The Dallas Mavericks strongly hinted at a rebuild around Cooper Flagg when they traded Anthony Davis before last year’s trade deadline. However, Kyrie Irving remains on the roster and Dallas hasn’t shown any desire to part ways with the 34-year-old who’s coming off a torn ACL. With Flagg taking the next step in his development and Irving returning, could Dallas make a win-now move and be a sneaky destination for Kawhi Leonard?
Joe Johnson Likes the Idea of the Mavericks Trading for Kawhi Leonard
The Mavericks have had talks with the Los Angeles Clippers about a Leonard trade, according to The Athletic. The two sides have discussed a deal that “would send the seven-time All-Star to Dallas for a package that would include P.J. Washington, Klay Thompson, and draft picks.”
On the “Night Cap” podcast with NFL legends Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and Shannon Sharpe, seven-time NBA All-Star Joe Johnson reacted to this rumor and hyped up Leonard, Irving, and Flagg as a formidable trio.
“I think Kawhi still has a lot of great basketball left in him,” Johnson said. “You pair him with some guys who really know how to play like Kyrie… Cooper Flagg… Dereck Lively and the crew, the Mavs might be back in action. I think Kawhi will be motivated to be a better player… That’s a helluva team.”
Leonard enters the final season of his three-year, $149.5 million deal this fall. He will make $50.3 million in 2026-27 before entering unrestricted free agency next summer. As a result, the Mavericks likely wouldn’t need to give up as much draft capital and young prospects as some fans might think. Leonard is coming off a career-best scoring season, averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.9 steals per contest.
Dallas just hired Masai Ujiri as its president of basketball operations. When Ujiri was running the Toronto Raptors, he pulled off a blockbuster trade for Leonard, who led the team to a championship in his lone season in Toronto. But despite their history, a Leonard-to-Dallas trade is unlikely, according to NBA insiders Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line.
“The Athletic reported Sunday that they have also expressed trade interest in Leonard, but sources with knowledge of the talks told The Stein Line that – despite the undeniable mutual respect that endures between Ujiri and Leonard – Dallas is not currently regarded as a plausible trade destination in this case and has not yet been presented to Leonard as such,” Fischer and Stein wrote.
“A determined play from the Mavericks for Leonard, for all the natural nostalgia it would generate given how Ujiri acquired him the first time, would also clash heavily with the vision Ujiri shared on May 20 after the ouster of Jason Kidd. He said that every decision going forward, in a nod to Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg, would be ‘future-based.'”
“We have a 19-year-old generational player on our roster,’ Ujiri said last month. ‘We have to think that way. We are not going to make decisions based on winning today,” the insiders wrote.
Although Joe Johnson thinks this trade would work well for Dallas, it would come with plenty of risk. Leonard’s history of knee injuries at 35 years old should absolutely concern the Mavericks. Also, it’s unclear if Leonard would be willing to sign an extension in Dallas, meaning he could be a one-year rental (just like the last time Ujiri acquired him).
While Leonard, Irving, and Flagg would form an exciting core, it seems unlikely that this move will actually happen given Stein and Fischer’s reporting and Ujiri’s own words.
