02-22-2021, 07:40 PM
- "Dallas Mavericks receive: Andre DrummondCleveland Cavaliers receive: James Johnson, Dwight Powell, 2021 second-round pick and 2022 second-round pickAndre Drummond puts huge numbers in the box score—13-plus rebounds per game in eight of his nine NBA seasons—but his impact doesn't always measure up. If it did, he might be playing his way into Cleveland's long-term plans instead of sitting and waiting for a trade out of town.But Drummond might help the right contender in a rather big way. If there was a win-now dreamer that, say, had an MVP candidate running its offense but couldn't gain ground in the standings due to bottom-five rankings on defense and the glass, maybe Drummond would stand out as a significant addition.Well, the Mavericks are getting MVP-caliber contributions from Luka Doncic (29.1 points, 9.4 assists and 8.6 rebounds per game), but they're sitting a disappointing 10th in the West. Care to guess the culprits? Let's just say Dallas is doing itself no favors on defense (27th) or the glass (27th in rebounding percentage).While Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle stopped short of labeling a glass-cleaning big man as a pressing deadline need, per Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News, he hardly dampened deadline expectations for Mavs governor Mark Cuban and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson."You know Mark and Donnie. These guys are gunslingers," Carlisle said. "They're riverboat gamblers, and they're ready to talk about anything that would get the team better."It's hard to see how this exchange wouldn't improve the Mavericks. Drummond would immediately add bulk and boards, and the trade cost would be minuscule. James Johnson has fallen out of the rotation. The same goes for Dwight Powell, who's owed more than $11 million each of the next two seasons. Dented cans aren't discounted this much.For Cleveland, though, Drummond lost any hope of being its center of the future once Jarrett Allen came aboard. The Cavs have already shifted to life after Drummond, so anything they bring back at this point would help them come out ahead. The chance one or both of the second-round picks could hit on someone interesting should be enough for Cleveland to sign off on the swap."