07-01-2026, 03:05 PM
(07-01-2026, 02:57 PM)JamesConway816 Wrote: Smart, Sexton, T. Harris, Hayes. Barely any 4 year deals being handed out.
Seems like teams are really cautious with their payrolls except for the ones who are going for it.
I think a lot points towards DAL being mostly done. Gafford probably has no market, PJ is making a lot of money as well. Maybe Klay and Marshall but it seems like they want to hang onto them.
I'm going to predict that Thompson gets moved, no matter what. Due to the payroll-conscious thinking you correctly point to above, his expiring deal is pretty alluring for teams, and Dallas is currently situated nicely, in both financial flexibility and lack of on court expectations, to eat a little bit of salary some team wants rid of. It might be for a young player with no current path to realizing their potential, or it might be for a vet with a bad contract they agree to eat in exchange for draft capital, but I'd be pretty surprised if they don't do something with Thompson's expiring contract. They're significantly under the tax, so now's the time to think that way.
With Marshall, I think it's about whether or not the new front office thinks he fits here, and we just don't know. If they do, they'd better be pretty sure, because they're going to need to extend him soon. If the goal is to keep him I wouldn't be comfortable with the situation dragging out past the trade deadline, or they'll wind up significantly overpaying next summer. If they don't see him in their longterm plans, they probably should move him either now or at the deadline and let the next team negotiate his extension. That seems to be the safer move these days - the "just get him on a good deal - we can always move him later" strategy might be harder to execute right now than in the past. Maybe the new Mavs front office doesn't know yet whether they want him? It's harder to predict whether he'll be here, imo.