Dallas Mavericks: Why they should get in on the James Harden sweepstakes

James Harden’s growing list of preferred trade destinations suggests he is on his way out of Houston. Should the Dallas Mavericks pursue the superstar?

James Harden seems ready to blast off to a new team any day now. The Houston Rockets’ superstar hasn’t been in frequent contact with the front office or coaching staff at times (save for assistant coach John Lucas) and has four teams he desires to be traded to, per Shams Charania of The Athletic. Although the Dallas Mavericks are not one of those teams, they should look into acquiring Harden.

Harden, Doncic and whatever players Dallas holds onto would compete for a championship this season and in the foreseeable future. So long as two of the greatest offensive weapons in the game have NBA caliber players around them, the superstar duo would make the Mavericks very dangerous.

The Rockets moving on from Harden is not imminent, though. Charania’s report said that Houston isn’t urgent about moving him and that the returning package would have to be hefty.

"The Rockets don’t have an urgency to move Harden and the franchise expects a mammoth package for the six-time All-NBA first team performer: along the lines of a young star and tremendous draft assets."

Dallas’ best asset is obviously Luka Doncic. But Dallas has shown no indication of moving their budding superstar, and it makes no sense at all to trade him for Harden, who he is arguably better than right now. The Mavericks sending away Doncic, who they traded two first rounders to acquire on draft night and have since built around, is incredibly unlikely.

In terms of assets that have a realistic chance of getting moved, the Mavericks have a collection of young talent and most of their draft picks moving forward. The New York Knicks own their first-round pick in the 2021 draft and 2023 draft (that pick has top-10 protection on it) but Dallas has every other one. Along with rookies Josh Green, Tyrell Terry, Tyler Bey and Nate Hinton, the only other Mavericks aged 25 years or younger are Kristaps Porzingis, Jalen Brunson and Wesley Iwundu.

Donnie Nelson and the Mavericks’ front office might not be able to whip up an intriguing enough offer with those ingredients. Charania reported that the Rockets would only be interested in trading Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, one of Harden’s preferred destinations, if they get Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving in return. He also reported that Houston is eying Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, who Harden has also put on his wishlist of new homes.