TRADE: Mavericks & Kings Swing Trade for 8-Year Veteran Center

There were a number of draft picks swapped around during the 2023 NBA Draft, but one of the few veteran players of any real consequence to change hands is 8-year center Richaun Holmes. The Sacramento Kings have sent Holmes and a late-first-round pick to the Dallas Mavericks. 

The Kings have traded Richaun Holmes and the draft rights to Olivier-Maxence Prosper to the Mavericks.

Dallas will absorb Holmes' contract using the TPE created by trading Davis Bertans to OKC.

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With the move, Dallas adds a big man in the middle that it's been in need of, while the Kings shed his $12M contract for the coming season plus the $12.8M player option he holds for 2024-25. Holmes had fallen completely out of the Kings' rotation this past season with Domantas Sabonis taking over the five-spot full-time. 

The Mavericks also receive Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who was drafted with the No. 24 pick by Sacramento. 

Dallas had earlier in the draft offloaded Davis Bertans and his contract to Oklahoma City, giving them a $17M Traded Player Exception (TPE), which they now use in acquiring Holmes and Prosper. 

In a three-year span in Sacramento from 2019 to 2022, Holmes averaged 12 points and eight rebounds while shooting about 65% from the floor, and acting as a capable rim-protector at about 1.3 blocks per game. He will vastly improve the Mavs' interior defense. 

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