Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[DanSchwartzgan]

What I do buy is that given the financial outlook of the next season or two, Marshall's new deal makes PJW's even more of an obstacle. Is there a version of this that works with PJW or Gafford outgoing and ONLY Cam Johnson incoming? Would that put them into the tax? What if Martin were included?

Sure, I supposed PJ for Cam Johnson stands on its own with one caveat.  As discussed before, the $3.25mm salary difference is enough to get Denver under the second apron.  It would temporarily put Dallas over the tax by about $1mm, but that is easily remedied by buying out Klay.  That's the caveat.  Klay would need to be bought out or there would need to be another trade that brought in someone for less money than was sent out.  BTW, the larger trade that involved Mathurin required the same thing.  Dallas moves from $2.3mm under the tax to $6.2mm under the tax if Klay gives up the full vet min contract he would presumably receive elsewhere and either scenario requires that extra space. 

The one thing I don't like about a Klay buyout is it removes a large expiring contract from possibly being used in a mid-season trade.  This deal would replace Klay's $17mm expiring with Johnson's $23mm expiring.