Dallas Mavericks: 3 teams that need to trade for Kristaps Porzingis
By Zamir Bueno
There is a growing sentiment around the league that the Dallas Mavericks have been looking to end their partnership with Kristaps Porziņģis for over the past three months. Ian Bagley of SNY reported on February 23rd that the Mavericks reached out to the Warriors to gauge their interest on a Kristaps Porziņģis trade.
Unfortunately, they weren’t able to consummate a deal at that time. Three days later, Marc Spears of ESPN stated that the Mavericks were looking to trade Porziņģis because he was high maintenance, had a large salary, and was injury-prone.
Dallas added more fuel to the rumors that they wanted to get rid of Porziņģis when owner Mark Cuban told 105.3 The Fan, on April 22nd, that Porziņģis didn’t get along with the team’s main star, Luka Dončić.
Kristaps Porziņģis acknowledged what was going on after the team lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Clippers. Porziņģis said that the Mavericks organization was treating him like an afterthought rather than a co-star to Dončić.
Let’s take a look at 3 teams who will be in need of Dallas Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis’ services via trade next season.
The Mavericks’ desire to trade Porzingis creates an interesting question: what teams need his services? It would have to be a team that either needs a spot-up shooter or runs a pick and roll offense, as those are the two areas where Porziņģis thrives.
Porziņģis has excelled as a roll man in the pick and roll, shooting 46.7 percent from the field on 2.7 attempts per game. The shooting percentage has helped him average 3.3 points per game since 2015: 17.6 percent of his scoring output.
Porziņģis has combined his roll man success with his shooting skills, as he has converted 37.3 percent of his catch and shoot threes on 4.7 attempts per game. Catch and shoots have accounted for 92.2 percent of his total attempts, as he has shot 36.1 percent from behind the arc on 5.1 shots per game. Three teams fit these criteria: the New Orleans Pelicans, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Atlanta Hawks.