{"id":166697,"date":"2025-11-13T18:31:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T23:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=166697"},"modified":"2025-11-13T18:31:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T23:31:19","slug":"lakers-mavericks-daniel-gafford-nico-harrison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/13\/lakers-mavericks-daniel-gafford-nico-harrison\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Lakers Pursue Mavericks Big After Nico Harrison\u2019s Dismissal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Lakers sit at 8-4 to begin the season, there\u2019s no denying upgrades must be made in light of injuries and holes in the rotation. A familiar and polarizing trade partner could answer the call with new executives sharing the driver\u2019s seat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Could Lakers Pursue Mavericks Big After Nico Harrison\u2019s Dismissal?<\/h2>\n

Insiders Reconnect Daniel Gafford to Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n

Should the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> opt for a full reset after Nico Harrison\u2019s exit<\/a>, some writers have named Daniel Gafford<\/a> as a potential trade candidate. <\/span>ClutchPoints\u2019 Brett Siegel<\/span><\/a> mentioned the Lakers\u2019 interest in the 27-year-old dating back to last season. Granted, his report came days before Harrison was fired, but it may not be out of the realm of possibility with other executives temporarily in charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gafford, who is earning $14.3 million this season ahead of a three-year extension, is averaging 9.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and one assist per game. The former second-round pick of the 2019 draft has served as a decent backup throughout his career. However, he has recently entered the starting lineup with Dereck Lively II<\/a> (knee) sidelined.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Apr
Apr 9, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Daniel Gafford (21) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) battle for the rebound during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mavs Big Man Would Be Major Upgrade as Lakers\u2019 Backup<\/b><\/h3>\n

Gafford is an athletic lob threat who already boasts chemistry with Luka Doncic<\/a>, along with deep postseason experience and solid rim protection. Bleacher Report\u2019s Zach Buckley called a Gafford trade a <\/span>\u201cno brainer\u201d for the Lakers<\/span><\/a>, citing how the former Arkansas big man adds depth behind <\/span>Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a> and makes up for what Ayton lacks in terms of running to the rim. In a separate story<\/a> on Wednesday, he noted that reuniting Gafford with Doncic and adding him with James and <\/span>Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a> may \u201c[pave] the Purple and Gold’s path to the championship round.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The recent struggles of <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a>, who is averaging 4.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 17 minutes of action, could also expedite the need for a change in the middle. And aside from Ayton and Hayes, forward-center <\/span>Maxi Kleber<\/span><\/a> has <\/span>just returned from an abdominal strain<\/span><\/a>. However, he\u2019s on an expiring $11 million contract and likely won\u2019t be a factor in the team\u2019s rotation this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Gafford\u2019s salary and looming extension may be concerning for other teams, it could be a good investment for the Lakers as they look to return to their winning ways with James and prepare for a new era with Doncic. Should the Mavs change their tune<\/a> and Gafford becomes available, he would check many of the boxes the Lakers need to address, and his familiarity with Luka is an added bonus.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Word on Lakers, Daniel Gafford<\/b><\/h3>\n

Although it\u2019s unlikely the Mavs will trade with the Lakers again, things could change between now and February\u2014especially if Rob Pelinka makes a worthy offer. It\u2019s important for LA to monitor Dallas\u2019 situation in hopes that one of their desired targets becomes available.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the Lakers sit at 8-4 to begin the season, there\u2019s no denying upgrades must be made in light of injuries and holes in the rotation. A familiar and polarizing trade partner could answer the call with new executives sharing the driver\u2019s seat. Could Lakers Pursue Mavericks Big After Nico Harrison\u2019s Dismissal? Insiders Reconnect Daniel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":166705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,30,26,62,4721],"tags":[4556,1453,38,1133,49881],"class_list":["post-166697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-lakers","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-austin-reaves","tag-daniel-gafford","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nico-harrison"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166697"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166718,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166697\/revisions\/166718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}