The Mavericks probably wouldn't be too eager to go back to the Lakers another deal, but lotteries make strange bedfellows. Dallas was already loaded up front even before landing Flagg. Introducing him into a frontcourt mix with Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall and, of course, Gafford creates a minutes crunch while a gaping hole exists in their backcourt. Gafford is a free agent next summer and reportedly wants starter money. Dallas probably can't justify giving it to him. Lively is extension-eligible next offseason, Davis is making the max, and while Flagg is obviously a bargain on his rookie deal, he's still going to make around $14 million next season. That's not nothing. The logical move, then, would be to trade Gafford before paying him and get a guard back who can lead the offense while Kyrie Irving recovers from a torn ACL. Not many teams have are eager to trade shot-creating guards for non-shooting big men. The Lakers might be one of them, but Austin Reaves is probably a bit too valuable for Gafford and Dallas likely won't want to sacrifice the younger Lively. Instead, they offer Luka Dončić his old pick-and-roll partner back in exchange for the package the Lakers originally planned to spend on Mark Williams. Dallas wouldn't keep that package, though. They would instead shop it with the Laker pick they already have to go get that guard. And that's how we land on Simons, probably the best non-All-Star guard on the market this offseason. Aside from being a sorely underrated scorer (especially in crunch time), Simons is only 25. He could be a long-term sidekick for Flagg even after Davis and Irving age out of stardom. For Portland, this trade clears the way for 21-year-olds Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson to fully take over the back court. It also gives the Blazers a diversified portfolio of draft picks, as they still control three Bucks picks from the Damian Lillard trade. Some construction like this, in which the Lakers take a center from the Mavericks and Dallas uses those Laker assets to get a guard, is one of the easiest fake trade constructions of the offseason. The only real obstacle would be the public backlash Nico Harrison would receive for trading with Rob Pelinka again.