A bold trade proposal lands Karl-Anthony Towns in Dallas, aiming to vault the struggling Mavericks into contention and reshape their future. But is that what they need right now?
The Dallas Mavericks find themselves near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, and could face a decision in the near future.
They could continue to build up their young core through the draft, or they could make a big move either in free agency or in a trade to get a star that would help them contend a lot faster.
In a recent proposal by Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey, he has them doing the latter and trading away P.J. Washington, Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, a top-five protected first-round pick, and a top-two protected first round pick to the New York Knicks in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns.
"This one will only start to feel possible if the New York Knicks quickly flame out in the playoffs," Bailey writes. "For the Dallas Mavericks, it's hard to imagine a much better-fitting center alongside Cooper Flagg than KAT. Flagg is the future of that team, and that future is bound to include lots of point forward possessions. With his own outside shot being pretty shaky right now, having a 5 who can shoot next to him will go a long way toward opening up the paint."
For Dallas, the challenge has not been that their roster is not strong, is has been the fact that their roster cannot stay healthy.
Kyrie Irving has missed the entire season while rehabbing from a torn ACL that he suffered last season, and young star center Dereck Lively II has been sidelined due to surgery that he had on his foot.
As a result, the team has had a fairly disappointing season and is currently 13th in the Western Conference with a 24-53 record.
So while the team's current roster may not necessarily be the problem, making a trade for a veteran like KAT could be something for the team to consider if they believe it would give them a realistic shot at contending right now.
Towns is in his eleventh season in the league, but is still putting up very impressive numbers and shooting the ball as well as ever. He was named an All-Star for the sixth time in his career, and did so by putting up 20 points and 12 rebounds per game.
While entertaining an idea like trading for a potential future Hall of Fame center is always fun, the direction the Mavericks are on right now as a franchise without a trade like that could very well be the right one.