The Lakers trade Josh Hart and Moritz Wagner to the Mavericks for Dennis Smith Jr.
Lakers Perspective: It would really hurt to give up Josh Hart because he’s a fan favorite, a locker room favorite, and one of my favorite players in the NBA. He’s a guy who plays excellent defensive and unfortunately, that’s it. Hart is a below average 3-point shooter, he’s shooting 40 percent on his 2-pointers for the season, and he averages one assist per game.
Lonzo Ball just suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain and the Lakers have said he’ll return within 4-6 weeks, but if last season is any indication, the Purple and Gold are going to be very cautious with Lonzo, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he didn’t return until the end of March.
The Lakers could use another point guard other than Rajon Rondo because Ingram isn’t much of a distributor and with all due respect to Alex Caruso, he’s not an NBA player.
Smith Jr. could help the Lakers this year and if things go well he could end up starting besides Lonzo in the backcourt next year or he could at least become the Lakers backup point guard of the future.
Smith Jr. has his flaws like he sucks at defense and many people around the Mavericks have said he has a bad attitude. He is only 21-years old, though, and he can hit 3-pointers, and get to the rim.
This is a special situation because the Mavericks would never trade a young player like Dennis Smith Jr. unless they found another point guard, in Luka Doncic, who’s going to make at least 12 All-Star appearances and could win multiple MVP awards. The Lakers might need to take a shot on Smith Jr. while they can.
Mavericks Perspective: They found their point guard of the future in Doncic and Dennis Smith Jr. has made it clear he’s not happy playing second fiddle to Luka. The Mavericks might want to trade Smith Jr. now, while his stock is still up.
Josh Hart would give the Mavericks their starting shooting guard of the future. If the Mavericks traded for Hart they’d be banking on Hart’s defense and effort, two things that Carlisle loves in a player.
We shouldn’t sleep on Wagner either, he could easily end up being better than Hart and a very valuable long-ball center or power forward.