Grading every move the Dallas Mavericks made at the trade deadline

2. Trading away Richaun Holmes

Richaun Holmes' time in Dallas was short-lived despite Mavericks' minority owner Mark Cuban labeling Holmes the most underrated pickup of the summer after the Mavericks acquired Holmes along with the draft rights to Olivier-Maxence Prosper on the eve of the 2023 NBA Draft.

Holmes had his moments in Dallas, most notably when he notched a 16-point, 8-rebound effort against the Houston Rockets in a late December game. However, the 30-year-old big-man found himself out of the rotation for the most part in Dallas, barring instances where Dallas' big-man rotation was depleted by injuries or Dallas was facing off against a team with a lot of size down low.

Holmes looked like he had lost a step on both sides of the ball when he saw action for Dallas this year, but some of his effort seemed conducive to his minimized role on the team as well as the fact that he was playing in garbage time a decent amount of his minutes. Holmes was serviceable when he had his opportunities, but he wasn't an explosive enough rim protector nor rim runner to override the likes of Dereck Lively II and even Dwight Powell.

Holmes still has a player option for 2024-25 worth $12.87 million that he'll likely pickup this summer, so getting off of a player in Holmes who hasn't lived up to his contract whatsoever is certainly a win for Dallas at this trade deadline. We'll never know if Holmes could've been more explosive in Dallas if Jason Kidd delegated him more minutes, but his value league-wide was extremely low nonetheless and Dallas found a way to trade him in their acquisition of Gafford, so they get an A+ here.