Dallas
Outgoing — Maxi Kleber, Dwight Powell, 2025 FRP
Incoming — Dorian Finney-Smith
Dallas is in a great position to go on a deep playoff run this year. They improved the team that went to the finals in the off-season by acquiring Klay Thompson in free agency and making a couple other small but impactful signings. The team doesn’t need to make a trade in order to be competitive, but I believe that there are still moves that they can make in order to strength their depth and better prepare themselves for a potential playoff series against OKC or Boston. Dorian Finney-Smith is a familiar face to Mavericks fans given that he spent the first few seasons of his career with the ream before being traded to the Nets in the Kyrie Irving trade. He isn’t a guy that’s going to put up big numbers, but he brings a lot of value with his versatile defense. He also is a capable shooter despite some struggles with efficiency over the past couple of seasons. This isn’t a game changing move that puts Dallas in the conversation with OKC and Boston for being the best team in the league, but they improve their depth and get a better player than the two they are sending out here. It does cost them their first round draft pick this year, but it is very likely that it will be a mid twenties selection, and Dallas isn’t in a position where they need more mid-tier young talent on the roster. This is a calculated move that helps give Dallas the best chance they have at making another finals run and finally getting Luka Doncic the championship that he deserves.
Brooklyn
Outgoing — Dorian Finney-Smith
Incoming — Maxi Kleber, Dwight Powell, 2025 FRP
Brooklyn has gotten off to a surprisingly solid start to the season with a record that currently sits at 3-3. Despite this, they are still in a position where they will value getting draft picks more than staying competitive. Dorian Finney-Smith is a good player who has served them well, but he isn’t going to be a necessary part of this teams future. Getting a first round pick for him is exactly what they want and gives them the ability to continue building up their young core. The pick will obviously not be good enough to give them a better chance at capturing the Flagg, but a mid-twenties can still put them in a position to draft a solid young player who can be apart of the teams new core moving forward. Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell are apart of this trade for salary matching purposes, and will likely be waived next off-season when their contracts are expiring. So this is essentially just getting a first round pick for Finney-Smith, and that’s pretty good value for him. It’s what they’ve been asking for, so they should have no issues with taking this deal.
What do you think of this potential deal? I think that some people will see the first round pick and not like it, but I believe a mid-twenties first round pick for DFS is fair value for parties.