Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[KillerLeft]

You'd be making that Detroit trade thinking Holland and Lavert can help here and Stewart is a legit starting center.  I can see that POV I guess.

I am not really against your larger point here - I think it's a valid and accurate POV, and each of us have to decide where we land on it, probably with our opinions of Kyrie's actual utility here being the variable. It has become clear that some of us live in a world in which the Mavs have something to lose in the near future by moving him, which makes the visceral pushback over these ideas a little more understandable to me. 

But on this point above, I want to clarify that I'm not sure I see Stewart as "a legit, starting center," necessarily. I'd still have Lively ahead of him for sure. It's just that I think Stewart is a massive upgrade over Gafford, especially if the team is going to continue to drift farther away from pick and roll basketball. Stewart is actually a difference maker on the defensive end when he's on the floor, and in my estimation much more playable in the playoffs. 

It's ironic, but I suppose one argument AGAINST the trade might be this: Kyrie is NOT a pick and roll player, like AT ALL. So...if they trade him, I suppose there's a world in which the lead ball-handler next year (hopefully #9, but anyone else, really) IS a pick and roll guy, and in that case Gafford might potentially fit here again. 

It's all a big puzzle, for sure. Thank goodness there are actual basketball people in the room making these decisions, finally.