Mavericks Acquire Josh McRoberts from Miami Heat

On Friday, the Dallas Mavericks acquired power forward Josh McRoberts and a second round pick in exchange for center A.J. Hammonds.

The Mavericks will be McRoberts’ 7^th team going into his 11^th season in the NBA, seeing previous stops in Portland, Indiana, the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando, Charlotte, and most recently Miami. The knock on McRoberts is that he is very injury prone, playing in just 81 games over the last three seasons, and has not seen game action since last December.

In a move that gave Miami salary relief in order to re-sign Dion Waiters and James Johnson, the Mavs acquired a player in McRoberts, who if healthy, could see a fair share of minutes at power forward. His playmaking skills combined with his ability to spread the floor and move around in a motion offense, McRoberts will fit in nicely to Rick Carlisle’s flow offense. The acquisition of McRoberts does create a log jam at power forward, with Dirk Nowitzki and Harrison Barnes getting the majority of the minutes, along with Dwight Powell and Jonathan Motley (who is on a two-way contract) also fighting for minutes at the four spot. McRoberts, if healthy, will likely get the majority of the minutes that do not go to Nowitzki or Barnes, leaving little time for Powell and Motley.

This move also will create salary relief for Dallas as well in the coming summer. McRoberts is in the final year of a 4-year, 22 million-dollar-deal, that will see him get paid just over $6 million for this season. Hammonds on the other hand, had a guaranteed contract of $1.5 million a season for the next two years. In essence, Dallas freed up $1.5 million in cap space for next year, in an offseason that will likely see the cap number go down. As it stands now, Dallas is projected to have about $54 million in cap room next offseason, the most in the league.

All in all, this was a good deal for both sides. The Mavericks got a rotation player on an expiring contract, along with a future second round pick (2023, to be exact), And Miami got the salary cap relief they needed to re-sign Waiters and Johnson. This is not a flashy move by any means, but it is the kind of move the Mavs are looking for this offseason.