Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[KillerLeft]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that nobody really knows how good (or bad) the current team is.

Two years ago they lost the finals to Boston. Since then:

• Released arguably the best training staff in the sport. A team that has recovered/extended the careers of countless players of all ages.
  
• Luka shows up out of shape and instantly gets injured in practice, takes two weeks off to "rehab" (i.e., get in better shape) the comes back and gets hurt AGAIN, which puts him out until...
  
• THE TRADE, sending the entire team into shock, and bringing back the returning-from-injury husk of AD, who promptly injures himself, AGAIN.
  
• Lost Lively for a lot of the season to a broken foot that originally diagnosed as a strain.
  
• Lost Gaff for significant time due to a knee sprain. I think even DP was injured some during this period.
  
• Lost Kyrie to ACL tears that ended his season and was expected to extend deep into the next.
  
• Move from any semblance of competition and into tanking mode, playing with a team of 2-ways and 10-day players. But still (after all that) it took a loss to MEM in the play-in to get into a lottery position.
  
• Was touched by the hand of whatever deity you subscribe to and drafted Flagg
  
• Ditched Nico and put a co-GM duo in charge of the team on an interim basis that at least had the freedom to dump AD.
  
• AD shows up to camp out of shape because of off-season eye surgery and continues to miss enough games through random injuries that he was gone by late January.
  
• Lively shows up to camp with lingering foot issues and gets shut down for the season after just a couple games.
  
• At some time around the ASB, the team starts an "ethical" tank to 1) get the best lottery odds possible, 2) not get noticed by the fine police at NBA HQ and 3) showcase Flagg toward getting ROY honors.
  
• etc. etc.
  

TL : DR - This team is a bunch of players who haven't played together in any kind of successful system or with any kind of winning expectations for two years now. I would submit that many of the vets were playing post-ASB to just get it over and not get hurt. A new season, maybe a few new faces, certainly some welcomed returns of old faces and the right leadership, this may be a better team than anyone expects. We just don't know right now because everything has been a twilight zone for the last few years.

But at least there is the excitement of what should be a good draft opportunity and room to maneuver in the FA/trade market.

I have to know who they hire to coach and how draft night shakes out before committing to my opinion of next year's chances, but my early feeling isn't optimistic. 

Flagg is a great young player, but I just don't get the sense that the organization has even settled on HOW to build around him yet. He was used a lot of different ways last season which is a great thing in some ways, but you kind of have to pick a lane for him before committing to putting certain pieces around him. I've noticed some overlap between the people who are optimistic about the team's near future and those who are OK with Flagg playing a lot of PG, which makes sense. He's a similar size to Luka, so if that worked, there might be reason to think the team built around Luka might have a chance of coming together relatively quickly. I, myself, think most of last season is proof that it won't work, and that a lot of those Luka-complementary players are quite literally in Flagg's way, blocking his development, or to put it more nicely, not a fit with him. 

I would not be in favor of "tearing it down," but then again if I'm honest, I think Gafford, PJW and Naji Marshal all have to go in order for Flagg to become what I'd be trying to make him, so...turning those players into equivalently skilled players in more appropriate areas seems tough. However, that's what I'd try first. 

Kyrie and Thompson both fit fine, imho, but they're both so old that their fit is kind of irrelevant. As long as the majority of good role players here are bad fits with Flagg, BAD TEAM. I think both Kyrie and Thompson bring a lot of benefit to the table in terms of mentorship and leading by example, and I value that greatly. It's not my intention to discount that part of their value at all, but when weighed against just how little the Mavs actually have to work with in terms of building around Flagg, and where the state of the on court product is right now, it's tough for me to get excited about bringing either of them back. 

When I try to identify the Mavs' core...you've got Flagg, Lively (fingers crossed), Christie and (if you're feeling generous) Nembhard. I think others are living in a world where other names currently on the roster matter, but I can't see it. I'm hoping the Mavs draft a ball-handler to pair with Flagg, Lively proves this foot injury is in the past and the Mavs commit to building around that group.