai Ujiri's history of coveting wings and forwards, Gafford seems like the most likely Maverick to be dealt of that group.

He has been in trade rumors for multiple seasons in a row, and with a new front office in place, they could finally look to move on from the fan-favorite center.

Based on the current construction of Dallas' roster, this ideology wouldn't make sense from the outside perspective. Dallas is overloaded on the wing, and with free-agent big man Moussa Cisse still not having re-signed yet, Gafford is one of two pure centers on the roster.

Ujiri's history with wings makes Gafford a likely trade candidate

The other true center on Dallas' roster is Dereck Lively II, who has not progressed as rapidly as expected following foot surgery at the end of 2025 and is someone who seems unlikely to be ready for the start of the regular season. Nonetheless, Ujiri prioritized wing depth above all else during his time with the Toronto Raptors, and the current construction of Dallas' roster echoes this sentiment as well.

While Dallas' new draftee, Morez Johnson Jr., and recently acquired forward Santi Aldama can both play the five in spurts, they don't project to be full-time starting centers for Dallas, which makes keeping Gafford over someone like Washington, Thompson, or Marshall more logical from an outside perspective.

However, Ujiri and Mike Schmitz appear to be prioritizing talent acquisition above all else, even if they end up severely overloading on wings in the process. Gafford may have the most value of any player in the aforementioned group, barring maybe Washington, and this could certainly lead to Ujiri looking to trade him above some of those other names, especially since he's proven to love his longer wings throughout his history working in front offices.

Trading Gafford would put Ujiri's ideology to the test

Ujiri and Schmitz could be trying to make this Mavericks team more versatile offensively, and with Washington and Aldama being capable of playing as a stretch-five, they may be fine with running out a lineup that doesn't feature a true rim protector for most of the game, as Cisse would probably be Dallas' only healthy center if they didn't bring another center back in a Gafford trade.

Don't take this as confirmation that Gafford is 100 percent certain to be traded over Dallas' veteran wings that are also in trade rumors, but Ujiri's history of prioritizing bigger-bodied wings has already been repeated with the few moves he's made while being in charge in Dallas, so it wouldn't be shocking if that's a trajectory he tries to continue.

Ujiri has built a championship team once before, so his credentials speak for themself, but the roster imbalance on some of his teams in recent memory is noticeable, so it will be interesting to see if his insistence on stocking up on wings is something that will benefit or hurt the Mavericks in the long run. Ultimately, though, his position here makes a Gafford trade more likely compared to anyone else on the roster.

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