Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[meistermatze]

I can't find the exact post, but somebody argued that Ischenko was a bad rebounder. I'm not sure what his career numbers say, but in Summer League, he was amazing in that area. He was always in the right position and showed excellent instincts. Sometimes he was just a little unlucky and did not actually come away with the rebound, but if the assessment of him being a poor rebounder is based on those games, I would advise going back and watching more closely. Based on Summer League, that assessment is just plain wrong.

I am with Killer: I feel like he does everything else pretty well too, so I am excited about his development. Same with Sergio. He has huge holes in his game, but the vision and passing are already elite, so there is clearly something there to be excited about.

I keep repeating myself, but those two are worth developing. Toss the rest.

[FireNicoHarrison]

Agree.

Sergio and Ish have too much skills for not develop them.

[Smitty]

I agree that his finishing needs work, but he had some nice ones today - much softer touch (admittedly, against another summer league team that's probably shutting folks down just like the Mavs' squad). I think this will improve quickly. Luka was actually pretty bad at finishing early in his rookie season. Same thing - way too heavy of touch off the glass (no, I'm obviously not comparing him to Luka - just saying, this is something that could be fixed easily - will he? No idea). 

I've actually thought he was a pretty good rebounder, at least for a guard/wing type. Maybe not from a boxing out, using his body standpoint, but the ball just finds him, or vice versa. I think his hands need to get stronger so that can keep the ball a little more surely as a rebounder. 

Idk, he just has this difficult to quantify thing - he plays hard and fast, but not in a dumb summer league way (at least in my opinion). What jazzed me today was his PG play. I think he's got some real on ball juice, as both a driver and especially as a passer. There's some real creativity involved in his game that genuinely catches me by surprise pretty frequently. It's a little like Mikel Brown, where some of the passes are probably a little too creative (7 assists tonight, but also 5 turnovers, most of which came from passes he shouldn't have attempted), but when they work, WOW. He threw a bounce pass from half court today while handling the ball in transition that made me lol gleefully. 

I don't think he's rotation ready, mostly because I'm not sure his body is up to it yet, but I have to admit I'll be pretty disappointed if he doesn't get a two-way. He just...gets how to play basketball. I'm not even sure I know what he is yet, but I'm hoping we get to find out over the next 4-5 years.

I’m aware of the things he does well and agree with your write up here for the most part. I was simply responding to your. “I think he does everything else well” He doesn’t. And that’s okay. I don’t expect him to. He’s a project. He’s young. He’s not a finished product. Obviously, me pointing out anything that he may not be great at is upsetting folks so I will stay away from any criticism. I’ve already said he’s shown promise and I’d want him on a Two-Way, so I’ll repeat it again…. so that those that didn’t comprehend that part the first 5 times can see it and know I’m on their side here. I THINK HE DOES A LOT WELL. SHOWS PROMISE. I CAN SEE A FUTURE ROLE FOR HIM AT THE NEXT LEVEL. WORTHY OF A TWO-WAY.

[Winter]

I don't if anyone was paying much attention to this, but Darin Green Jr. has pretty much been lights-out good at hitting 3-pointers throughout SL. I had to take a peek at his history. He's been playing in Europe all of last year (he's 25), and he's been good there as well. He played in G-League a year or two ago but must have gotten hurt as he only played in 4 games.

Poulikidas was really good yesterday, but Green was shooting a good percentage in almost every game. Yesterday he was 6-12 from the 3-point stripe.

Against the Lakers he was 2-2
Against Memphis, he was 5-9
Against the Thunder, he was 4-8

[Smitty]

@JakeLFischer
The New York Knicks have signed restricted free agent center Moussa Cissé to a two-year offer sheet, I’m told. Dallas will have through Monday to match.

@ShamsCharania
Restricted free agent Moussa Cisse has agreed to a two-year contract offer sheet with the New York Knicks, sources tell ESPN. His salary is half guaranteed in the first year and 2027-28 is non-guaranteed. The Dallas Mavericks have 48 hours to match or not.

[Smitty]

@JakeLFischer
The New York Knicks have signed restricted free agent center Moussa Cissé to a two-year offer sheet, I’m told. Dallas will have through Monday to match.

Another team finally forced the issue. Your turn Schmitz.

[Chicagojk]

Another team finally forced the issue. Your turn 

Will be disappointed if they don’t match.  
Restricted free agent Moussa Cisse has agreed to a two-year contract offer sheet with the New York Knicks, sources tell ESPN. His salary is half guaranteed in the first year and 2027-28 is non-guaranteed. The Dallas Mavericks have 48 hours to match or not.

[Chicagojk]

Shams says half guaranteed for this year and non guaranteed the following year

[Smitty]

Will be disappointed if they don’t match.  
Restricted free agent Moussa Cisse has agreed to a two-year contract offer sheet with the New York Knicks, sources tell ESPN. His salary is half guaranteed in the first year and 2027-28 is non-guaranteed. The Dallas Mavericks have 48 hours to match or not.

Match it and figure out the roster crunch through the summer and before training camp

[OBX Maverick]

I have a few buddies who are huge Knicks fans. They are already texting me telling me they’re stealing another Maverick.

[Smitty]

Reminder that the Mavs can carry up to 21 on the roster right now. Matching Cisse doesn’t mean they have to immediately waive someone.

[KillerLeft]

“I think he does everything else well” He doesn’t. 

Well, to be clear, I wasn't attempting to enter into what I now see is an Ishenko Holy War being waged on the battle-field that this forum has become. It seems like you thought my initial post in the SL thread was aimed at you - it was not. I just love watching this guy play and wanted to say so. I had no idea what was to occur in this space over the following 12 hours. 

My sentence that you quoted was meant as a statement of relativity, in the context of the "who's getting the two-way spots" conversation. I didn't word it super specifically, but didn't think I had to, sorry. I agree with your pushback about finishing, in particular, but again, he was better yesterday in that area, and my takeaway is that he's currently more comfortable on ball in certain ways, which I didn't expect. 

I just think, relative to the others being considered for two-ways or maybe in the very best case, the last roster spot, with the other end of the spectrum being shipped back off to Russia for a while (which I would've thought was implied in the entirety of everything written by anyone about this topic, but I'm learning people are taking it more seriously), that he does almost everything better than any of the other guys in that conversation. I think he's a more useful basketball player right now, today, than Poulakidis or Tyler Smith, for example. I think he's more "NBA ready" than those guys. 

I do agree with the practicality point you raise that summarizes to "what's the skill that actually gets him onto the floor?" I think that's a good question, and I don't know the answer. But, I also think part of why we don't know is that he has been used in a different way in almost each of the games. For me, that's the fun part and why he's so intriguing. You could tell me he's a year away from being the backup PG and I'd believe you. You could tell me he's a year away from being the best POA defender on the team and I'd believe you. Idk, man...he seems pretty well rounded, to me. 

End of the day, I just think he's got something, and I wanted to say so here, where my Mavs friends hangout.

[KillerLeft]

Shams says half guaranteed for this year and non guaranteed the following year

Need totals, but that doesn't seem prohibitive to me, so far. I'd still be in favor of matching with this info. If anything, it seems like NY might've done them a favor. I'd have expected at least the first year to be guaranteed.

[hakeemfaan]

I love watching our two euros because they do a lot of things well..other than a consistent jump shot . I am not diminishing that but to me their form looks good and hopefully that will come in time.

The thing I like the most is that the ball doesn’t stick to either one’ hands. The Mavs seem one of the most fun teams this summer league specifically because when they get the ball even defense are not sure whether they are trying to score or move the defenses around for their teammates to get a better shot.

Wagler looks awesome and probably will ne the next Curry. Personally I love watching players who can make passes that defenses and spectators don’t see coming. Most of the NBA these days bore me with the one dimensional aspect to getting your own.

[hakeemfaan]

Duplicate post. Deleted

[Scott41theMavs]

Reminder that the Mavs can carry up to 21 on the roster right now. Matching Cisse doesn’t mean they have to immediately waive someone.

Yes, and with the points everyone else has already made - especially you and KL - no reason to think they won’t match. If they don’t, I would say that means they either plan on keeping Gafford, signing Schmits’s favorite Kao to a main roster deal, or both.

[Scott41theMavs]

If matching on Cisse “forces” the Mavs to do anything for tax purposes, I would say it’s cutting Nemby.

[windjc]

Irrelevant to future success of team.

[Scott41theMavs]

Irrelevant to future success of team.

Not if they’re trading Gafford (and it would be very surprising if that didn’t happen eventually, by next summer if not the TDL if not before trading camp), it isn’t. You keep dismissing this guy as if he’s a scrub. He’s no Euro, and no stretch big, but for defense, rebounding, and finishing, he’s what any team with a brain is looking for from a big. Binarily not a scrub, and on that contract, would give the Mavs flexibility at center (i.e. to trade Gafford when the opportunity arises) they otherwise won’t have.

The only way not matching on this makes a lick of sense, as I said, is if they’re signing Kao to a main roster deal, which I doubt - or if they want to arbitrarily lock themselves in on Gafford for the long haul.

[KillerLeft]

The only way not matching on this makes a lick of sense, as I said, is if they’re signing Kao to a main roster deal, which I doubt - or if they want to arbitrarily lock themselves in on Gafford for the long haul.

Well, I feel that way, but to be fair the Mavs might be as high on Cisse as we are. Not everyone here is, after all. It's going to be interesting to see what they do, especially since a Gafford trade hasn't materialized to this point.