Historically, trade deadline acquisitions don’t translate to immediate success in the NBA — at least in terms of catapulting a team to the biggest stage.
Usually, when an organization decides to make tweaks to their starting and closing lineups with only 30 games remaining, the rest of the season is about gaining reps and collecting data points for next year.
Every so often, there will be a team that undergoes significant changes at the deadline and reaps the benefits right away. The 2018 Cavaliers are a perfect example, as they remade their rotation around LeBron James and Kevin Love in mid-February. Those additions revamped their team and gave Cleveland just enough weapons to reach the Finals when it appeared the East was passing them by.
Interestingly, it’s the Dallas Mavericks who have experienced both sides of the equation. In a matter of 12 months, they’ve seen both ways a trade deadline decision can play out.
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When they executed the deal for Kyrie Irving on Feb. 6, 2023, the Mavericks certainly believed it would lead to a playoff berth. But when it became clear they didn’t have the defensive personnel to compete, Dallas went 5-11 with the duo of Irving and Luka Doncic to conclude the season, sputtering out of the West playoff picture.
Some moves require time before the impact is felt. The Kyrie deal was a foundational shakeup to the Mavs’ offense — largely because Doncic had never played with a secondary creator and play-finisher of Irving’s caliber. Although Jalen Brunson has since evolved into an equal offensive engine, Irving is arguably the most efficient running mate Doncic could’ve asked for. Plus, he brings nearly 100 playoff games of experience, with a large chunk of that against the prime Golden State Warriors with some of the most advanced defensive schemes we’ve ever seen.
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For Irving, the move to Dallas transitioned him into the next phase of his career. From day one, he became the elder statesman of the group, which is not a role he previously held in Brooklyn or Cleveland. After the way his Nets tenure flamed out, there were major questions about whether he’d embrace those leadership responsibilities.
All of those doubts quickly went out the window. He’s been the voice of the locker room, and that’s something that was sorely needed in Dallas. It’s partly why Doncic is the happiest he’s ever been in a Mavs uniform.
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“I mean, his leadership is amazing,” Doncic expressed before Game 1. “The way he connects us. I think me and Kyrie are the leaders of this team, but he's the one that's been in the Finals. He's the one that won in the Finals. He's the one that is really leading it. He's keeping us all together and motivated.”
With Irving, it was a work in progress to reach this point. They needed a full training camp before things started to mesh.
The trades Dallas pulled the trigger on this year, however, worked to perfection almost immediately. They acquired forward P.J. Washington from the Charlotte Hornets, costing them only Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and a 2027 first-round draft pick. On the same day, they brought in center Daniel Gafford by trading Richaun Holmes and a 2024 first-round pick to the Washington Wizards. The pick in this year’s draft was essentially meaningless for Dallas, especially considering the weaker nature of this 2024 class.
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The Mavs were in business with both Washington and Gafford entering the mix. Not only did they have the requisite tools to defend the paint, but they became more versatile offensively. It gave Doncic and Irving another lob threat in Gafford, but also another young and mobile wing in Washington they could trust on the perimeter. The shooting was always going to be spotty, but it was a gamble Dallas was willing to take.
Before the deadline, the Mavs were eighth in the Western Conference and only six games above .500. They have since gone 33-14 and find themselves in the NBA Finals.
Washington understood his duties when he arrived in Dallas. His usage wasn’t going to be the same. Instead of dictating a lot of the action and being a focal point, he’d be sliding into a defined role and making advanced reads after Doncic and Irving attracted extra bodies.
However, the offensive possessions were always going to flow naturally. Doncic is such a brilliant decision-maker with the ball in his hands that he makes life easy for everyone on the floor. This year, he got off the ball quicker when teams blitzed him on pick-and-rolls, trusting his teammates to play 4-on-3 and make the right reads. For ancillary scorers, like Washington, being in that position is much simpler than being ‘the guy’ teams gameplan against.
It was Washington’s defensive chops, though, that elevated Dallas into contention status. With much of the national audience not being dialed into the Hornets, the trade reinvigorated him and brought his skill set to the forefront.
“For me, I just thought it was a great fit for me to come here and showcase what I can do,” Washington said at Finals media day. “I felt like I could come in and, obviously, bring something to the defensive end and help us get here. I'm not surprised by any of it. I’ve just tried to come in each and every day and do my job since we got here. Credit to my teammates and we've done a great job on the defensive end. We're just happy to be here.”
After the trade, Dallas went 20-6 with Irving, Doncic, and Washington in the lineup, posting a 117.5 offensive rating and 105.4 defensive rating with those three sharing the floor. For context, the league-average defense allowed roughly 114.5 points per 100 possessions during the regular season. Dallas was almost 10 full points ahead of that after reshaping their team.
The Irving-Doncic-Washington trio was the Mavs’ most-used three-man combo after the deadline, logging 568 minutes and holding a +12.2 net rating, which equates to domination.
Washington’s size — 6’7” with a 7’2” wingspan — and agility on the defensive end provide a unique combination that every contending team is searching for. What really made the difference for Dallas, though, was the fact he took a major leap in 3-point efficiency once the playoffs arrived. Washington only shot 31.4% on 5.8 threes per game in the regular season, but that jumped to 36.3% on 6.6 attempts during the postseason. Over half of his threes have been wide-open (with at least six feet of space), and that’s exactly what Dallas expected would happen. When defenses focus on their two-headed monster, Washington had to be ready. And he’s consistently answered the call.
But it wasn’t just Washington’s presence that lifted the Mavs to this stage.
The moves allowed Mavs head coach Jason Kidd to reevaluate the whole rotation. Frankly, Kidd doesn’t get enough credit for the vital changes he made to certain lineups and how fluid he’s been, making tough decisions and schematic adjustments depending on certain matchups.
For instance, it’s not easy to balance the minutes between Dallas’ three bigs. All of Gafford, Dereck Lively II, and Maxi Kleber present different advantages on the floor and it’s impossible to balance the playing time. That will be the case again during this Finals matchup. It’s probably going to be a series where Gafford sees his minutes cut in half, mostly because the Mavs will need to stretch the floor with Kleber and utilize Lively’s switchability on the defensive end. But that’s what makes this Dallas group so special — not once has anyone in the rotation griped (publicly) about their roles being dynamic from series to series.
Between Kidd’s management of the big man rotation and ultimately deciding to ramp up the minutes of defensive ace Derrick Jones Jr. in the playoffs, his commendable coaching effort shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Even their Finals competitors are impressed with the Mavs’ ability to incorporate two starting-caliber players late in the season. Jrue Holiday, who also experienced going from a lottery team in New Orleans to a contender with the Bucks in 2020, was asked on media day about Washington and Gafford’s new roles.
“I saw something that said they started from the bottom — literally at the bottom — now they're at the top,” Holiday said. “That's really cool to see, especially playing against both of them during the season with their previous teams, seeing their role and how it went for them. And then watching them in the Playoffs (with Dallas), being intricate and huge parts of why their team is so successful. It's really cool to see. They definitely are energy guys. They're guys that mesh well with that team and really make them go. It's going to be a challenge for us to stop them.”
Washington and Gafford were rescued from disastrous situations in Charlotte and Washington. Both of their teams were at least 30 games under .500 at the time of the deal. A big reason both were scooped up by the Mavs for such low trade value might have been the fact neither were viewed as ‘winning pieces.’ After all, when you spend much of your career on lottery-bound teams and get accustomed to losing 50-plus games each year, you get a certain label attached to you. Fairly or unfairly.
Are Washington and Gafford the latest examples of players being miscast, and not exactly being in the right role to begin their careers?
“Yeah, it speaks a lot to that,” Doncic said. “You’ve seen more examples, too. But I think they fit perfectly with us. The trade made us a so much better team, especially on the defensive end. So, they're in the perfect roles that we need.”
Looking across the hall in this NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics are no stranger to making tweaks during a tough regular season. It was just two years ago that Celtics President Brad Stevens pulled off an extremely lopsided deal to acquire Derrick White from the San Antonio Spurs. That trade took place at the 2022 deadline. Boston marched to a 20-6 record after dealing for White, launching them to the NBA Finals four months later.
With both the Celtics and Mavericks reaching this level of success due to pivotal trade deadline shakeups over the last two years, look for more organizations around the league to make similar splashes in the future.
You never know when you’re just one or two moves away from finding the perfect winning formula.
