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

[KillerLeft]

No. Not that exactly. I'm saying that neither one of them matter. They are equally irrelevant in my mind. I don't think they'll be Mavs for long, and Flagg's timeline is way beyond their Mavericks shelf life.

Agree with the emboldened, but not so much on the "equally irrelevant." I think there's value in taking a route to Flagg's era, sure, but I also think there's value in getting there with as much comfort as possible, and I think an effort to shorten the trip could easily lengthen it. 

They don't need to start assembling the team that will be around Flagg when he's 28 yet. They just need to assemble a team that fits with him and can support him if/when he's ready to compete, which might actually be next year. Maybe it won't be, but I have faith in him. And, it is so, so obvious that he and AD fit like a DREAM on the court. Meanwhile, he's 18. They can afford to try something, have it completely fail, and even if it does, by that time they'll have more ammo in the pick war chest again, through several means, including time. 

I just don't think there's a way to bridge the gap of pickless years in a meaningful way. It would take some GREAT picks to replace the ones they've traded away, in the event they opt to be bad. I think they have to try to be good, I really do. That means, for me, that no, AD and Trae Young are far from "equally irrelevant."