NBA insider reveals how Mavericks really felt about rumored Kevin Durant trade

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and it's safe to say this could have been one of the Dallas Mavericks weakest deadline periods. It started with Dallas shockingly trading away their franchise superstar Luka Doncic and rounded out with another head-scratching decision to trade Quentin Grimes to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Grimes was not only an up-and-coming player in Dallas' system, but after trading away Doncic and not receiving a ball-handler, Grimes became one of the few Maverick players who could handle the rock. After trading Grimes, the Mavericks are now left with a huge hole on their roster that they refused to answer at the deadline.

Multiple names popped up on Mavericks fans' radar, but the team could not come to a decision. However, recent rumors suggested the Mavericks were targeting future Hall-of-Fame forward Kevin Durant and SNY reporter Ian Begley reported just how aggressive the Mavericks were at pursuing the Phoenix Suns superstar.

Mavericks were serious about trying to trade for Kevin Durant

"I was told that the Mavericks were very aggressive, as recently as Wednesday, trying to find other teams to get involved so they could make the math work and bring Kevin Durant to Dallas," Begley said on SNY's "The Putback."

Since trading away Doncic, the Mavericks shifted their focus to acquiring another star-caliber player in Durant. Despite this, the Mavs' future would be even more cloudy than it already is if they were to have traded for him.

There's no doubt amongst Mavericks fans, that a Durant trade would all but ensure the team was in win-now mode but this would have likely proven to be catastrophic for the Mavericks in the long run. Pairing Durant back up with Kyrie Irving would sell tickets and the Mavericks would instantly jump into one of the league-contending favorites but Dallas would have given up an arm and a leg in a deal. They don't have much draft capital to send out to begin with, and making the money work would have been a nightmare.

Pairing Durant with Irving and newly acquired Anthony Davis could go down as an all-time what-if big three pairing, but with what Mavericks fans have already been put through over the last week, it may have been for the best that the two teams couldn't come to an agreement.

Over the offseason, the Mavs will likely be on a hot pursuit to acquire a point guard to pair with Irving and Davis after not finding a trade partner at the deadline. With Durant becoming one of the NBA's biggest disgruntled stars in Phoenix, this may not be the last time that fans see Durant to Dallas rumors.

As currently stands, the Mavericks are one of the league's most underrated teams after forming a dominant duo on paper, but only time will tell if Nico Harrison's vision was a hit or a flop.