5 Offseason trades that make the Dallas Mavericks title contenders

This upcoming offseason is one of the most important in recent memories for the Dallas Mavericks, as they face the task of putting a championship-caliber team around Luka Doncic.

Obviously, that all starts with whether or not they choose to bring Kyrie Irving back to town, but even if they don’t want to re-sign him, they still need to find a way to help Doncic.

Just one season ago, the Mavericks, led by Doncic and Jalen Brunson, made a miracle run to the Western Conference Finals. Yet this year, they failed to even qualify for the Play-In Tournament.

Injuries certainly played a part in that failure, but as a whole, the team around Doncic simply wasn’t good enough. The defense slipped, the surrounding pieces struggled at times, and the trade for Irving didn’t quite pan out in the short term.

5 offseason trades that make the Mavericks title contenders

Free agency will be a huge part of the Mavericks’ offseason plans this summer, but it likely won’t be enough to build a title contender.

In turn, they should look toward the trade market.

First and foremost, trading for a third star would help take the pressure off of both Doncic and Irving. But that idea is predicated on whether or not a star player becomes available.

Instead of banking on that, Dallas should focus their efforts on improving their defense and trading for high-level role players that can support its two stars.

And even if they decide to let Irving walk, they should look to explore sign-and-trade deals with him in an attempt to get some sort of value back in return.

With all that in mind, here are five trades for the Mavericks to consider that would help make them title contenders.