Did the Dallas Mavericks give up on Kristaps Porzingis way too soon?

Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic, who were teammates last season on the Dallas Mavericks, were recently named Eastern and Western Conference players of the week, respectively, by the NBA. Porzingis has played very well for the Washington Wizards this season despite being acquired as a salary dump from the Dallas Mavericks. Prior to being traded from Dallas, Porzingis was initially expected to be the team’s second-best player.

However, he struggled to stay healthy and wasn’t a seamless fit with superstar Luka Doncic when he did play. That led to tension between Porzingis and the Mavericks, with him wanting to be featured more. It was clear that that wasn’t going to happen, so the Mavericks opted to trade him for a package that included Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. That leads to the obvious question: Did the Mavericks give up on Porzingis too soon? Let’s find out.

The Mavericks may have made a mistake.

The goal of the Porzingis trade was to create more roster flexibility, but it resulted in Dallas trading Porzingis away for pennies on the dollar. In retrospect, that looks like a bad trade for the Mavericks, with Porzingis playing at a borderline All-Star level this season. Factor in how much the Mavericks gave up to acquire him from the New York Knicks, and perhaps they should have been more patient with Porzingis or looked for a better deal.

Then again, despite Porzingis’ resurgence with the Wizards, the Mavericks are fourth in the West and buoyed by their MVP candidate. That’s a double-edged sword, however, since the Mavericks tend to rely much more on Doncic than many teams rely on their stars. Having this version of Porzingis would obviously help, but that is probably a moot point since he might’ve never played this well as Doncic’s number two.

To the Mavericks’ credit, they did get two rotation players out of the deal, even though Porzingis’ trade value wasn’t particularly high at the time. They also helped make up for the loss of Porzingis by giving up very little to acquire Christian Wood from the Rockets.

Wood has provided them with a highly skilled offensive big man who, coincidentally, is the same age as Porzingis. Both can become free agents after this season, and Wood’s next contract should be more affordable. He also doesn’t come with the same injury risks that Porzingis does.

Of course, the Mavericks risk making the same mistake with Wood since they are reportedly open to moving him if the two sides can’t agree to a contract extension before the trade deadline. Hopefully, Dallas won’t, especially with Wood finally starting and putting up comparable numbers to Porzingis in his new role.

Overall, the Mavericks made a “swing for the fences” type of trade to land Porzingis, but he didn’t ultimately fit with the team. They then traded him while his value was low, only to see him return to his all-star form. Still, given where the Mavericks are without Porzingis, they shouldn’t regret trading him, especially after having found a potential long-term replacement in Wood.