The Dallas Mavericks Are Targeting Zach LaVine

According to Marc Stein, the Dallas Mavericks are interested in bringing All-Star guard Zach LaVine to Texas, and pairing him with Luka Dončić in what would likely be the most potent backcourt in the NBA.

LaVine, an unrestricted free agent, has spent five seasons with the Chicago Bulls, after coming over in a trade on draft night in 2017. In that time, LaVine has made two All-Star teams and turned himself into one of the league’s most efficient high-volume scorers.

The Dončić/LaVine fit

There’s no question that, on paper, LaVine is the best theoretical fit next to Dončić from an offensive perspective, especially if he buys into playing off of Dončić, and accepts a larger free-roaming role, not dissimilar to that of Kevin Durant.

LaVine, when moving off-the-ball, is outright elite. This season LaVine sported almost incomprehensible efficiency when he taking shots almost immediately off the catch.

In catch-and-shoot, LaVine ended the year with an eFG% of 67.1%, including 46.0% from the behind the three-point line. That’s a crucial stat for how he’d fit alongside Dončić, assuming the 23-year-old Slovenian maintains his heavy on-ball duties.

LaVine, when shooting after taking zero dribbles, got even more efficient, displaying an eFG% of 75.1% and 47.6% from range. The two aforementioned categories are closely tied to each other, but there’s a difference. Shooting off no dribble includes both cuts to the basket, and a variety of shots that doesn’t exclusively categorize as jump shots.

In short, LaVine as an off-ball player, combined with the overall quality of his offense, would give the Mavericks a player that drastically raises their ceiling, especially in the playoffs. If teams overload on Dončić, LaVine is fully capable of spotting up, or creating a look himself off his elite athleticism and bouncy on-ball game.

LaVine’s 25.7 points per game over his past three seasons represents a rock solid alternative to Dončić, during times he’s off the floor, or when the shot isn’t falling.

Would LaVine accept such a role next to Dončić? Nothing suggests he wouldn’t. LaVine took a step back to allow DeMar DeRozan to establish himself, talking up the veteran every change he got. It would make sense that LaVine – who is very team-oriented and focused on winning at this stage of his career – embraces a role that allows his team to win.

Difficult to make work

While it’s fun visiting Dreamland, and imagining all the connections Dončić and LaVine could share, the Mavericks would need to clear a ton of salary off their books, if they wanted to sign LaVine outright.

The Mavericks are on the hook for Tim Hardaway Jr ($19.6 million), Spencer Dinwiddie ($19.5 million), Davis Bertans ($16.0 million), Dwight Powell ($11.0 million), and Reggie Bullock ($10.0 million) while both Dončić ($36.6 million) and Dorian Finney-Smith ($12.4 million) are stepping into contract extensions this summer.

That’s even before taking into account that breakout star Jalen Brunson is an unrestricted free agent, and Maxi Kleber, who played a crucial part for the Mavericks all year, is going to be on a guaranteed contract of $9.2 million unless they waive him by July 3.

One could think of a double sign-and-trade scenario involving LaVine, with Brunson going to Chicago, but aligning salaries will be tricky, not to mention hard cap and luxury tax implications.

And that’s where the real challenge for Dallas comes up. With very few teams having any type of cap space, the Mavericks can’t just trade Hardaway Jr or Dinwiddie into open cap space elsewhere in the league. And for the few teams that do have cap space, they’d demand a ransom to even take on those contracts in the first place. Dallas simply doesn’t have the necessary draft picks to use as currency for that type of transaction.

The best course of action for Dallas, if they want LaVine, would be to re-sign Brunson, have LaVine re-sign in Chicago, and try to facilitate a trade down the line if LaVine should demand out. That way, you forego hard cap implications due to this being a normal trade and not a sign-and-trade, and you could thus match salaries a bit more easily.

Whether the Mavericks try for LaVine this summer or later, it makes sense to have him circled as a legitimate piece next to Dončić.

Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.