Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[F Gump]

Two things:
1) Every thing the Mavs have done this offseason has crashed out into the open out of thin air, without warning. “No smoke,” for this front office is as good as smoke, tbh. Come on. You aren’t smarter than this - you’re *way* smarter than this.
2) You do look at this roster and see a dearth of guards, right? If not, then putting #1 and #2 together, I might consider a wellness check on you.

I agree the Mavs have worked under the radar.

I don't agree that Mathurin is what the Mavs need AT ALL. 
1 "He's a guard" is a fairly irrelevant reason to sign him, in and of itself, because the Mavs already have at least 6 guards on the 15-man. They're fully stocked.
2 Yes, the Mavs could perhaps use another player who creates offense for the team - a PG type, so to speak. Maybe. But Mathurin is very much NOT that guy. He's just a guard in general. Why in the world would they invest that kind of money in a player who is NOT addressing their needs?
3  What Mathurin could give the Mavs would be the addition of a younger THJ type who likes to shoot every time he has the ball (but Math doesn't shoot 3s at a high pct, whereas THJ is a good floor spacer). He wants to be a scorer, so he scores a lot, but he's not especially efficient. Streaky. His defense is spotty, often bad. He's not very team oriented on offense - he's looking for his own shot. I'm not all that impressed.
4  Mathurin's shot profile is similar to Naji - both can get shots, can score a lot, not that good on 3s. However Naji is actually a fairly efficient scorer, about 60% TS, better than Mathurin. Naji is probably a better defender. And Naji is not nearly as expensive cost on the limited payroll.
5 There's really not anything Mathurin does that makes me want to invest over $20M a season in him, rather than go with what the Mavs already have. Not worth it, in relation to Mavs.
....I think the contract issue is significant in other ways, not just the value. The idea of getting Mathurin is somewhat of a quest to use up the last bits of under-tax payroll space, and maybe even more. I see that as extremely short-sighted. As the raw talent they have starts to develop, new contracts will cost more money (as they get better) and the things we see with OKC (giving away usable talent) will be necessary. In light of what he would do to their payroll, I think he would have to be a game-changer for their team. And I don't think that's even borderline close.

A Mathurin chase feels to me like Mavs doing the same thing they did with Martin - a move that they really didn't need, which clogged the roster for YEARS, and didn't get a difference maker. 

HOWEVER -- I can't imagine the Mavs are even debating Mathurin. So many red flags. So contrary to what they are doing in general. So bad for the payroll.