Mavericks keep prospects, stay silent during trade deadline

Since a great deal of the calls he fielded leading up to Thursday’s NBA trading deadline concerned Dwight Powell or Justin Anderson, Donnie Nelson probably thought he was a contestant on the old TV show, Deal or No Deal.

But as the calls kept coming in, Nelson — the president of basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks — kept reminding himself that he wasn’t going to do any deals involving Powell, a second-year center/forward, and Anderson, a rookie forward.

“Those are two young assets with upside,” Nelson said. “We’re hopeful to get more consistent performances, which is going to be a good determiner for how far we go in the playoffs.”

Overall, Nelson scanned the Mavs’ 15-man roster one last time and came away comfortable with what he saw. So comfortable, in fact, that he met with the media two hours before Thursday’s 2 p.m. trade deadline to announce that the Mavs would not be making any trades.

Nelson said teams were willing to part with “significant draft picks’’ to acquire Powell and Anderson. But since Anderson has prospered lately in his first season, the Mavs are hoping his upside becomes magical.

The same analysis holds true for Powell, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds in 16 minutes in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday during All-Star Weekend in Toronto.

In essence, Nelson looked at his roster as a whole and figured the grass is greener on his side of the fence.

“We like this group and we want to give them a chance to grow together,” Nelson said. “Certainly we’ve made our calls and we’re aware of what’s out there.

“But with three-fifths of our starting lineup being new and eight new faces, it’s really not the time to make changes. It’s time to give these guys a chance to grow together and see what they’re capable of.”

The Mavs have been capable of putting together a 29-26 record this season. That’s the worksheet they’ll take against the host Orlando Magic (23-29) at 6 p.m. Friday at the Amway Center.

Coach Rick Carlisle has no qualms with his roster heading into the final 27 games of the regular season.

“I like the team, I’ve said that all along,” he said. “I didn’t expect that there would be any moves.

“This is a very overrated, over-hyped time in most cases. Not always, but in most cases.”

Nelson acknowledged that the Mavs will do their due diligence and see if they have any interest in the players who likely will receive a buyout from their current team in the coming days.

“Certainly we’ll be active in the buyout marketplace if there’s something that makes sense, but again this is really about this group of guys that has done some really good and special and unique things,” Nelson said. “We think there’s a real opportunity to make up some ground in the Western Conference.

“Again, we don’t think the answer at this point is change. We think we need to give these guys an opportunity to come together, because there are a lot of moving pieces.”

Moving pieces that the Mavs believe can be molded together by Carlisle.

Harris ‘50-50’ for Orlando

Carlisle still isn’t sure if guard Devin Harris will play against Orlando. Harris has missed the last nine games with a sprained great left toe.

“I won’t know his status for the game until tomorrow night, most likely,” Carlisle said. “And I wouldn’t even begin to know where to handicap it whether he plays tomorrow night or not.

“I’d say it’s 50-50. And that’s a guess.”

Briefly

▪ On the final stretch of the regular season, Carlisle said: “It’s a 27-game sprint at this point. It’s a sprint now, it’s not a jog, it’s not a marathon, and we can’t pace ourselves. Every single game is going to have great meaning.”

▪ After the game at Orlando, the Mavs will play nine of their next 10 games at home.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Mavericks keep prospects, stay silent during trade deadline."