Getty Head coach Jason Kidd and Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Dallas Mavericks lost Jalen Brunson to the New York Knicks this past offseason, and while they are still solid, they never found a way to replace the departed point guard.
Since joining the Knicks, Brunson has been worth every penny the team has given him, and that makes the pill even tougher to swallow if you’re the Mavs. While the Brunson ship has set sail, they can still make some upgrades to the roster, and that might even come in the form of a Knicks point guard.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports both Rose and Immanuel Quickley are on the trade block for the Knicks, so teams can come calling about possible offers for them.
“The Knicks have shown a willingness to discuss Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley in trade talks, league sources say, as a way to sort out the team’s glut at the guard position over the course of the season,” he wrote.
Speaking to Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney, an anonymous Eastern Conference executive floats the possibility of the Mavs making a run for Rose now that he’s become available.
Rose to the Mavericks
The Mavericks, led by Luka Doncic, are expected to be among the Western Conference powerhouses, but they currently find themselves sitting at 9-8 and are struggling to get it going. Doncic is still playing like a star, and Christian Wood has been a nice story for them, but they need more help.
Adding Rose to the roster could help matters, and he might even slot in as a starter if the struggles continue for the team.
“Dallas could make it happen, too, if they were willing to give up a first-round pick and use that (Davis) Bertans contract going to New York,” the executive told Deveney.
The Mavericks are currently looking at mixing things up for themselves, so adding Rose might not be something that’s off the table.
“We’ve talked about changing the starting lineup,” head coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s one of the questions I ask every day to the staff. … We’ll talk about it tomorrow. We’ll talk about it Friday, and we’ll see what happens Saturday.”
Rose is probably better off coming off the bench at this stage in his career, but he can land in the starting lineup from time to time.
Rose Isn’t Playing a Lot
Despite being a favorite of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, Rose is averaging 13.2 minutes per game on the season, a number that would be a career-low if it keeps up over the duration of the year.
He is still working his way back from a variety of injuries that kept him limited for much of the past season, but it looks like he doesn’t have a defined role on this New York squad. Some of that was to be expected with the addition of Brunson, but it was tough to envision it going like this.
His absence was a big reason for the Knicks’ problems last season as they never had that steady presence off the bench at point guard. In fact, they didn’t have much stability at point guard at all as the now-departed Alec Burks filled the void for a good chunk of the year.