Dallas Mavericks to trade for Washington Wizards Daniel Gafford

The Dallas Mavericks are finalizing a trade for former Washington Wizards center Daniel Gafford per Adrian Wojnarowski. The move for Dallas comes as they seek to bolster their center depth for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. At the moment, “draft compensation” is the unknown variable and we will update once that information is confirmed.

At the moment, Marc Stein says the Mavericks are attempting to acquire the draft compensation needed to complete the trade.

Gafford is a 6’10, 234 lb center who is very versatile defensively. Gafford provides a very similar skill set to Dereck Lively II. This trade should allow the Mavericks to keep a solid center on the court at all times.

The value of this deal will be determined by the draft compensation that the Mavericks gave up. It would seem likely that the Mavericks are either giving up multiple seconds or a first.

Gafford has averaged 10.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.2 blocks per game this season.

What a difference a few months can make. The Mavericks, long bereft of talent at the center position except Tyson Chandler, now boast one of the better center rotations in the league.

Gafford and Lively are also both athletic and mobile enough that the Mavericks may even run some two center lineups with Gafford playing power forward. This would provide quite a stark contrast with the Mavericks tendency to play small for large portions of games over the last few seasons. No matter what they choose to do, this makes the Mavericks bigger and better defensively which raises their ceiling. This also gives the Mavericks the number seven (Lively) and eight (Gafford) in total dunks this season.

Richaun Holmes never really did much in his time with the Mavericks and will not be missed. But even if the Mavericks do send out a first, they received a first which they used on Olivier Maxence-Prosper for taking on Holmes’ contract. That means that his series of transactions is almost certainly a win.

The Mavericks may not be done trading, and Mavs Moneyball will continue to have coverage as today’s events unfold. This is a good acquisition for the Mavericks, and perhaps not the only move they will make.

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