The Dallas Mavericks made a move that not only helps them stay competitive this year, but may have given them their center for the foreseeable future, as they acquired Nerlens Noel from the Philadelphia 76ers for Justin Anderson, Andrew Bogut and a protected 2017 first round pick.

Dallas has been playing Dirk Nowitzki at center for most of the season due to a lack of better options. Nowitzki is probably best served to defend centers with his lack of foot speed at this point in his career, but it left the Mavericks lacking interior defense. Acquiring Noel makes up for that by a wide margin. Noel is athletic enough to cover on the perimeter, while also dropping back to protect the rim.

On offense, Noel gives Dallas an athletic player who can finish at the basket, which the Mavs have been missing all year. With Nowitzki and Harrison Barnes’ ability to space the floor, Noel will fit in nicely in the Dallas offense. And Rick Carlisle has done a good job getting the most out of athletic players by putting them in position to finish at the rim off pick and roll actions in the past, namely Tyson Chandler who Noel could project to be for the Mavericks.

It also can’t be overlooked that Noel is a restricted free agent this summer. Dallas now has right of first refusal to match any offer Noel might get in free agency and can also offer a fifth season. For a team that could be in a bit of tricky cap position, pending what happens with Nowitzki, the Mavericks now control the process of keeping Noel or not.

The Mavericks didn’t really give up all that much in this trade. Anderson has been out of the rotation for the majority of the season and didn’t have a path to playing time with other options on the Dallas roster. Bogut has been injured for most of the year and was essentially a salary dump. The Mavs had been pushing close to the Luxury Tax and this frees up significant room on that front as well.

Dallas also created two potentially useful Traded Player Exceptions, which they could use down the line to bring in more help. But most importantly, by a wide margin, the Mavericks masterfully worked the pick protection. The pick is top-18 protected for 2017 and then turns into 2017 and 2018 second round picks if Dallas doesn’t convey the first this year. Given the Mavs have almost no chance of getting high enough in the standings to get to 19th in the draft, they will end up delivering two second round picks and a player who had flamed out for their center of the future.

Grade for Dallas: A-

Philadelphia had decided in recent weeks they had to begin the process of breaking up their logjam at the big man position. It began with dealing Ersan Ilyasova to clear up the power forward spot and then they dealt away Noel to begin freeing up the center spot.

Obviously, the Sixers' center of the future is Joel Embiid. That made Noel and Jahlil Okafor both expendable in trades. Philly also loves Richaun Holmes and has wanted to find a way to clear more playing time for him as well. The frontcourt of the future seems likely to include Embiid, Dario Saric, Ben Simmons and Holmes, as Okafor is still being shopped around the league as well.

All of that said, clearing playing time could have been accomplished in a far more efficient fashion. Anderson is a middling prospect at best, who the 76ers have to be hoping will take a Jae Crowder-like leap after being freed from Dallas. While he has shown some signs, he hasn’t shown enough at this point to be considered anything more than a flyer in a deal.

Once again, after saying they weren’t in the business of eating contracts anymore, Philly appears to be doing just that with Andrew Bogut, same as they did with Tiago Splitter yesterday. And this time they aren’t even being paid to do so. Maybe the Sixers can flip Bogut elsewhere for an asset versus buying him out, but Bogut has reportedly asked for a buyout to be able to pick his next destination.

So, that leaves us with just the pick. As covered above, that pick is very likely to be two second rounds picks. That is a paltry return for a player who was once the initial centerpiece of Sam Hinkie’s “Process”, restricted free agent or not.

Grade for Philadelphia: D-