Colin Keane
The Dallas Mavericks are off to a frustrating 5-5 start to the season, and poor bench production has been a recurring theme.
The Mavericks were No. 26 in the NBA in bench scoring at 24.2 bench points per game entering Monday.
Dallas head coach Jason Kidd has spent multiple postgame pressers lamenting the Mavericks’ lack of bench production, including one notable expletive-filled press conference in which Kidd talked about how no one is helping Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving shoulder the scoring burden.
Dallas might need to make a move to fix the issue, and the Brooklyn Nets’ Dennis Schröder is someone to monitor.
The entire league knows that Schröder and his expiring contract are available, and Western Conference contenders like the Los Angeles Lakers will consider adding the former FIBA World Cup MVP.
Schröder, 31, has always been a dangerous scorer, but he’s playing the best basketball of his career at the moment.
Through 10 games with Brooklyn, Schröder is averaging 20.1 points and 6.6 assists per game on a blistering 46.3 percent from three.
A Mavericks package of Maxi Kleber and Dante Exum would match up money-wise for Schröder, but the Nets would likely ask for draft capital, as well.
Exum’s contract is expiring, but Kleber’s isn’t, and Brooklyn will have plenty of suitors for Schröder before February.
If the Mavericks are willing to do away with a valuable draft pick in addition to Kleber and Exum for Schröder, he’d be an excellent bench scorer to come in and fix one of Dallas’ main issues.
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Colin Keane is a contributing journalist for The Sporting News. Born in Illinois, Colin grew up in Massachusetts as the third of four brothers. For his high school education, Colin attended St. Mark’s School (Southborough, MA), where he played basketball and soccer and served as student body president. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Villanova University. Colin currently resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
