Dallas Ponders Its Options, Considers Caron Butler

The Dallas Mavericks are always a team to watch when we’re talking trades. They have a good team and an outspoken owner that’s one of the few willing to add long-term salary to build a winning team.

Sure enough, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Mavericks are active in the trade market. They covet Sacramento’s Kevin Martin, but the Kings are unwilling to deal him at this point. Therefore, they have not ruled out a swap for Washington’s Caron Butler, and have even discussed a specific trade with the Wizards to get him.

The Wiz and Mavs, meanwhile, have discussed a deal that would swap Josh Howard and one other player (such as James Singleton or Quinton Ross) for Butler and DeShawn Stevenson. But Dallas has little interest in taking back Stevenson and is still weighing whether Butler can help pull the All-Star Weekend hosts out of a spiral that has been openly addressed this week (see Box 4) by Mark Cuban.

Butler’s certainly not a better player right now than Martin or Philadelphia’s Andre Igoudala, but with just one more year left on his contract, he is the most affordable. A trade for Iguodala would bring a better player, but would likely cost Dallas more key trade assets and would add more long-term salary to the books.

That’s not to say Butler’s a better option, but the Mavericks are at least considering it.