The Dallas Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons completed an important trade on Friday. Who won the trade, and what does the deal mean for both teams?
NBA Trade Grades: Dallas Gets 3-and-D Wing, Detroit Gets Veteran Wing, What’s Next For The Pistons and Mavericks?
The Mavericks are sending Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round picks to the Pistons in exchange for Quentin Grimes, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Wojnarowski added that the draft picks that the Pistons received were Toronto’s 2025 second-round pick and a pair of 2028 second-rounders. It is presumed that the two 2028 selections with the Miami Heat’s and the least favorable of the Los Angeles Clippers and Charlotte Hornets.
Hardaway Jr. is one of the top scorers and 3-point shooters off the bench in the NBA. The 32-year-old wing has finished in the top 15 of 6th Man of the Year voting four times, including ninth this past season.
Hardaway Jr. averaged 14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 79 appearances. Hardaway Jr. also drained 2.7 threes a game with 40.2/35.3/85.2% shooting splits. He scored in double-figures 55 times last season, scoring 20 or more points on 17 occasions, including topping the 30-point plateau five times and 40 points once. He will make $16.1 million in the final year of his contract.
Grimes is known for his defense, though he is also an excellent 3-point shooter percentage-wise, knocking down 37.1% of his career attempts from beyond the arc. However, the 24-year-old is coming off a disappointing season this past season after turning in a career season in 2022-23.
Grimes, who played in six games for the Pistons after getting traded from New York, compiled 7.0 points and 2.0 caroms with shooting splits of 37.2/33.8/77.2%. Grimes had just 14 double-figure scoring games in 51 appearances this past season. He will make $4.2 million this season and is eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer.
Dallas Mavericks Trade Grade: C-
Dallas finally got out from under Hardaway’s four-year, $75 million deal, which he signed with the team in 2021. The Mavericks had been looking to trade Hardaway since the all-star break. The Mavs also created a little more breathing room in terms of their capo situation with the trade, as they are now about $15 million below the first tax apron, per NBA cap expert Yossi Gozlan.
Not a huge fan of Grimes. His defense ability is overrated, and he does very little more than shoot from deep, though he is good at what he does off the catch. Granted, Grimes is more athletic and younger than Hardaway Jr.
Depending on what the Mavericks can do the rest of the offseason, the trade may look more favorable for them. But right now, Grimes doesn’t have a clear path to playing time.
Mavericks Salary Cap Situation
Dallas has 13 players under contract, and their salaries total $160.0 million. Eleven players have fully guaranteed deals, with AJ Lawson ($1.9 million) and Jaden Hardy ($2.01 million) holding non-guaranteed deals. Hardy’s guarantee date is Sunday, so the Mavs have a decision to make shortly.
Derrick Jones Jr. is the Mavericks’ key free agent. With the Mavs trade of Hardaway, they did open up enough money to offer Jones the non-tax player exception of a little over $12.9 million a season. However, Jones could potentially get more money on the open market. It is also unknown whether the Mavericks would be willing to make the entire exception for Jones, who only made a little over $2 million a season ago.
Plus, NBA insider Marc Stein has reported that the Mavericks and Golden State Warriors free agent Klay Thompson are mutually interested. With the Mavs not having any cap space, Stein said that it is unlikely that they will be able to sign Thompson without help from the Warriors with a sign-and-trade.
The Mavericks traded for second-round pick Melvin Ajinca. It will be interesting to see if the Mavericks bring over the 20-year-old Frenchman or stash him in Europe for another or so.
Detroit Pistons Trade Grade: B+
Detroit is undergoing another rebuild. The Pistons had the sixth youngest team a year ago and lacked leadership.
Hardaway does provide the Pistons with leadership and 3-point shooting. The Pistons ranked 29th in the NBA in 3-point makes (11.0), 27th in 3-point attempts, and 26th in 3-point percentage (34.8%).
There are questions about whether Hardaway will be on the Pistons’ 15-man roster, and if he is, they will likely seek to unload him for future assets at the trade deadline. Hardaway is on an expiring contract, so he will likely be appealing to contending teams down the stretch, as teams are always looking for shooting. However, Hardaway’s defense has always been a weakness and may limit his value with the Pistons as a trade chip.
The future draft picks are the most important for Detroit. While the 2028 selections may be seen as the most valuable, it was important that the Pistons got an additional selection next year to help them in their rebuild. Over the next six seasons, the Pistons have five first-round selections and 11 possible second-round selections.
Pistons Salary Cap Situation
Detroit has 11 players under contract for the 2024-25 campaign with salaries totaling $80 million, following the Pistons declining Evan Fournier’s team option and the acquisition of Wendell Moore Jr. The Pistons will sign first-round selection Ron Holland to a standard deal, though Chimetzie Metu and Stanley Umude have non-guaranteed deals. The Pistons may exercise Metu and Umude’s options because neither players’ deals become guaranteed until January 10.
Detroit has over $51 million in cap space. The Pistons are expected to prioritize restricted free agent Simone Fontecchio, according to The Athletic’s James L. Edwards. Edwards said that Fontecchio is the only Piston free agent expected to remain with the club.
The Pistons are expected to be aggressive this offseason with so much cap space available. Tobias Harris has been linked to Detroit. Meanwhile, Edwards adds Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Naji Marshall, Gary Harris, and Isaiah Hartenstein as free-agent targets.
