Over the weekend, Dallas Mavericks forward PJ Washington spoke with Kevin Gray of DLLS Sports and told him that he was very confident he’d be with the team for the start of the 2026-27 regular season. This led me to posting our weekly question about the Mavericks, but I made the question a bit more long term: do you think Washington will be a Dallas Maverick the entire season?
The voting ended up being fairly close, with a slight majority assuming Washington will get traded elsewhere before the NBA trade deadline.
This season Washington starts the first year of a four year extension he signed with the Mavericks last offseason, totalling just under $89 million dollars. This year’s portion comes in at just under $20 million. Washington is in the middle of his athletic prime at 28 and is an ideal forward in a league where many teams are starved at the position.
Though his three-point shooting and turnovers suffered during a down year last season, Washington’s proven capable of being a high-level contributor so long as he doesn’t have to be the primary offensive engine. He’s the most attractive trade piece the Dallas Mavericks might reasonably part with and he’s worth a future first-round pick from any team looking to close the gap towards being a contender.
All of this is to say, I think 58% is low. The issue currently facing the Mavericks is a lack of tradable first-round picks on the NBA trade market. Dallas likely covets a pick in the 2028 draft, one that should be filled with high level talent and one where they own the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first-round pick swap depending on where the teams end that regular season.
Dallas is currently not projected to be very good, with bettors placing their over-under at 32.5 wins. If Dallas somehow is that bad (which I doubt), then they absolutely should look to move Washington as soon as possible and pray a first-rounder is even available.
But since the season hasn’t begun and it feels as if all NBA transactions are through, there won’t be much pressure to move Washington for less than the franchise thinks he’s worth.
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