When you take on a contract worth $6 million, it wouldn’t seem to make much sense to then let that player ride the bench all year. Investing that much money in a player is definitely a risk, but there generally seems to be a reward in place from the player’s production.
I am not so sure that is the case with Josh McRoberts.
On the surface, this trade looked a little bit like a catch and release type deal where Dallas would get rid of McRoberts before he even made it to Texas. However, aside from that appearing to not be an option, the Mavs knew that this investment was very short term.