Trade no. 1
In this trade idea, the Miami Heat would send Wayne Ellington, Rodney McGruder and a 2019 unprotected first round pick to the Dallas Mavericks for Dennis Smith Jr. and Salah Mejri.
The Mavericks just lost their backup point guard J.J. Barea to a season ending injury this past week and need more fire power off the bench, so grabbing a 3-point specialist coming off a career season in Ellington and a pick-and-roll maestro in McGruder would make a lot of sense for this playoff-hopeful team.
The 2019 unprotected first round pick also adds to this deal as a parting gift for Dallas, hoping they can get a better young asset to pair next to Doncic, as Smith Jr. hasn’t worked as smoothly as they would have hoped.
As for Miami, they obviously get Smith Jr. who will be a big help to take some pressure off Winslow and Richardson, as they both have taken up the facilitating duties since Goran Dragic’s injury. The Heat also get back a role playing big man in Salah Mejri, who would allow Miami to finally part ways with Hassan Whiteside if they could find a new destination for him, allowing the Heat to give Adebayo more minutes as a potential new starting center.
Overall, I like this deal for both teams, especially if it is down the wire, but if Dallas truly wants to get rid of Matthews in a deal for Smith Jr., we also have the deal for that idea in our next move.