The NBA trade deadline has delivered. Moments ago, the Dallas Mavericks agreed to a deal that’ll send Kristaps Porzingis to the Washington Wizards.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Mavericks will receive Spencer Dinwiddie and David Bertans from the Wizards in exchange for Porzingis and a second-round pick.
In 2019, the Mavericks acquired Porzingis in a blockbuster deal with the Knicks. The thought was that he’d be a building block for years to come.
However, Porzingis never really hit the ground running in Dallas. He’s averaging 19.2 points per game this season, but that wasn’t enough to convince the front office to keep him.
Even though Porzingis hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype the past few seasons, the NBA world was surprised to see this trade go down.
The Wizards will now get to see if Porzingis fits in with their young core of players.
As for the Mavericks, they’re hoping Dinwiddie can help their push for a playoff berth. In 44 games this season, he’s averaging 12.6 points and 5.8 assists per game.
Dallas owns the fifth-best record in the Western Conference at this moment. This trade could very well help the team’s chances of earning a top-four seed in the West.