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

[Winter]

That's a good question, but my answer is different than you might expect.

My plan to rebuild around CF would focus on using the existing talent on the roster - OR THE EQUIVALENT THEREOF IN TRADE -  to put alongside CF. 

So a starting point is AD. He plays next to CF and they are better. Or --- he is swapped for a player (or pick) who will eventually be the same sort of talent. The NO pick has that potential, and none of the rest being discussed with ATL does. So if I don't get that return from ATL or elsewhere, I keep him. 

The assumption that this means he gets extended by DAL is weird. He has TWO more seasons after this one. Yes he wants an extension, but no, I'm not doing it this summer even though R Paul acts like it should be automatic. It's not. Maybe we get there in summer 2027. Maybe in May 2028. Maybe he gets traded before then. Maybe not. I am quite willing to let it play out and have him line up next to CF.

The Mavs issue really isn't a lack of talent. It's an ill-fitting set of otherwise talented pieces. Talent-for-talent (rather than throwing the existing talent in the trash, and then trying to find that level of talent in the draft) is where I would go. And I would start with an expert GM doing the roster building.

That doesn't make much sense to me, because AD's return on the investment is constantly diminishing. I can sort of understand trading our available talent like Naji, PJ, Kyrie and a few other pieces to create a team around AD and Flagg, but it's such a stretch given AD's health and age. That's truly two crazy different timelines.

I just can't imagine our new GM is on board with that idea. It's the last thing I would expect. You're literally banking on a healthy AD for the next year or two.... to get us to the playoffs with a bunch of players who have not really played together? That's 2-3 years wasted in my thinking.

But I'm just a fan. I don't know much.