Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[Smitty]

" PJ+Gafford+Klay+Martin for Butler adds $7.7M to GS cap, keeping them just below A2"

Does the math and the swap make more sense if you add Yaxel (6.1M)? Mavs would then get one less FRP, presumably, but GS is getting 3 C/F types and making it hard for Yaxel to get minutes to play anyhow. 

GS ends up more than TxMLE amount below A2, with one roster slot available to be able to use it.

In DAL, Yaxel ends up playing for May again, which fits on multiple levels. With PJW-Gaff-Martin all outgoing, there are minutes opened for him to play. Could the Mavs have been planning on Yaxel for weeks?

PJ+Gafford+Klay+Martin 
for 
Butler + Yaxel + FRP 

GS gets veterans who can contribute NOW towards a final push for a title with Steph (and all might seem to have multiple years of usefulness, with PJ, Gaff, and Martin all in their prime).

One more intriguing point. If you are wondering why a DAL-GS trade hasn't already happened, the inclusion of Yaxel would mean the deal cannot be done until Aug 1 (he has a no-trade until then). Maybe this has been on the burner for weeks already, with GS hoping for LBJ to be slotted into the MLE. 

End result for DAL would solve the roster crunch, with a space left leftover (for DP perhaps, in light of the suddenly-emerging chatter), and Mavs after refilling that spot will end up about 2M below the tax line.

EDITED TO ADD - I was way behind the conversation when I replied to what had been written, and now that I have caught up, I see that what I wrote here has already all been noted. Just consider this my obvious agreement of what makes imo way more sense to motivate a GS-Butler multi-player trade. Yaxel being reunited with May, rather than the Mavs waiting for a FRP somewhere down the road, it just seems like the right idea.

Yes, we had some back n forth on this idea already. The trade would look like this:

   


The Mavs would be ~$3.9M below the tax line and have one open roster spot. Powell? Seva? Someone else?

Maybe you include Naji's expiring (more useful player), instead of Martin, to get it over the finish line? Only a difference of ~$600k for cap purposes, which is nothing in the grand scheme of things. It would be all your Vet assets outgoing in one deal. Netting Yaxel, a big expiring in Butler for use at the TDL(?), and a FRP in a draft where you don't own one (unless Top-2).