Khris Middleton moved back to the Washington Wizards in a sign-and-trade, one of the many transactions in a six-team deal that solidified on Tuesday evening.
Dallas Mavericks free agent forward Khris Middleton is on his way back to the Washington Wizards by way of a sign-and-trade, which was just one of the transactions in a six-team deal that was formulated late Tuesday afternoon.
Also included in the trade is the Mavs' previously-reported acquisition of Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama.
As the league year officially opened this week, when teams could finalize cap compliance for their free agency actions, the fact that Dallas had not yet publicly announced the Aldama trade was an indication that it could have been included in a much larger transaction, which becomes official on Tuesday.
ESPN reports that Dallas' Middleton trade to Washington - where he played in the back-half of the 2024-25 season and the front-half of the next year before being traded to Dallas in the package for Anthony Davis - is one component of a deal "that includes, in total, the Mavericks, Wizards, Clippers, Pistons, Bucks and Grizzlies.
"It involves previously agreed-upon deals such as John Collins, Gary Harris and Taurean Prince (Detroit), Isaiah Stewart (Memphis), Santi Aldama (Mavericks), Caris LeVert (Bucks), etc."
Dallas trades AJ Johnson to Milwaukee and a 2030 conditional first-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick to Memphis. The Mavs acquire young point guard Marcus Sasser from the Pistons.
Middleton's sign-and-trade creates a $5.6 million trade exception, which absorbs Sasser's incoming salary. Crucially, Dallas retains its full taxpayer midlevel exception of greater than $20 million to use elsewhere in free agency.
D'Angelo Russell, another piece of the Mavs' trade of Davis to the Wizards, was traded on Tuesday from Washington to Memphis, along with two future second-round draft picks.
Jaden Hardy, yet another Mavs piece of the aforementioned February move, is also now on the Los Angeles Lakers after a separate transaction that saw Washington send Hardy and two future second-rounders to LA for center Deandre Ayton.
Middleton's signing is worth $17.6 million over three years. The soon-to-be 35-year-old averaged 10 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 21.1 minute per game for the Mavericks. He appeared in 29 games (16 starts) in the second half of the season.
For Dallas, this marks the second free agent who has found a new contract with a new team. Middleton joins Marvin Bagley III, 27, as Mavericks who will not return to Dallas next season.
The emphasis for new Mavs president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri is clearly to get younger throughout the roster, in an effort to build around 19-year-old star Cooper Flagg for the long-term.
Dallas drafted two promising players in the first round of last month's NBA Draft: No. 9 overall pick Morez Johnson Jr. and Sergio De Larrea out of the top Spanish league.
Additionally, the Mavs acquired the draft rights to Bosnian sharpshooter Tarik Biberovic in the Aldama trade. Biberovic is making arrangements to join the team in Dallas soon.
