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

[RDB]

Everyone here (well almost) is and has been focused on this summer's pick since day 1. You won't find any argument there. 

The issue is the following seasons, tbh. The kind of picks you're likely to get for guys like Gafford and Marshall aren't any kind of replacement for your own picks that you've traded away if you have to tear the house down to the studs and rebuild from scratch. That's why the Mavs are trying to avoid doing that, I'm sure. SO, what's the best way to move forward? Do you accept a less than favorable outcome on an AD trade (should an offer even manifest) in order to shed salary, so that you can keep guys like Thompson, Marshall and Gafford? Do these guys even fit well enough to consider keeping? Do you reshuffle those guys instead, hoping to add Kyrie and AD to a team that actually works next season? This trade deadline is potentially a huge crossroads for the franchise.

The day we won the lottery is the day our vision shifted.  We are a team that’s been built for now.  Post Flagg, I assume most agree that a pivot from a “now” to a “Flagg centric” mindset is necessary.  And if true, that becomes our new North Star.  Player fits, urgency, acceptable returns, pain thresholds, etc, etc. are all informed by our new North Star.

The plans are directional.  Maxi may be a long-term fit but available for the right price.  Naji could be an intermediate fit, which may influence acceptable returns. But you can’t be beholden to competing “win now” and “pivot to Flagg” priorities.  That’s not a vision, especially when you’re asset poor with cap challenges.  Does winning play a role?  Sure…it informs your pain threshold.  OKC accepted losing to not skip steps.  Plenty of others choose the opposite.

IMO, the crossroad you suggest is less about the pivot and more about the execution.  And without an idea of the plan, we can only read tea leaves and speculate.  But the pivot is logical and few would likely question.  It’s not like we are blowing up a contender.  Our friends to the north can tell you what that feels like.