Delon Wright trade grades: Who wins the deal?
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
5:50 PM CT
Though they never had a chance to sign him, the Dallas Mavericks were among the losers when Kawhi Leonard chose to sign with the LA Clippers. The Mavericks had been waiting on Leonard's teammate Danny Green, who might have come to Dallas had Leonard signed with the Lakers. Instead, Green got a two-year, $30 million deal from the Lakers and the Mavericks were left with $22 million in cap space and few unrestricted free agents worth anywhere near that much.
After weighing an offer sheet for restricted free agent Delon Wright, Dallas instead came to terms with the Memphis Grizzlies on a sign-and-trade deal that sends a couple of second-round picks to Memphis and gives the Mavericks a versatile point guard.
The deal
Dallas Mavericks get: Delon Wright
Memphis Grizzlies get: Two future second-round picks
Dallas Mavericks: B+
Rick Carlisle can never have enough point guards, and Wright is another playmaking option to go along with Jalen Brunson, a re-signed J.J. Barea (coming off an Achilles rupture) and point forward Luka Doncic. Wright fits well in that mix because he's spent much of his career playing off the ball as part of dual-point guard lineups in Toronto with Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet.
Granting that Wright is a below-average 3-point shooter (33% career), he's enough of a threat that teams have to pay him some attention. Wright can supply secondary playmaking in in an off-ball role and prevents Doncic from needing to bring the ball up and initiate the offense when they play together.
At the other end, Wright's size (6-foot-5) enables him to defend either guard position depending on matchups. He's also an excellent rebounder for a guard, having recorded three triple-doubles in the last four games of 2018-19.
After that performance, I would've loved to see Wright turned loose as a starting point guard. That wasn't to be. Although the Grizzlies traded veteran point guard Mike Conley, they landed the No. 2 pick in this year's draft and took Ja Morant as their point guard of the future.
Wright's reported deal (three years, $29 million) presumably mirrors the structure of the non-taxpayer midlevel exception, which pays a maximum of $29.1 million over three seasons. That's excellent value for a player who could be a starter or a key backup.
My multiyear projections for free agents showed Wright producing nearly $44 million worth of value in that span. Wright had the best projection of any player left on the market. The deal the Mavericks got on Wright's contract, as well as the paucity of other options on the market, makes it reasonable to give up a couple of second-round picks to get this deal done.
Adding Wright does limit Dallas' flexibility in terms of using cap space to take on bad contracts and help replenish the draft picks sent to the New York Knicks in the Kristaps Porzingis trade. The Mavericks now have about $14 million in remaining room, not enough to take on the contract of Goran Dragic or Danilo Gallinari as part of a possible Russell Westbrook trade.
My ESPN colleague Tim MacMahon reported that Dallas plans to hold off on finalizing contracts to re-sign free agents using their cap holds and sign center Boban Marjanovic using the room midlevel exception -- moves that would exhaust their cap space -- until after exploring the trade market. We'll see what they can find.
Memphis Grizzlies: C-
I've been a big fan of the way the Grizzlies have managed the teardown phase of their rebuilding process this summer, getting a pair of first-round picks for Conley and another for taking on Andre Iguodala's contract using a trade exception. In this case, however, I'd have been inclined to just match an offer like this for Wright instead of going the sign-and-trade route.
This price would have been acceptable for Wright as a backup, and Memphis could use an experienced hand to limit the demands on Morant early in his career. Now, the only other point guard the Grizzlies have on their roster is De'Anthony Melton, a 2018 second-round pick acquired from Phoenix in their deal for Josh Jackson.
With the free-agent market for point guards looking barren, Memphis is counting on Melton to develop into a quality backup this season. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Grizzlies sign a veteran point guard like Jose Calderon or Jeremy Lin to play a mentorship role for Morant and Melton.
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