The James Harden-Ben Simmons deal dominated headlines at the trade deadline, but a smaller move had a greater impact on this season's title race.
With around 20 minutes remaining before the trade deadline, news broke that the Mavericks had agreed to send Kristaps Porzingis to the Wizards for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. While many at the time thought the Wizards were clear winners, the trade has helped fuel a run to the Western Conference Finals for the Mavericks.
How? Let's take a closer look.
MORE: Do the Warriors have any shot at slowing down Doncic?
What we missed about the Kristaps Porzingis trade
Porzingis is one of the better 3-point shooters at his position, but the trade made the Mavericks much more perimeter-oriented. By replacing the one-time All-Star with Reggie Bullock in the starting lineup, Dallas surrounded Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Dwight Powell with a proven 3-point shooter (38.5 percent in his career) and strong wing defender.
That move alone gave the Mavericks a boost.
| Lineup | Minutes | Offensive Rating | Defensive Rating | Net Rating |
| Doncic, Brunson, Bullock, Finney-Smith, Powell | 367 | 125.9 | 111.8 | 14.1 |
| Doncic, Hardaway Jr., Finney-Smith, Porzingis, Powell | 103 | 95.8 | 113.0 | -17.1 |
| Doncic, Brunson, Finney-Smith, Porzingis, Kleber | 90 | 111.8 | 106.1 | 5.8 |
| Doncic, Brunson, Hardaway, Finney-Smith, Porzingis | 50 | 92.5 | 109.6 | -17.1 |
To no surprise, downsizing from playing two bigs (Porzingis and one of Powell or Maxi Kleber) to one (Powell or Kleber) also changed the Mavericks stylistically. The biggest difference is that the post-ups that were once reserved for Porzingis have turned into more opportunities for Doncic, Brunson and Dinwiddie.
Dinwiddie in particular has been a different player since the trade. He was a shell of his former self in Washington, averaging 12.6 points on 37.6 percent shooting from the field in a Wizards uniform. Despite playing fewer minutes and being moved to a bench role, he bumped those numbers to 15.8 points on 49.8 percent shooting in the 23 regular-season games he appeared in with the Mavericks.
Dinwiddie has shown up in key moments in the playoffs as well. Though he didn't shoot well, he averaged 19.7 points and 6.7 assists in the three games Doncic missed against the Jazz in the first round. He's been up and down since, but he showed out in the Mavericks' Game 7 win over Phoenix in the second round to the tune of 30 points.
MORE: Biggest keys to Warriors vs. Mavs
Dinwiddie spoke candidly about some of the issues he ran into with the Wizards and the key to his success with the Mavericks.
“On this team, the great part about it is everybody kind of knows what they’re good at, they know their roles and they try to get to it,” Dinwiddie said. “And with that being said, it’s a very professional mindset in that respect.
“You’re not going to have Bullock and Doe-Doe (Finney-Smith) isolating, so you’re not going to be caught off-guard. So it’s also easy to get in position.”
The Mavericks now have three creators in Doncic, Brunson and Dinwiddie, four shooters in Bullock, Finney-Smith, Kleber and Bertans, and one rim-runner in Powell in their rotation. To Dinwiddie's point, each one of them knows their role and appears to have embraced it.
One thing that hasn't changed, of course, is the Mavericks still revolve entirely around Doncic.
Doncic had the ball in his hands a lot to begin with, but he saw his usage rate skyrocket from 35.7 percent to 39.0 percent following the Porzingis trade, the latter being by far and away the highest mark in the league. Through two rounds of the playoffs, it's up to 39.3 percent. Sounds like a lot, right? According to Stathead, that's the highest usage rate anyone has ever posted in a single postseason run (minimum 10 games).
That would be asking too much of most players, but Doncic's stats have actually improved across the board.
It turns out putting more on Doncic's plate and giving him more space to work with wasn't a bad idea.
