Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[Smitty]

Okay. 

Just a slight revision then. Include the small contract of AJ Johnson. 

Martin + Johnson, for Johnson +26

I didn't plan to get into the weeds on the different iterations of the Cam into TPE options, but no, based on my math this would not work either. The Mavs are $8.1M below A1. The spread with Cam and Martin+Johnson is +$8.4M to the Mavs, which exceeds the hardcap that would be in place by taking in more salary in a trade. 

The whole point of my proposal with Cam+Braun+P.26 for Klay+Martin+TPE was that it saved the Nuggets ~$20M next year, so that they could pay Watson. Which is the whole point for them... 

Making the trade for Cam+Braun now is unique in the fact that it keeps both the Mavs and Nuggets below the Tax Line THIS league year. The Mavs have $1.3M in space below it, the Nuggets $605K. Even though Braun counts as $21.6M for trade matching purposes, his cap number would be unchanged ($4.9M), so the difference in Cam+Braun and Klay+Martin is +$281K to the Nuggets. 

Using the TPE for Cam now, allows for the Mavs to trade match the PPP contract of Braun this league year.

So, in recap, nearly no cost difference in the cap this league year and $20M in savings for the Nuggets next season.


It's a big contract to take on for the Mavs. They would need to actually like Braun as a buy-low candidate. Pick 26 isn't worth the trouble if you only view him as a "bad contract".