2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[F Gump]

... a player that had been here for a while, was a good teammate, and fit the exact skill they were supposedly looking for in a trade, if he did, in fact fill that skillset...

Let's say this again.

The skill set the Mavs wanted filled COULD NOT be filled by THJ at the deadline, not because he was or was not a player with those skills, but because he was not available to play. Effectively, he offered no skill set of any kind (beyond towel waver). Period. However, the Mavs wanted to advance the team's ability NOW; given that he was not playing then and maybe not for the season, he could not be the one to fill that need.

Shortsighted? Perhaps. But we also don't have a good feel for the clock ticking down on Luka's satisfaction in being a Mav, and what another 1st round exit might mean. There may have been some degree of desperation in the equation of "need to win this year in the playoffs," not just with THJ, but also that made them open to move on from KP rather than wait to the summer.