The NBA offseason is kicking off, and the Dallas Mavericks are showing tremors of activity. With a team that made the NBA Finals, they don’t need a major overhaul. Some tweaks at the end of the roster will probably do just fine.
That’s fine, though, because the Mavericks don’t have a lot of ammunition to make moves. They have a couple of future draft picks, a couple of young players, and some weird salary exceptions they can use.
So don’t expect huge moves, but simply attempts to upgrade the end of the roster, whether it’s the starters or the bench.
This isn’t surprising, since the Mavericks have made Hardaway available for trade pretty much his entire tenure in Dallas. NBA insider Marc Stein reported the news recently, but again, this has been common knowledge for anyone following the Mavericks or the NBA in the past few years.
Hardaway is a great shooter, but he can be streaky. Lately it seems the dry stretches last much longer than the hot streaks. Add in the fact that he’s inconsistent on defense, especially off ball, and it’s easy to see why Dallas would a) want to move him and b) have trouble doing so.
But he’s in the last year of an extremely reasonable contract, just $16 million for the upcoming season.
So there’s a chance the Mavericks finally find a suitable trade for Hardaway, one that brings a more dynamic player to Dallas and a situation more palatable to Hardaway (and his dad).
Harris averaged 17.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season. That’s right alongside his career average of 16.3 and 6.2 per game.
The problem is his shooting. A 38 percent 3-point shooter since he’s been in Philadelphia, Harris only hit 35 percent of his shots from deep last season.
In the Sixers round one loss to the New York Knicks, Harris shot 6-of-18 from three (33.3 percent), including a zero-point, 0-of-2 performance in the deciding Game 6. Was that a blip, or the start of a downward trend?
Luka Doncic makes shooters look great, and maybe the Mavericks are hoping Harris can regain his form with the open looks Doncic and Kyrie Irving create.
