Mavericks’ risky decision to trade young guard is already aging like fine wine

As we head into August, there isn't much NBA or Mavericks-related news spinning around the mill at the moment, as the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France have captured the vast majority of attention from basketball talking heads and fans alike. However, the Mavericks and other teams are still making subtle moves to solidify the back half of their roster, as the Mavericks most recently cashed in by signing Spencer Dinwiddie to a one-year deal.

The Dinwiddie signing capped off one of the more successful offseason periods in franchise history for Dallas, as all four of Dallas' main acquisitions this offseason in Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, Quentin Grimes, and Dinwiddie project to be in the Mavericks' main rotation heading into next season. The most notable name out of those acquisitions is easily Thompson though, as the four-time NBA Champion is poised to give the Mavericks a needed influx of knock-down perimeter shooting, sound positional defense, as well as some tertiary shot creation.

Unfortunately for the Mavericks, they had to depart from fourth-year guard Josh Green in their six-team sign-and-trade for Thompson to make the financial components of the deal work, as Dallas lost a player in Green who looked like he was really starting to hit his stride from an offensive perspective in the latter half of last Dallas' postseason run to the Finals.

Mavericks’ decision to trade Josh Green is looking good after Olympic struggles

However, the Mavericks shouldn't be sweating too hard in regards to Green's departure, as new addition Quentin Grimes is extremely Green-esque in terms of his excellent point-of-attack defense and ability to mix it up off the dribble on the other side of the ball, and Grimes is a far more proven 3-point shooter than Green as well.

We'll see if Green heading to Charlotte comes back to bite the Mavericks from the perspective of not having an extra point-of-attack defender in their lineup, though Green's performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics through two games for Australia has boded in favor of Dallas' decision to trade Green to the Hornets this past July.

Through two games in this year's Summer Olympics against both Spain and Canada respectively, Green has gone completely scoreless in roughly 40 minutes of total play thus far, as Green has looked hesitant to look for his own shot at times and has shot a combined 0-5 from the field in two contests. Green even looked a little overzealous defensively in Australia's most recent game against Canada, as he picked up four personal fouls in just 17 minutes of action.

Obviously, the Olympic game is a slightly different format and dynamic than the NBA game, and Australia's national team is far different than the Mavericks were last season stylistically. While these could serve as potential reasons for Green's play falling off in his last two contests, it will be interesting to monitor how he continues to perform in these Olympic games as well as this coming NBA season with the Hornets, as early signs are pointing toward the Mavericks' decision to trade Green at this juncture of his career being an extremely smart one.

While Green is only 23 years old and still has solid potential to become a starting-caliber NBA role player on a consistent basis, Mavericks fans would much rather see current Maverick and fellow Australian national team teammate Dante Exum continue to perform at a high level in these Olympics instead of Green, as Exum finished with 15 points on 6-9 shooting from the field in Australia's game against Canada.

For more on the Dallas Mavericks, stay tuned as we will have you covered all offseason long.