Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[KillerLeft]

That's a legit trade offer.  I think similar offers should be on the table at the trade deadline.  I'm not that motivated to move him right now.  I guess there's a small chance Kyrie suffers another catastrophic injury this season and even that offer wont be available later.

A lot to unpack with this whole conversation (some of this isn't direct reply to your post). 

1) Yeah, it's a legit trade package, and I'm baffled by those who balk at it. To my understanding, it's not even an offer so much as the idea of some ESPN content creator, and frankly I doubt Detroit would even make that offer, but if they did I'd think it would merit consideration from the Mavs. 

2) It's absolutely valid to wonder whether the Mavs might be best served right now just holding onto Kyrie. He's worth a lot to them on the court and in the locker room. I can totally understand how some might value his presence and participation in the short term. But, IF they want to trade him, I'd bet a lot that this hypothetical DET package is towards the top end of what would be offered, and in fact might be a little better than the offers they actually get, either now OR at the TDL. 

3) 34 IS old. It's not AS old as it used to be, that's true, but it's old enough to narrow league interest down to teams living 100% in the now, as in the next year or two. There's also Dan's fine point about his contract to consider. By the TDL, Kyrie will be in a very similar situation to the one AD is in right now - his focus narrowed to the point where all he really cares about is finding one, last payday. Everything will need to be filtered through that lens pretty soon, and if we didn't think Dallas was in position to make that kind of commitment to Davis, I have to wonder why we assume they're willing to do so with Kyrie. I get that the injury histories are different, but the readiness of the Mavs is not. It's the same team in the same "trying to find themselves" situation, and I question the intelligence of committing to an overpriced player in his mid-30's, regardless of how popular he is with fans. Flagg is a baby and they're not winning more than a first round playoff series during the rest of Kyrie's career, I don't think. 

4) Yes, to your point, there's a chance Kyrie suffers another injury if they keep him (I think more than the "small" chance you mention, personally, but I don't mean to suggest it's super likely, necessarily), but there's ALSO a very real chance that he flatly isn't Kyrie anymore. He wasn't Kyrie for a few years before coming here, and now he's 34, coming off of an entirely lost season. I think there's risk in holding onto him, just like there's risk in trading him. It's all one, big judgement call that they kind of must get right.