Mavs owner brakes trade for Cooper Flagg, hoping to see his "Big 3" unite. But injuries and uncertainty loom large.
DALLAS - The man who helped engineer the trade of Luka Doncic to acquire Anthony Davis doesn't want to see A.D. leave just yet.
We know that the Atlanta Hawks are among the teams that have an interest in trading for Davis. But now we also know that Mavs owner Patrick Dumont is tapping the brakes on the idea for one very specific reason ...
The desire to see his "Big 3'' perform together.
NBA insider Marc Stein writes that "the Mavericks have yet to see Flagg, Davis and Irving play together for one second and I'm told that new Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont is certainly among those in the organization who would prefer to see how that trio looks before doing something else drastic."
We get it - kind of.
On paper, the idea of teenage sensation Cooper Flagg forming a power trio with Davis and Kyrie Irving is an alluring one. And if it all came together in an ideal way?
It would take away some of the sting of the give-away of Doncic to the Lakers a year ago.
But Flagg/A.D./Kyrie isn't about "paper.''
It's about injuries.
Irving has yet to play since undergoing surgery on a torn left knee ACL last March.
Will he be back on the court with the Mavericks before the Feb. 5 trade deadline? That is not known.
Davis has essentially missed half of the Mavs' games this year due to injury. Last year, he missed 24 of a possible 33 games with the Mavericks, and this year, he's missed 17 of 32 games so far ...
And he is slated to sit out a few more games due to a groin problem as Flagg is carrying the Mavericks, who now sit at dropped to 12-21, good for 12th place in the Western Conference.
Stein said the Hawks as "a real-deal suitor for Davis'' and he's also connected the Golden State Warriors to Dallas as a potential bidder as a result of their "internal discussions.''
How important is it for the Mavericks to see the core trio of Irving, Davis and Flagg play together? Is it more important than considering the possibility that Davis should be moved while the gettin' is good?
And a big-picture question: Is Patrick Dumont enough of a "basketball guy'' to make the right decision?