The Dallas Mavericks seemingly could have a lot to gain from acquiring an elite perimeter defender. It’s arguable whether the team has a lockdown defender on the perimeter, especially considering Klay Thompson has lost a step on that end of the floor.
However, a report from The Athletic’s Christian Clark indicates the Mavericks are considering adding a player who could bolster the team’s perimeter defense, and New Orleans Pelicans defensive ace Herb Jones has been linked to Dallas.
“The Mavericks have contemplated trying to add an impact perimeter defender before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, front-office sources on rival teams told The Athletic,” Clark wrote. “The New Orleans Pelicans’ Herb Jones, who last season was the only non-center to make the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team, is one player who fits that description. But there is little belief in NBA circles that the Pelicans will actually move him.”
Jones is on the heels of a 2023-24 campaign that saw him garner consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year award. He totaled the fifth-most votes of any player for the hardware behind only Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert.
The 26-year-old also earned a spot on the All-Defensive First Team a season ago along with Gobert, Wembanyama, Adebayo and Davis. He appeared in 76 of New Orleans’ 82 regular-season games and averaged 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per contest.
Jones has once again been very impactful on the less glamorous side of the ball this season, albeit for a lowly Pelicans team. Across 15 games played, he’s averaging 2.0 steals per contest, a mark that ranks second on the team behind Dejounte Murray.
He has been racking up steals at a particularly impressive rate lately. Jones has finished with two-plus steals in four of his last five contests, and he accumulated four in a loss to the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 22.
If Jones were to get dealt to the Mavericks, he would theoretically have a real chance to accomplish something very significant later in the year. Dallas is only months removed from an NBA Finals appearance and on track to finish this season with one of the top records in the Western Conference.
On the other hand, if he sticks around with the Pelicans, it’s incredibly likely that he won’t get to suit up at all in the 2025 NBA Playoffs. New Orleans’ record of 5-28 is the worst record in the West and the entire NBA at this juncture.
The team is also riding a 10-game losing streak, with its most recent win coming almost a month ago on Dec. 5.
