The Dallas Mavericks have traded Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round picks to the Detroit Pistons for Quentin Grimes, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. In exchange, the Mavericks will receive a 2025 second via the Toronto Raptors and two 2028 seconds. Hardaway Jr., who was acquired in the Kristaps Porzingis trade in 2019, had some productive seasons with the Mavericks, largely off the bench. He finished ninth in Sixth Man of the Year voting this season, averaging 14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and shooting 35.2% from 3-point range. However, during the playoffs, he fell out of the rotation as the Mavericks made a run to the Finals where they lost to the Boston Celtics in five games. He had eight DNPs and scored in double figures just twice during that time.
Next season, Hardaway was set to make $16.1 million in his final year of his contract but moving him for Grimes will give the Mavericks financial flexibility to re-sign Derrick Jones Jr later this summer. They can now offer Jones most of their $12.9 million mid-level exception after trading Hardway Jr..
The Pistons were more than happy to take on Hardway Jr.’s contract as they have plenty of cap space and were willing to eat his final year’s deal in order to acquire extra draft picks. If they can flip him at the deadline for more assets even better it would not be a surprise to see them make more trades of this nature before the end of summer as they continue their rebuilding process