It was announced in principle on Wednesday that the Dallas Mavericks agree in principle to acquire Shawn Marion from the Toronto Raptors. The deal is much more complicated than it looks as the Mavericks had to involve two other teams to make all the numbers work. When the end of the day came around the Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic joined in to benefit from the deal. The real question is what team is the winner in this trade? Let’s look at how each team will benefit from the deal to answer that question.
Dallas Mavericks: Say what you want about Mark Cuban but he is attacking the free agent market and showing Dallas fans that he wants to assemble a team that can compete in the west. The move to get Marion improved the depth and flexibility of the team and may help in keeping Dirk Nowitzki in a Dallas uniform past this year.
Marion is headed to Dallas
The team is getting older but as of now they will be a force in the west with a formidable starting lineup and deep and talented bench.
Toronto Raptors: This move financially makes plenty of sense for the Raptors. The Raptors get Devean George and Antoine Wright and the Hedo Turkoglu turns into a sign and trade deal. This could open the door to resign Carlos Delfino after it looked bleak when Hedo was signed. George and Wright are in the final year of the contract and Wright can play shooting guard since Anthony Parker left the team for Cleveland. This will give the Raptors flexibility with finances but I am not sure if that makes them a better team now. I do not think this will be the last we hear of the Raptors in this free agent market.
Orlando Magic: The Magic joined this trade to get something out of the Hedo Turkoglu deal. Now that they are officially involved it creates a trade exception to be used in future deals and will give them about 7 million to play with. This basically allows the Magic to save face for letting Hedo walk.
In the long run it seems like every team did just fine in this deal. The present winner is the Mavericks, but the in the future the winner may end up being the Raptors.
