One of the most surprising trades of a wild deadline day in the NBA saw the Dallas Mavericks ship Kristaps Porzingis off to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
It was a future-facing move for a Wizards team that had found itself capped out with bloated contracts that weren’t working out so far this season, and while Porzingis is heavily paid, they only have two more years of his deal after this one (including a player option in 2023-24). It provides them with some flexibility while hoping Porzingis can stay healthy (a huge if) and will be happier in a new situation after some tension with Luka Doncic in Dallas in the past.
For Dallas, it’s a bet on their being able to get the best out of Dinwiddie and Bertans alongside Doncic, as those two have struggled to live up to their hefty deals in Washington. As such, there weren’t an awful lot of people who loved the deal for either side from a basketball standpoint, with most pointing to Washington doing a good job undoing its own cap mess. However, ESPN’s Tim Legler is the loudest one stumping for the Mavs having won this deal, as he absolutely lit up Porzingis on the network’s NBA Today deadline special in a rant that had Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins cackling with laughter.
Tim Legler just lit Porzingis on fire pic.twitter.com/KsjfpAW7oc
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) February 10, 2022
“I love this deal absolutely for the Mavericks, no question about it, because if you look at a guy like Kristaps Porzingis, I know he got nicknamed the Unicorn because he’s so unique, but he’s also the Unicorn because you hardly ever see him. That’s the problem with Kristaps Porzingis, he’s not a guy that’s consistently available. And then the biggest problem is, when Luka Doncic is off the floor, if this is your second best player he can’t initiate any offense for himself. He’s not a guy you can run an offense through for five or six minutes while Luka’s over there getting some Gatorade.”
He goes on to talk about why he likes getting Dinwiddie in there who can create his own shot and give Doncic a breather some, which is certainly what Dallas is hoping for in this trade — although, they’ll need a better version of Dinwiddie than what he’s been in Washington so far. It’s an incredible segment from a guy who is known for great analysis rather than letting the takes fly, but Legs let the spice out on this one and we’re appreciative of it because it was incredibly entertaining.
