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[michaeltex]

Before the team gets into all of these weeds, they need to decide what their priorities are.  What is the purpose of 26/27?  When do they want to start being good again?  What elements do they need to be a championship contender at that time.  What are the paths available to us to get there?

I would submit that Flagg and our 2026 pick (no matter who he is) won't be ready to compete for a top 4 slot in the west the next two seasons.  

I would submit that since tanking does us no good the next few seasons that developmental competitiveness should be the goal.  A team full of babies creates bad habits.  Keeping high character vets around (like a Middleton for instance) makes the team more competitive and provides role models for the youngsters who matter.  It isn't about whether Klay, Middleton and Kyrie will be part of the "Flagg championship era".  It is about whether they can help him be more successful once he gets there.

We will have a better idea what elements we need (besides Flagg) once we know who our lottery pick is.  A healthy Lively is a very high level starter on a championship team.  Every effort has to be made to bring him along so that he can do that...not in 26/27 or 27/28, but for the stretch that is to come when Flagg and 2026 are in their mid-20's.  Without Lively, Dallas has another slot to fill with few paths to fill them.

If all goes well with 2026 and Lively, by 28/29 you have 3 high level starters.  You might have a 5th-7th man in Christie.  You have NOTHING beyond that that will matter in 28/29 and beyond.  NOTHING!  Pick 30 at the very best is a backup something.  The old guys will be gone.  PJ, Naji and Gafford have questionable fits.  At best one of them sticks as a future backup.  

So, the job is to figure out how to add top 8 rotation pieces to the stew.  I think clearing salary for the year when Kyrie is gone and Flagg's extension hasn't kicked in is critically important.  That means moving PJ is much more important than moving Martin.  It means you structure additions like Bagley, Middleton and/or MLE and TPE types to fit into the salary timeline more than Flagg's age timeline.  Yeah, if you can land a high upside young guy who fits (the reason I've been interested in the Mathurin, Ivey, Risacher and Kuminga types...and others), you do that.  But short of that you can take on ugly salary for picks for two more seasons.  You can trade PJ/Gafford for picks and/or ugly salary as long as it expires in 2028.  You are stockpiling picks not to make the picks as much as to have ammunition when you are ready to make the big swing (or swings).  I don't think that is 26/27.  Therefore, I don't think all of these end of roster decisions are all that important.  The real job is further out than that and what the teams needs now is to make the right intermediate steps.

Apparently, if Middleton decides to stay, he's going to be a part of the next stage of team building. Or he could decide on a buyout later this week and try to hook up with a contender. It's his decision according to reports. FWIW, he's looked pretty good out there the last few games and his experience + shooting would surely help. 

I'm kind of getting on the Bagley train. His energy and scoring are really noticeable when he's on the floor. I know he bombed in SAC, but that seems like NBA hell the last few years. And WAS hasn't had any direction in this decade. IMO, he's worth more than the VM, but how much more? He and DL could make a good team to hold down the 5 spot and allow asset acquisition by trading Gaff.

If we decide to keep those two, re-sign Williams, add a FRP and say adios to Powell/Johnson (TO)/Jones then that will only be 12 contracts. So plenty of space to add key FAs. That's without trading PJ and/or Gaff. So maybe taking back bad money + picks in a trade would work. 

But you need someone to define the direction and implement a plan.