3 NBA teams that could use Iman Shumpert
By Phil Watson
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are making some noise in the NBA for the first time in a few years behind the stellar play of second-year sensation Luka Doncic.
At 16-7 thus far this season, the Mavs are third in the Western Conference, 1½ games in back of the second-place LA Clippers and a half-game clear of the fourth-place Houston Rockets.
But while Dallas has picked up some amazing wins already this season — at Denver, at the Lakers, at Houston among them — the Mavericks have also taken some absolutely inexplicable losses. They were swept 2-0 by the New York Knicks (this accounting for 40 percent of New York’s current win total) and had a five-game winning streak ended Sunday when they lost at home to the Kings.
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It appears coach Rick Carlisle has finally settled on a starting unit, with Doncic starting with Dorian Finney-Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr., Kristaps Porzingis and Dwight Powell for 10 consecutive games now, during which time Dallas has gone 8-2.
The bench unit has responded over the last 10 games with an average of 45.4 points per game and have allowed just 31.3 points per game to second units this season. But Delon Wright strained an adductor muscle, an injury that can linger.
The Mavericks’ other wing options are not great defenders — 6-foot-2 Seth Curry, 6-foot-5 Courtney Lee (now age 35) and 6-foot-6 Ryan Broekhoff, who has been a healthy scratch 16 times already this season and has taken three DNP-CDs on top of that.
Shumpert could give Dallas the ability to make some perimeter stops, with the Mavericks already showing they can produce enough offense when the starters are resting.
The drawback to this is that the Mavericks are in much the same position as the Nets — hard-capped after acquiring a player in a sign-and-trade last summer (in this case, Wright) and also having 15 guaranteed contracts on the roster.
According to Early Bird Rights, Dallas has roughly $12.06 million left under the tax apron, however, Dallas is in a healthier place than Brooklyn ($6.25 million remaining, per Early Bird Rights).