Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Chris Haynes: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Memphis Grizzlies are negotiating a buyout, and the veteran 3-&-D specialist intends to team back up with LeBron James and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources tell me.

x.com

[HoosierDaddyKid]

The Houston Rockets today announced they have signed free agent forward Julian Phillips. Phillips (6-8, 201) was the 35th overall pick by Boston in the 2023 NBA Draft following his freshman season at Tennessee. He spent his first two and a half seasons with Chicago before being acquired by Minnesota via trade on Feb. 5, 2026.

NBA.com

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Though Barkley did mention that James has provided himself advantages with “stacking the deck” throughout his career when joining talented teams. “The number one knock on LeBron for older guys like myself has always been, ‘Yo, man, you always stacking your team,'” Barkley said. “He stacked in Miami. He stacked in Cleveland. He stacked in LA. Now he’s stacking it in Philly. So that to me, I’m going to still have the same criticism I’ve always had.” Regardless, James went from making an astronomical $52.63 million in his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers, 2025-26, to earning just $3.88 million this upcoming season in Philadelphia, for a pay cut of $48.75 million, now the largest in NBA history.

New York Post

[Smitty]

So moving back to trade ideas, Philly obviously is going to be in desperate need of win now players. Especially guys that are the 4 or 5.

The two main guys I'm looking at is their recent draft pick Philon and a real ultimate prize in Edgecombe. Lebron has a habit of forcing his new teams to spend all their young assets to win no matter what. The 76ers are log jammed right now, especially at the 2 with Simons, VJ, and Brown.

Does Gafford for Philon+LACs 2028 FRP make sense?

Would you trade Lively for Edgecombe? That’s it. Straight up.

[FireNicoHarrison]

Would you trade Lively for Edgecombe? That’s it. Straight up.

Yes. Now.

[DanSchwartzgan]

So moving back to trade ideas, Philly obviously is going to be in desperate need of win now players. Especially guys that are the 4 or 5.

The two main guys I'm looking at is their recent draft pick Philon and a real ultimate prize in Edgecombe. Lebron has a habit of forcing his new teams to spend all their young assets to win no matter what. The 76ers are log jammed right now, especially at the 2 with Simons, VJ, and Brown.

Does Gafford for Philon+LACs 2028 FRP make sense?

I really don't see a Dallas connection with Philly in terms of a trade.  They have to shave a non-guaranteed contract just to get Lebron in under their first apron hard-cap.  So, the first rule of Philly trades is they can't take back more salary than they send out.  Even if they wanted someone like Gafford from Dallas, they don't have the contracts - that they would be willing to part with - to make the numbers work.  

It might be fruitful to look for trades with teams that missed out on Lebron, but it is hard to find obvious deals with Miami, Cleveland or GSW.  Part of the problem is team's don't want $17mm-$19mm backups and that is what Dallas has to offer in most of these situations.  Would Miami do Jovic for PJ?  Probably.  Would Dallas?  Would GSW do Moody for Gafford?  The years are probably a problem.  In fact, it will be more interesting to me to see the years than the dollars on a Draymond deal.  Maybe Cleveland would do expiring Strus for PJ, but $20mm is a lot to back up the very expensive players they have at the top of their roster.

I've never been a believer in the Portland ideas around PJ.  They have their starters in PF and SF.  I get the idea of reducing some of the roster clog at guard.  I just think PJ is too expensive to be a backup in Portland.  I'll be happy to be wrong there.

That leaves something that is potentially being held up by Kawhi.  Maybe Mathurin.  Maybe Watson.  Maybe nothing.  I've been pushing the idea it would be Gafford to LAC as part of the bigger LAC/TOR deal and would loop in Watson to LAC as well.  The AC Hoops post that Smitty put on page 244 brings up the possibility of it being Naji instead of Gafford going to LAC.  That is a deal that is easy to do right now as it uses the Collins TPE.  Watson goes to LAC, Mathurin goes to Dallas, DJJ goes to Denver (with picks) and Naji goes into the Collins TPE as it would otherwise be too much salary going to LAC.  From the Dallas side of things, we'd be a taxpayer (another reason I like to put Gafford in the deal) and would be limited to something in the $18.5mm range for Mathurin - more if we agreed to a buyout with Klay.  Much depends on how close they want to sit to the first apron (we've seen that movie before when you don't leave yourself enough room).  There are ways to do this with Gafford now, but unlike the Naji deal that limits what Mathurin can make, the Gafford based deals have a floor on what Mathurin can make and it starts higher than most here think is reasonable for Mathurin.

I thought it interesting that the board (and the NBA) was relatively quiet after the Lebron news yesterday.  I would have guessed some things would start to happen once the announcement came down.  Instead, crickets.

[DanSchwartzgan]

Would you trade Lively for Edgecombe? That’s it. Straight up.

Well, that's interesting.  Saves Philly $4.4mm and fills a positional need for them once he's healthy.  Makes Dallas a taxpayer by about $2.0mm.  I don't think Philly would be tempted unless they saw Lively on the court first.  But that as an in-season trade could be the difference between a championship or not the next two years.

[Smitty]

Would you trade Lively for Edgecombe? That’s it. Straight up.

Buy out Klay to get below the Tax Line:

Kyrie | Sergio | Sasser
VJ | Max | Tarik
Flagg | Naji | Risacher
PJW | Aldama | Martin
Morez | Gafford | Cisse

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Would you trade Lively for Edgecombe? That’s it. Straight up.

I would trade Lively and a 1st for Edgecombe. 

I don't see any way Philly is trading him.  Maybe if he is stinking it up in the 1st half of the season.  And Lively looks 100% healthy.    I still don't see it.  There is a massive gulf in the value of those two players.

[Smitty]

I would trade Lively and a 1st for Edgecombe. 

I don't see any way Philly is trading him.  Maybe if he is stinking it up in the 1st half of the season.  And Lively looks 100% healthy.    I still don't see it.  There is a massive gulf in the value of those two players.

I don’t know that the gap is as big as you’re saying. I do think there’s a gap though. The biggest Lively fans would probably say differently, but I think you’re correct for the most part. I just replied to SH’s post about Edgecombe being the prize there, and it will take a Lively type guy and then some? Mostly because of the salary cap stuff that’s not worth getting into with these highly unlikely fantasy deals.

[FireNicoHarrison]

We don't even know if Lively will play this season...

[windjc]

We don't even know if Lively will play this season...

We also don’t know of there will be a heat death of the universe this season either. But chances are pretty slim. 

Chances of Lively not playing are also very slim based on his injury.

[mvossman]

I’m starting to think this team is a Klay buyout from being done. As someone mentioned, every year we reach a point where we are waiting for the next move and it doesn’t happen. I think the FO has seen enough from Larry to commit to him as second point guard. This will be a development year and there will probably be more activity at the TDL when they see what works and what doesn’t.

[BigDirk41]

I don’t know that the gap is as big as you’re saying. I do think there’s a gap though. The biggest Lively fans would probably say differently, but I think you’re correct for the most part. I just replied to SH’s post about Edgecombe being the prize there, and it will take a Lively type guy and then some? Mostly because of the salary cap stuff that’s not worth getting into with these highly unlikely fantasy deals.

This isn't directed at you Smitty or anyone else, but I really can't understand why Lively has any significant value other than to the Mavs and Mavs fans. I don't even view him as part of the future anymore. I hope I'm wrong and I truly hope he gets healthy, but there is no counting on the guy. He's as fragile as they come. I suspect this will be his last season in Dallas because of the money he'll think he deserves. The Mavs can't pay a guy top dollar that's hurt more than Bill Walton was.

[BigDirk41]

Would you trade Lively for Edgecombe? That’s it. Straight up.

1000% yes

[BigDirk41]

So moving back to trade ideas, Philly obviously is going to be in desperate need of win now players. Especially guys that are the 4 or 5.

The two main guys I'm looking at is their recent draft pick Philon and a real ultimate prize in Edgecombe. Lebron has a habit of forcing his new teams to spend all their young assets to win no matter what. The 76ers are log jammed right now, especially at the 2 with Simons, VJ, and Brown.

Does Gafford for Philon+LACs 2028 FRP make sense?

I don't see Philly trading either of those players and I don't see them as desperate for any players. They have the best starting 5 in the NBA and they will now get some ring chasers signing for the minimum. I think this is wishful thinking. Sign me up, but I didn't think that's fair value for the Sixers.

[KillerLeft]

I thought it interesting that the board (and the NBA) was relatively quiet after the Lebron news yesterday.  I would have guessed some things would start to happen once the announcement came down.  Instead, crickets.

Yeah, I think we might see some small things done soon by the teams who missed out on LeBron, but I honestly think the Kawhi Leonard trade is holding everything up, too. The league really needs to get that resolved. It’s holding up Peyton Watson and Mathurin, the last truly interesting free agents, and neither of the teams involved know who’s getting stuck with Ingram. Is there a plan to re-route him somewhere? I’m sure DeRozan is tied up in the situation a bit, even, and possibly many others.

[KillerLeft]

Does Gafford for Philon+LACs 2028 FRP make sense?

Three different versions of the Dallas front office have now tried to trade Gafford for a first round pick. If any team in the league thought he was worth sending a first to acquire he’d be on that team already. This idea is essentially asking for TWO first round picks.

[Smitty]

Grant Afseth: Dallas Mavericks forward Klay Thompson remains a name to watch on the trade market, and the two teams most frequently linked to him this summer both missed out on LeBron James on Friday.
James signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, ending free agency negotiations that also involved the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat. Thompson is in the last season of a three-year, $50 million contract with the Mavericks, earning $17.5 million.
Dallas will surely exhaust its evaluation of Thompson's trade market before considering a buyout. Thompson, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford are the veterans the Mavericks are most open to moving, while teams inquiring about Kyrie Irving have been told he is not available. Dallas has sought a first-round pick in exchange for Thompson.

https://roundtable.io/sports/nba/maveric...icks-76ers

—————————

First I’ve seen that the Mavs want a FRP for Klay. Seems less likely that they’ll buy him out, if true.

[Smitty]

@ShamsCharania
Denver restricted free agent Spencer Jones has agreed to a two-year, $12 million offer sheet with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Adam Godes of ADS Sports tells ESPN. Jones was a key contributor for the Nuggets last season, including an NBA-best 69% from 3-point range during the playoffs, and now is ready to conclude chapter in Denver to move onto OKC.