Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

It kind of feels like the team we should be discussing as a potential Kyrie destination is Minnesota. Regardless of where each of us are on the "believe in Kyrie" spectrum, he's Kyrie, and he's going to have some say in where he plays next. I assume the bulk of the three-way negotiation between the Mavs, Kyrie and team X would be about Kyrie's next contract (that's what we never factor in enough as fans, imo), but SOME of it will be about team X feeling ready to win, viewing Kyrie as the piece that gets them there and their star(s) having interest in playing with him.

DET, imho, is NOT ready to win, nor are the Lakers. Just my opinion. I could see Minnesota convincing themselves they are, even to the point of giving Kyrie another couple of seasons of max pay to set everything up. And, there's smoke out there about Edwards wanting them to bring Kyrie in. Conley is obviously past the point of helping, so it makes a little sense.

And that brings me back to "why now?" I can't tell you how many times I read here "offers will be better at the deadline." Then, at the deadline, I read "offers will be better over the summer." If I put myself in the shoes of a team like Minnesota (or any team trying to add Kyrie to what they believe is a championship roster, honestly), I want to get it done NOW, personally. That way, my team has time to plan for the roster we'll have, learn to play together, etc.

I think any contending team has bigger names they’d be interested in before settling for Kyrie.  Teams will want to see what happens with Giannis. There are probably other guys in the pecking order ahead of Kyrie I can’t think of right now. Jaylen Brown? Kawhii?

Kyrie is coming off an ACL tear and an entire missed season. I don’t really see any reasonable argument his value would be higher now. Like you said, he might be washed. Teams want to see him play to make sure he’s not washed. I don’t agree with the logic that once we see him play, he might be washed, so the time to trade him is now.  

Isiah Stewart is a nice little player but I’m not convinced he’s one of the best defensive bigs in the league when he doesn’t have Ausar Thompson next to him.