Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[Winter]

I keep coming back to the trade that Bill Simmons came up with a few weeks ago.   Gafford to GS with an expiring, Kuminga to Chicago, and Coby White to Dallas.


Since he mentioned this GS has continued to crater and Kuminga is not playing (DNP-CD).  The Bulls have been awful and Gafford has been spotty when he has played.   He hasn't been healthy this year. 

What are these teams going to do?  GS will move Kuminga but as they saw this summer the demand is not high.   A Monk level player seems to be the range.  A solid, but not spectacular guy.    A guy like Gafford who plays hard and is a good teammate may be a solid return (certainly not the level they were hoping for though).

As mentioned above Chicago has been awful and White is a free agent.  With there recent play, does resigning White do anything for them?   In Kuminga the Chicago GM gets what they like best.  A former high pick with all the correct traits.   They can sell it that Kuminga is younger and bigger than White.

For Dallas they get a 25 year old who has some risk being a FA this summer.  But add him to the 22-27 aged players and you are starting to see a more balanced roster.  You can keep AD and Kyrie is no offer blows you away.   You realize you are thin at backup center which isn't a concern this year anyway.

If I'm the Mavericks considering what I would like to see from the team in the next few months, I'm not sure that's the trade I need now. Things have changed in the last month, and maybe Kyrie is close to returning. So is Coby the new PG? For how long? Maybe he replaces Klay as the other guard, but Coby isn't shooting the 3 ball worth a crap now, so he doesn't answer our perimeter shooting problem. Nembhard and Williams look adequate for now at PG, and Nembie is probably a better PG than White overall. 

And if you're wanting to see the best version of the Mavericks soon, it wouldn't hurt to have Gafford coming off the bench if he's healthy. 

At this point in the season, I feel less attracted to White and slightly more protective of Gafford. That trade doesn't really do it for me anymore.

Edit: as per the comments above, I do still like Gafford for Mathurin. That trade has more clarity to it.