The Dallas Mavericks are getting a familiar feeling now that the Milwaukee Bucks are back in the middle of Giannis Antetokounmpo trade chatter. Only months after sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas could end up on the opposite side of another blockbuster if they decide to move Anthony Davis to Milwaukee in a deal centered on Antetokounmpo.
“Okay, Dallas does have enough to trade. But the Mavericks aren’t giving away Cooper Flagg, and without him, this is a team mostly devoid of youth and picks,” wrote CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn.
“Their best-case scenario would be trading Anthony Davis for a pile of assets they could then flip for Antetokounmpo, but who on Earth is eager to trade for Davis while Antetokounmpo is available? Davis just isn’t worth enough to get this done.”
The Mavericks’ chances on Giannis Antetokounmpo
If Giannis Antetokounmpo ever hit the trade market, it’s tough to picture Dallas jumping into the chase. The Mavericks look headed toward a full reset, and bringing in a 30-year-old Antetokounmpo doesn’t line up with a long-term rebuild.
“The Mavericks are yet another ‘if only they hadn’t made that other big trade’ team. If Nico Harrison was just a bit more patient, he might have been able to turn Luka Dončić into Antetokounmpo. That still would’ve been a bad trade, but it would have been slightly more defensible,” Quinn added.
The idea of Antetokounmpo asking out stems from Milwaukee sinking into lottery territory. Dallas sits in the same tier in the Western Conference, which doesn’t exactly strengthen their case.
The Bucks might prefer sending Giannis to a Western team if it ever came to that, but the Mavericks don’t profile as a realistic destination.
