The Dallas Mavericks‘ trade for Santi Aldama, agreed last week per ESPN, can become official Monday as the NBA’s offseason moratorium lifts. Dallas receives the 25-year-old forward and the draft rights to Tarik Biberovic; the Memphis Grizzlies get AJ Johnson, a top-20 protected 2030 first-round pick originally belonging to Golden State, and two future second-rounders, per ESPN and NBA.com.
On the floor, the fit is easy to see. Aldama is a legitimate 7-footer who averaged a career-high 14.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists last season while hitting 35 percent from three on 4.7 attempts per game. He gives Dallas frontcourt shooting and secondary playmaking it did not have off the bench a year ago.
The price is where the accounting gets interesting. Johnson, the No. 23 pick in 2024, averaged 3.3 points across 48 games with Dallas and Washington last season — a modest outgoing piece. But a first-round pick is a first-round pick, even a protected one four drafts away, and the two seconds stack on top of it. Dallas is paying draft capital for a player who was limited to 43 games last season and underwent season-ending knee surgery in March. He is expected to be ready for the start of next season, and the deal only makes sense if that timeline holds.
It also fits a pattern worth keeping receipts on. This is the second agreed trade the new front office will finalize this week, alongside the Marcus Sasser deal with Detroit, and both spend future assets on players in their mid-20s. That is a coherent strategy — buy proven young rotation pieces rather than draft lottery tickets — but it narrows the margin for error. If Aldama’s knee is right in October, Dallas added a starting-caliber big for a bench guard and picks it may never miss. If it isn’t, the front office spent a first on a player it watched rehab all summer.
The medicals, the official paperwork and the first camp scrimmage will tell us which version of this trade Dallas actually made. File the receipt either way.
