Dallas Mavericks Set To Add Andrew Bogut, Harrison Barnes

The Dallas Mavericks benefitted from Kevin Durant’s decision to leave OKC and are now in position to acquire Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes.

It took a while for the Dallas Mavericks to make a free agency move.

They failed in their pursuits of Mike Conley, Hassan Whiteside, Nicolas Batum and other notable free agents before eventually making their first few moves by agreeing to deals with Deron Williams and Dwight Powell.

The next domino set to fall was Kevin Durant‘s decision. If he returned to the Oklahoma City Thunder, nothing would change, but if he made the move to the Golden State Warriors, there were a few new possibilities set to open up.

After Durant made the decision to join the Splash Brothers in Oakland, the Mavs quickly went work.

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They knew that in order to take on the reported two-year, $54 million deal (via Marc Stein of ESPN), the Warriors would have to get rid of a few players, and within hours of Durant’s decision, the Mavs and Warriors had agreed to a trade involving Andrew Bogut.

According to Stein, the deal will send Bogut’s $11 million contract straight to the Mavs’ salary cap space and will be made official on July 7, when the moratorium period ends.

In 2015-16, Bogut played in his 11th season in the NBA, averaging 5.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in 20.7 minutes per game. His 70 regular season games played was the most for him since 2007-08.

In the playoffs, he averaged 4.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.6 blocks per game. He injured his knee in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers and went on to miss the rest of the series.

As a 7-footer, Bogut plays great defense around the rim and excels at grabbing rebounds and turning them into easy layups or dunks. One of his best skills is his ability to work the pick and roll to perfection. I imagine he’ll love playing with Williams in 2016-17.

The next step for the Mavs was receiving a verbal agreement from Harrison Barnes, as the team offered him a max four-year, $94 million contract.

Before Durant had made his decision, the Mavs had already thought about signing Barnes to a max offer sheet, as he was a restricted free agent at the time, but they knew that if Durant didn’t choose Golden State, the offer was likely to be matched.

Now, the Mavs are set up to acquire a key piece of the Warriors’ death lineup.

Last year, Barnes averaged 11.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 30.9 minutes per game. His play in the playoffs was great again for the Warriors, but many people like to focus on the fact that he went a combined 5-for-32 in the last three games of the series.

However, it’s important to look at the big picture and realize that a few games can’t define a whole season of success for Barnes and that his future is still bright.

At just 24 years of age, Barnes will be competing in his fifth NBA season in 2016-17. With small statistical increases in his first four seasons, he is set to have an expanded role.

Serving as one of the youngest players on the team–next to Justin Anderson and Salah Mejri–Barnes will most likely get more ball touches.

Barnes is a solid defender and loves to shoot the three ball and he shoots 38 percent from beyond the arc. With time to develop and grow in Dallas. We could see him take a big step forward.

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The Mavs have now likely set their starting lineup for 2016-17 as they are set up to have Williams, Wesley Matthews, Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki and Bogut. All that remains now is filling out the rest of the bench.