Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[dirkfansince1998]

This! The great thing about this board is that we have several really smart people. Some spend a lot of their free time coming up with and posting trade ideas that are both legal and logical from both teams perspective. It gives us all a chance to have some really informed opinions. I have yet to see one that makes sense from the Mavs POV. Sure, I think there are multiple teams that would want Kyrie next year, Mavs included, but what is a realistic expectation for a return if the Mavs, not Kyrie, decided it was in their best interest to "cash in" on that 'asset'. Is it worth it?

Speaking of assets, one of the things that irks me some is when people say that the Mavs lack them. In my opinion this may be the most asset rich the Mavs have ever been. They have (1) 'negative' contract in Caleb Martin. The rest of the players all have perceived neutral to positive trade value, no? Flagg, Kyrie, Lively, PJW, Max, Naji, Gafford, Klay, and AJJ as a minimum expiring that can easily just be waived. Are those considered assets? What about draft picks? They have up to (15) draft picks from now until '33. (9) of them being first rounders. A maximum of (4) being tradable this summer. What about financial flexibility? One of the huge benefits in the AD trade. They are no longer facing a massive repeater tax bill. No longer fighting to stay under the second apron. They have the ability now to take on negative contracts for additional assets, much of which we've discussed here as being realistic options. The TPE allows them to do things others can't, and that's offer more than most can (MLE) to free agents this summer via SnT.

Yes, Kyrie is probably their best tradeable 'asset' right now... But that doesn't mean the Mavs lack them. When making a "trade Kyrie" argument, I wouldn't be using lack of assets as one of my talking points is all.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4880...ts-hornets

Draft asset ranking from ESPN. They have the Mavs 18th in the league. For a rebuilding team that's not a good at all. And compared to other teams I don't think the list of tradeable players under contract is changing all that much. Mavs might overtake the Kings, Bulls and Pelicans. But contenders with way better rosters would leapfrog the Mavs (Celtics, Knicks, Cavs, Wolves). And teams like the Clippers or Bucks would probably overtake the Mavs if they blow it up.

You already mentioned the Mavs best asset. A clean payroll.