Grade the Trade: Mavericks overpay for elite shot blocker in potential disaster

Would the Dallas Mavericks make this trade?

The Mavs have limited assets to improve their roster this summer. Are they going to give up the best of them for Myles Turner? The 6’11 big man is just entering his prime, but can he stay on the floor? He is averaging just 53.2 games per season since 2020, and just 61.6 for his career.

Isn’t that just repeating the Kristaps Porzingis experiment? Dallas traded the Unicorn to Washington in part because they could not trust him to be healthy in the most important moments. Porzingis and Turner entered the NBA in the same draft, and if you eliminate the entire season KP missed with a torn ACL, the Unicorn has averaged 57.4 games per season.

Myles Turner is a strong roll man. He scored 1.24 points per possession, which ranked in the top 30 percent of the league, and he is a career 35.3 percent 3-point shooter, but will he fit next to Luka Doncic? Turner is not an elite rebounder and his defensive metrics showed a bit of slippage last season.

Beyond that, Dallas is further stripping away its depth here. They are giving up two rotation pieces for one on an already shallow team. The Mavericks need rim protection, rebounding, perimeter defense, and depth. Turner solves one of those issues but makes their depth worse.

Grade: C-

Will the Dallas Mavericks trade the tenth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft? It seems likely, but they must find the right deal that improves their roster around Luka Doncic, and this just is not it.