Mavericks must avoid rumored trade trap as youngster proves to be irreplaceable

On Tuesday night, the Dallas Mavericks took down the Los Angeles Lakers by a score of 118-97, to snap a five-game losing streak and get back to their winning ways.

The Mavericks were previously 0-10 in games without Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving since April 2023 before tonight as well, as this win was a major step in the right direction when it comes to winning without their superstars.

With the blowout win, the Mavericks have now put themselves back into the fifth seed and will carry some momentum into their next home matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.

Mavericks can't afford to lose Grimes in a trade

In the win against the Lakers, Quentin Grimes debatably had his best performance in a Mavericks uniform, as he finished with 23 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and shot an absurdly impressive 6-11 from the 3-point line.

With this performance, the Mavericks are now 5-1 this season when Grimes scores 20 or more points in a game.

Grimes, the 24-year-old guard, is on a very team-friendly contract, as he's making just above $4 million this season. With Grimes playing so well and being on a team-friendly deal, ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst reported him to be one of the two players on the roster (along with Maxi Kleber) that "have a market" around the league (subscription required) as the trade deadline approaches next month.

Just a few months ago, the Mavericks tried signing Grimes to a rookie-scale contract extension, but they ultimately couldn't come to an agreement, and he will enter restricted free agency this upcoming offseason.

Grimes is still trade-eligible, but with his performances lately it seems like it wouldn't be logical to send him away, regardless of the reported interest from around the league that Windhorst seemed to be pointing to. The Mavericks' front office seemingly built the current roster with the purpose of having depth, and getting rid of Grimes wouldn't sync in with their strategy as they'd be giving up one of their best role players. Falling into the trap of trading him before the deadline would be an extremely risky move, and Dallas must avoid that at all costs.

In Grimes' last five games, he's averaging 17.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game while shooting just above 36 percent from behind the arc.

Although Grimes most likely has very high trade value right now, it's starting to become very clear that he'll be a crucial piece for the Mavericks if they want to make another run back to the NBA Finals.

Some would say it's quite obvious that Dallas is still missing one last piece of the puzzle to this roster and should make a trade. Windhorst also reported in his write-up that Dallas has "been one of the most active teams on the phone this trade season," which shows that Nico Harrison isn't willing to settle. He is always looking for ways to get better.

If Windhorst's reporting about Dallas being active on the trade market is true, Mavericks fans should be very hopeful that Grimes isn't included, or even discussed in these trade talks. He means too much to the team, and they truly struck gold when they landed him in that trade with the Detroit Pistons over the summer.

With Irving and Doncic most likely missing the majority of the games in the month of January, it'll be very crucial for Grimes to continue to play at a high level on both ends of the floor to help the team keep stacking up wins.