NBA Rumor Tracker: Does Jrue Trade Crush Mavs’ Giannis Dream?

DALLAS – Our Dallas Mavs NBA Rumor Tracker will keep you up-to-the-minute on Draft, trade and transaction talk … with Monday opening up the player-movement window and the Dallas Mavericks and the rest of the league also prepping for Wednesday’s NBA Draft … Click in early and often and “The 75-Member Staff’ will keep you informed …

MONDAY 1147p – Jrue Joins Giannis Milwaukee continues to deserve credit: The Bucks took another step toward trying to keep two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo by trading for Jrue Holliday. The Bucks will send guards Eric Bledoe and George Hill as well as three first-round draft picks to the Pelicans. … and now we wait for Giannis’ next move, between now and Dec. 21 – will he sign the supermax?

If he does not, the hope that he could someday be in a Mavs uniform remains alive. But this Bucks’ deal for Jrue is all about their confidence with Giannis. He wants a championship roster; the Bucks are giving him one. And it’s likely that this trade was made not only with Giannis in mind, but also with Giannis as a “consultant” of sorts.

Meanwhile, the Bucks’ build continued with another move, as they are getting Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic in a sign-and-trade deal with Sacramento, per Woj.

MONDAY 1147a – Mavs Out On Jrue? The Mavs have interest. The fit is outstanding. … from a Dallas perspective.

READ MORE: The Sense Of A Jrue Holiday Trade For Mavs

And … Maybe the reason to climb into an involvement with OKC’s talks with Phoenix is to obtain the higher pick it might take to win the bidding on Holliday.

But on Monday, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News writes, “I’m told Mavs are not in on the Jrue Holiday trade sweepstakes. One of the biggest reasons: Pels are determined to trade him to an Eastern Conference team. They don’t want to compete against him.”

Maybe this is a way for New Orleans to “play hard to get.” But here’s betting that this is what the Pels are telling the Mavs … at least for now.

MONDAY 9a – Lou Williams Rumor The Dallas Mavericks hold picks Nos. 18 and 31 in this draft and a helpful player from the Los Angeles Clippers floats atop the Rumor Mill, as according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, LA is among “several teams exploring a trade with the Mavericks centered around the No. 18 pick.” Per the report, Clippers guard Lou Williams would be the bait.

But …

On Monday morning, just before the opening of the shopping window, Mavs GM Donnie Nelson spoke to DBcom and said …

“We absolutely 100% want to get there, but we don’t want to do it at the expense of doing something stupid. We’ve got some really good, young, developing players. We’re not just going to throw those guys or our draft picks aside and say goodbye to our future for a warhorse who only has one year left in the tank.”

Maybe we should view guys in their mid-30’s as “warhorses” who aren’t being prioritized by Dallas.

MONDAY 6a – OKC Dominoes Two centerpiece dominoes in a series of potential NBA trades belong to the OKC Thunder and their efforts to move on from Chris Paul. There are is a spider web of transactions that can be tied to that one, and to the Dennis Schroder trade as well.

READ MORE: The Mechanics – And Players – In A Mavs Trade With Thunder

But a secondary player in talks, sources tell DallasBasketball.com, are the Dallas Mavericks, looking to surf off an OKC trade by serving as a facilitator … with possible opportunities to net a player/asset from a basket that includes Danny Green, Kelly Oubre, Danilo Gallinari and Ricky Rubio, and the No. 10 pick in the NBA Draft as well.

MONDAY 6a – Draft ‘The Next Ginobili? NBA Draft expert Chad Ford calls him a “polarizing project.” But he also says some NBA teams view him as “the next Manu Ginobili.”

Sounds intriguing enough to us, especially as Ford has the Dallas Mavericks using their No. 18 overall pick in this week’s NBA Draft to select guard Leandro Bolmaro of Argentina.

READ MORE: Will Mavs Draft ‘The Next Ginobili’ at 18?

And yeah, if the Mavs think Bolmaro is “The Next Ginobili,” they ought to go ahead and draft him.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s mock has Dallas taking Aleksej Pokusevski of Serbia. Pokusevski is a skinny 7-foot, 208 pounds, but is just 18 years old.

Are these ideas “Luka Doncic-friendly”? In theory, though neither of those kids fits the “win now” mantra that GM Donnie Nelson has used often in his conversations with DallasBasketball.com.

Mavs Pre-Draft Visits We can add Aaron Nesmith, Kira Lewis Jr., RJ Hampton and Tyrese Maxey to the bunch. Here’s our scoops on other visits …

READ MORE: NBA Draft: Mavs Hosting Halliburton & Bey, Per Sources

READ MORE: Mavs Hosting TCU SG Desmond Bane, per Sources

READ MORE: Source: Mavs Host Immanuel Quickley for NBA Draft Visit

NBA Trade Donuts Is “The Greek Freak” on the verge of joining the Mavs? No. But will Dallas have Giannis in the back of its mind when it engineers other deals?

READ MORE: The Push Of Giannis To Mavs – And Giannis On Luka

Absolutely – and not because the other deals must include guys who “fit” with Giannis, but rather, because other guys must be worthy of serving as “ammunition” if and when it comes time to deal for Giannis, or any player like him.