Mavericks Get Lever for a Pair of No. 1 Picks : NBA: Nuggets receive the ninth selection in next Wednesday’s draft and a first-round choice in 1991.

The Dallas Mavericks traded two first-round draft choices to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for guard Fat Lever on Thursday night.

The Mavericks acquired the two-time All-Star for the ninth selection in the first round of next Wednesday’s NBA draft and a 1991 first-round selection.

“To get Fat Lever for the No. 9 pick is a bargain,” Maverick Coach Richie Adubato said. “It’s a tremendous deal for our team, and really you can’t pass it up.

“You could get a good rookie at No. 9, but it’s probably going to take awhile to develop him. We know we have a veteran now that you can put into any situation.”

Lever, 6-3 and 175 pounds, turns 30 on Aug. 18. The eight-year veteran led Denver in scoring (18.3), rebounding (9.3), assists (6.5), and steals (2.12) this season and made his second All-Star appearance.

“We’re pleased to add another quality guard to support Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper,” Maverick General Manager Norm Sonju said.

Nugget president Carl Scheer said: “Obviously, we hate to give up a player of Fat Lever’s caliber, but our team needs a face lift and we feel this can improve the Denver Nuggets in the long run.”

Lever came to the Nuggets in 1984 along with Calvin Natt, Wayne Cooper and a No. 1 pick when Denver sent Kiki Vandeweghe to the Portland Trail Blazers.

He led the Nuggets in steals and assists each year since 1984-85 and has been the club’s top rebounder and the top rebounding guard in the league the last four seasons.

For Lever, the Mavericks gave up the pick that they acquired from Washington in exchange for Jay Vincent on Sept. 3, 1986. Dallas also traded the Detroit Pistons’ 1991 first-round selection, which it acquired on Feb. 15, 1989, along with Adrian Dantley in exchange for Mark Aguirre.

Denver holds four No. 1 draft choices in the next two drafts.

Adubato wouldn’t predict that Lever will have as much an impact as the acquisition Buck Williams had on the Trail Blazers. The Blazers went from 38-44 a year ago to the NBA finals this year.

“It’s very hard to say that one situation is the same as another,” Adubato said. “But Fat brings to us many of the same qualities that Buck brought to Portland. . . . Everybody knows he’s a winner.”