The Dallas Mavericks are now just one win away from getting to the NBA Finals after taking a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals over the Minnesota Timberwolves. While Timberwolves players and fans would have been rather disappointed by this turn of events, there is someone else who is perhaps even more disappointed, Kyle Kuzma.
The reason for that? Well, the Mavericks were keen on making some changes to their roster before the NBA’s trade deadline on Feb. 8 and one of the players they were reportedly interested in was Kuzma. The Washington Wizards were open to parting ways with him as well, but there was just one problem. The 28-year-old wasn’t interested in going to Dallas.
Kuzma himself revealed he turned down a trade to the Mavericks. The two teams had reportedly agreed on the terms for the trade, but he didn’t want to go to the Mavs because he didn’t feel they were a true contender.
“In my career, I won a championship. So, I understand that when we play this game of basketball it’s not about contending for a playoff spot. It’s about contending for an NBA championship. There’s only like three or four contenders — true contenders. I just felt like our timelines didn’t line up.”
Well, I think Kuzma sure wishes now that he hadn’t turned down the Mavericks. To be fair to him, they certainly did not seem like serious title contenders before the deadline.
About a week before the deadline, the Mavericks had a very mediocre 26-23 record. It seemed like another disappointing season was on the cards, which was why the team wanted to make changes. Kuzma was perhaps viewed as a good third star of sorts next to Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
While the Wizards were having a miserable season, Kuzma was playing well and was reportedly drawing interest from many teams around the league. He ended up staying and finished the season with pretty good averages of 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game.
It seems likely to me that some teams will try to trade for Kuzma this offseason and I hope for his sake that he ends up with a true contender.
Kyle Kuzma’s Decision Turned Out To Be A Blessing For The Mavericks
While the Mavericks would have been disappointed about Kuzma turning them down, it turned out to be a blessing. Dallas ended up acquiring P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the deadline and the two of them have played a big role in this terrific playoff run.
While neither Washington nor Gafford are as potent offensively as Kuzma, they are better fits on this Mavericks team. For starters, the duo has helped turn Dallas into one of the better defensive teams in the league. Gafford has also helped address some of the rebounding woes that the team had while Washington has come up big on offense from time to time.
Had the Mavericks acquired Kuzma, I think it’s safe to say they wouldn’t been able to land either of those two. If that was how things had panned out, I don’t believe Dallas would have been in the Conference Finals today. While Kuzma’s scoring certainly would have helped, those other issues would have persisted and I think they would have been eliminated by now.
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