Is The Dennis Smith Jr Era In Dallas Already Over?
Well this is certainly something. In 2017 the Mavs selected Dennis Smith Jr 9th overall to essentially be their point guard of the future. His first year in Dallas was decent, a solid 15.2/3.8/5.2 as a rookie certainly isn’t terrible despite his 39/31% splits. That was one of the questions heading into his second season, if he could get his efficiency up to a respectable level. So far in 28 games this season he has, seeing those averages improve to 44/37%. There’s only one problem though, this past summer the Mavs made a move for a guy who suddenly looks like HE should be the point guard of the future. As awesome as Luka has been to start his NBA career, he has suddenly made their previous lottery pick expendable. When you look at the advanced stats when these two share the floor, it’s not all that great. In 687 minutes on the floor together, they have a -5.0 net rating which is the worst pairing of any two Mavs who have played that many minutes together.
So this now presents the Mavs with an interesting decision. There are definitely point guard hungry teams out there, and given how their roster is constructed it seems like the Mavs could survive without DSJ. I’d have to imagine his return would be pretty good considering he still has so much left on his rookie deal, and I don’t think we’re going to see his role change all that much in Dallas. His usage is down from 28 to 22% now that Luka is there, and I think the Mavs are learning that the more Luka has the ball the better. I think initially they figured these two could coexist, play Luka more off ball and see how that looked. But through the first half of the season it’s clear that this team needs to play primarily through Luka, and I’m not sold that DSJ can be that consistent shooter you need to be to play SG.
If Woj is saying PHX and ORL may be potential suitors, what might a trade look like? Well for starters DSJ only makes around 3.8M this year. Could we see PHX do something like picks and Mikal Bridges (3.5M)? Maybe they do DSJ and filler for picks and Josh Jackson and his 6M? He’s sort of fallen out of the rotation in PHX, and like DSJ he is cost controlled for the foreseeable future. We know the Suns have been in the point guard market since this summer, and that’s certainly a more attractive option than doing something like paying Terry Rozier big time money in RFA.
With ORL, their contracts are a little harder to move. I can’t see them parting with someone like Jonathan Isaac or Mo Bamba, so unless there is going to be a bigger deal surrounding Terrance Ross and his 10M salary, I’m not sure they have anything that DAL would want. Everyone on this team makes too much money, and the Magic could very well make the playoffs so how good could their picks even be? That’s why for me, PHX seems like a logical destination because they have that right combination of high enough picks and good players on low money to make the deal work.
I’m just curious how Mavs fans feel about this whole thing. This was supposed to be their backcourt of the future, so would they even be mad if Cuban found a trade partner? I think it obviously depends on the return, if they were to get a pick and a nice young player that filled a need I think they’d manage only because Luka has been so incredible. Crazy to think they would bail on that pairing so soon, but anything that gives Luka more possessions is something I could get behind.
So please, enjoy these Dennis Smith Jr highlights because his time as a Mav may be ending fairly soon
