Somewhere in the world, there’s a current high school player that the Oklahoma City Thunder could acquire in exchange for a 2028 first-round pick that they acquired from the Mavericks at the NBA trade deadline, and who knows, maybe they’ll watch the series-clinching game. It might have been. Game 6 between both teams was held on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Thunder’s current roster, however, that player was unable to help the team Saturday while the Mavs acquired Daniel Gafford midway through the season. and PJ Washington He helped Dallas win the series 4-2 and eliminate Oklahoma City from the NBA playoffs.
In a fitting way to end the series, Washington scored six of its nine points in the fourth quarter. That included two game-clinching free throws with 2.1 seconds left after a key offensive rebound, and a few possessions earlier, he had scored three points of his own. The intentional missed third free throw was even more spot-on, as the Thunder ran out of time to create a potential game-winning basket in a 117-116 loss (Jaylen Williams threw a 64-foot missed a desperate heave).
Gafford wasn’t as important in this series as Washington was — he finished with a minus-plus-minus all games — but his addition allowed the Mavericks to bench precocious rookie Derek Lively II and replace the Thunder. He devastated the small second unit of the team with his offensive line. A rebound that helped shake up the series.
And beyond just the plus-minus, Gafford’s presence allowed the Mavericks to play a more capable center for 48 minutes than they had before.
Now, why does that matter to the Thunder more than the result? Well, there is a world where the Mavericks potentially had to choose between Gafford or Washington, or at least couldn’t get the former. Let me explain.
How the Mavericks acquired Washington and Lively
Back in February, on the day of the NBA trade deadline, the Mavericks completed two separate trades. to washingtonand one for Gafford. It’s the latter move that the Thunder directly helped facilitate, accepting a 2028 first-round pick swap opportunity from the Mavericks in exchange for his own first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. . Moved to Washington Wizards for Gafford.
Thunder, face to face surplus of draft picks That includes countless players over the next few years, but is widely viewed as weak for the chance to trade picks with Dallas in 2028, when Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving may no longer be available. The decision has been made to trade out the 2024 draft pick. playing for them. This was a trade where one team chose to get as good as they could now and the other team chose to add a theoretical high schooler in four years. This kind of business happens all the time in the NBA, but it’s usually not the No. 1 seed taking on a long-term potential asset to help the play-in team make a run that ultimately leaves an upset within range. In the playoffs.
Now, perhaps that decision will work out well for OKC in the long run. But in this series, which the Mavericks won 4-2, even though both teams combined for exactly 636 points in six games…the difference was that the Thunder literally made the Mavericks a little bit better. It is natural to wonder if this is the case.
Yes, Washington was the hero, and again, the Thunder did not directly promote his acquisition.But if they hadn’t given Dallas the picks it needed to get Gafford — in that trade. reported as complete A few hours before the game against Washington. On deadline day — at least it’s possible the Mavericks were forced to choose between two players. It’s impossible to predict how things will go from here, and maybe Luka leaves and Dallas collapses to make that 2024 swap a juicy one…but… I can’t help but feel that the Thunder may have shot themselves in the foot with the benefit of 20/ here. 20 Reflection.
It was obviously impossible to specifically predict this series at the time these trades were made, but perhaps the larger lesson still remains. Hey, it might be a bad idea to help a team in the bottom half of the conference get better by the trade deadline.!
Or at least, don’t do it unless you’re willing to come back to bite you in a semi-hilarious way the same year.
