Without any doubts, there has been a tremendous amount of hype surrounding the so-called “DUST” trade chip of the Dallas Mavericks. Referring to the instantly expiring contract of Erick Dampier, it was believed that anyone looking to clear some capspace right away would be highly interested in acquiring said contract. Therefore, many experts expected the Mavs to pull-off a blockbuster trade involving DUST that would bring another All-Star to Northern Texas. Yet, GM Donnie Nelson surprisingly opted to send Erick Dampier as well as Matt Carroll and Eduardo Najera to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Tyson Chandler and Alex Ajinca.

At first glance, the move looks like a fairly odd decision by the Mavericks front-office as Ajinca is hardly going to see any playing time and Chandler has not been playing particularly well as of late either. More precisely, Tyson Chandler averaged just 6.5 points and 6.3 rebounds in 22 minutes per contest last year for the Charlotte Bobcats. Moreover, he is fairly injury prone and is significantly overpaid at $12 million a year. However, Marc Cuban's move is much better than it may seem at first. Firstly, Chandler has been one of the most mobile defensive centers in the league when healthy and had no trouble finding the hoop when he played together with Chris Paul in New Orleans. While Charlotte lacked a decent point guard, the Mavs can count on Jason Kidd elevating everyone's game night in and night out. In fact, Tyson Chandler put up no less than 11.8 points and 11.7 boards per game in 2007-08 for the Hornets. Last but not least, Chandler could also turn out to be an excellent trading chip at the trade deadline as he is not only a serviceable center but also a huge expiring contract appealing for any franchise looking for some payroll relief.

You can watch all games of the Charlotte Bobcats and Dallas Mavericks right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.