2022 NBA Draft: #37 Jaden Hardy (6' 3", 6' 9" WS) to DAL | two 2nds to SAC

[Mavs2021]

I would go for a Powell replacement.  Jaylin/Kessler/Nsoza(might be a bit high but if he is good and he won’t be there later then just take him or get an early 2nd round pick and get him). 

I know teams get into trouble by going for need but there are a lot of options for guards in FA. Even on our bench you have Brown, Green, and Pinson. Not saying they are great but we need front court help. Even when we had our so called historic offense season two years ago I was saying that Maxi and Powell were poor interior defenders. They just don’t play with any force. 

Getting that position shored up in FA is not going to be easy. Even if you will address in FA, why not give yourself an extra chance via the draft to throw more darts on the board?

I know as a Mavs fan, we have been trained to assume draft picks are a punishment, but it´s very easy and legal to add additional draft picks. We can simply take the projected BPA at #26 and add a 2nd round pick to draft a center (if the projected BPA is not a C already) . Given our financial constraints it´s probably the most reasonable approach.

Orlando has the 32nd and 35th pick.
OKC has the 34th pick.
Minnesota has the 40th, 48th and 50th pick.

There are so many ways to acquire these picks by giving up future 2nd round picks, giving up part of the $6M cash (I assume we havent´used it yet) or just take a bad expiring contract into our TPE.

Historically centers have always been undervalued later in the draft.

Add at least one big via the draft and another with the TP-MLE. Maybe some of Nurkic, Bryant, Hartenstein, Smith will get paid more than the TP-MLE, but not all of them will. There are simply not enough spots open. Suddenly a starting C position on a contender playing with Luka is a very enticing proposition, playing for your next paycheck.