2 pros, 3 cons of potential Mavericks trade for Clint Capela

3. Con - Save assets for bigger trade

Piggy-backing off the first two points from this article, while Clint Capela is a solid center option, the Dallas Mavericks could also choose to wait it out and see if a better deal becomes available by the trade deadline.

Capela is a fine player, but is he the difference between a championship run for the Mavericks and a solid playoff outing? Maybe. But they could wait for a player who is definitely that guy.

Tim Hardaway Jr. is the only big contract they have left on the roster that isn’t being paid to a player named Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving, and, spoiler alert, neither of those guys are going anywhere anytime soon.

Trading him for Capela would be fine, but keeping him around would ensure that the Mavericks have a matching salary for any future deal they may want to make.

The easy solution to this is that Dallas could simply trade Capela in a future deal, but that’s where the second part of this point comes in - the draft capital.

When the Mavericks traded for Irving this past year, they essentially forfeited the right to trade their first-round picks for the foreseeable future, as they moved a pick in 2029, prohibiting them to trade picks around it.

By trading for Capela, they would almost certainly be giving up their last tradable first-round pick. Should they wait until someone better comes along to make that move?