Mavericks-76ers trade

The Mavericks are trading Quentin Grimes and Philadelphia's 2025 second-rounder to the 76ers for Caleb Martin, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

Dallas going back into the luxury tax for Caleb Martin? Curious choice. The exact amount depends whether Martin is receiving his full trade bonus, which could be worth up to $3,112,778 .

This looks like Philadelphia is selling, but Grimes is having a better season than Martin by practically every all-in-one-advanced stat and is five years younger – and the 76ers get a pick.

Warriors-Kevin Durant

The Warriors are "serious" about trading for Kevin Durant and rival executives believe, with Jimmy Butler talks stalled, Phoenix is actually considering dealing Durant before the trade deadline, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.

I'm more skeptical the Suns would actually move Durant. That'd be quite the pivot. Would they deal Devin Booker, too? At 28, Booker is young enough to be the centerpiece of Phoenix's next iteration. But he's also in his prime, and taking a step back with him would carry major complications. Beyond just Booker, the Suns' roster is geared to win now.

I wonder whether this is more wishful thinking coming from Golden State…

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors are "dead set" on finding a star to pair with Stephen Curry and have called about Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Paul George, Jimmy Butler and basically every other star in the league, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

Golden State has more than enough to make a fair offer for top players – Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, roughly 2.5 first-round picks and four first-round swaps.

But if still committed to the mindset Brandin Podziemski is untouchable, this will likely be just bluster.

Luka Doncic

When Luka Doncic strained his calf on Christmas, the Mavericks were less sympathetic and more resentful about Doncic not taking conditioning and diet seriously enough, Tim MacMahon of ESPN said on 105.3 The Fan. MacMahon further described Doncic's lack of discipline wearing on people in organization, including Nico Harrison.

I bet dealing daily with Doncic was frustrating. It probably got tiresome to plead with him to get in better shape, eat better and stop whining so much to the refs. It appeared whenever Doncic progressed in any of those areas, he soon backslid.

But it seems the Mavericks lost the forest for the trees while dealing with those daily difficulties. Doncic is still a 25-year-old superstar.

Anthony Davis will probably bring fewer headaches. But, sometimes, to have the best team, you just have to put up with the headaches when they come with generational talent.

Luka Doncic trade

Very interesting story from Ramona Shelburne and Tim MacMahon of ESPN on how the Luka Doncic trade came to be – from how the Mavericks lost faith in Doncic to how they negotiated the deal with the Lakers.

It doesn't seem there was a single incident that led to Doncic's end in Dallas, but both sides repeatedly irked the other. Doncic gained weight. The Mavericks fired the people he liked in the health-and-performance department. He hired his own people. The Mavericks held him out in November for what was called a wrist sprain but was actually time for Doncic to drop weight.

Again, Doncic was highly effective on the court despite these conditioning issues that have dogged him his entire career. Maybe Dallas was rightly worried the problems would get worse as Doncic aged and got paid more, but trading Doncic for this return was a drastic step.

Thunder-Hornets trade

On the heels of Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, the Thunder and Hornets made another seismic trade:

• Thunder get: 2030 Denver second-rounder (conditional) 
• Hornets get: 2029 Phoenix second-rounder

Maybe there's an element to one team preferring to fade the Suns in 2029 and the other preferring to fade the Nuggets in 2030.

But Oklahoma City had six 2029 second-rounders and just three 2030 second-rounders. This provides more balance and allows the Thunder more time to trade the pick.

Interestingly (interestingly?), Oklahoma City already had a slight chance of getting Denver's 2030 second-rounder. That would've required the Nuggets drafting top five multiple times between now and then, but if that longshot happened, the Thunder would have gotten this pick instead of a Denver first-rounder. So, while very unlikely, it's possible Oklahoma City traded a second-rounder for absolutely nothing. The type of move you can make when completely oversaturated with picks.

For a normal team like the Hornets, they get a guaranteed second-rounder instead of one that might never convey. Though the odds of the Denver pick conveying were quite high, Charlotte completely removes the risk.

De'Aaron Fox trade

Kevin Pelton of ESPN grades San Antonio, Sacramento and Chicago all positively for the De'Aaron Fox trade. The Bulls ought to be ashamed the degree to which Pelton felt compelled to grade them on a curve.

Dunc'd On Live

Watch Nate and Danny break down the De'Aaron Fox trade:

Cap sheets

We have redesigned our cap sheets for Dunc'd On Prime subscribers, now available through this link.

Among the new features:

• An NBA tab summarizing teams' cap space and exceptions, color-coded by payroll level
• A luxury-tax tab showing teams' projected payments and distributions
• Actual amounts available for each team's MLE, bi-annual exception and room exception based on how the team has already used its exceptions, proration during the season and room below a hard cap
• Tax (14 Players) – where a team with fewer than 14 players would stand with the luxury tax if adding minimum-salary free agents to reach 14 players
• Apron Room (14 players) – works similarly to the tax (14 players) calculations above, but fills with minimum-salary free agents to 13 players, effectively showing a team's spending power to add someone else for the 14th slot
• Future free agents organized by position, role and restricted status within the same workbook

MLE trades

Great breakdown from Danny at The Athletic on the new rule allowing teams to use their mid-level and bi-annual exceptions for trades and how that factors this year specifically.

-Dan Feldman