Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[mvossman]

He's obviously shot reasonably well from deep in smaller sample sizes, like his stint with Indy before the trade, and his second NBA season. He's also seemingly capable of quite good POA on ball defense (which his frame and atheltic ability should allow him to be), which he did for the Clippers, but gets lost off ball, which causes his defensive metrics to fall off.

I wouldn't be anymore excited for the move as I was (wasn't) for Risacher, even if they gave up fairly little for him, but I do feel like the tools for both shooting and defense are there, and may be a matter of something clicking with experience and maturity. The guy apparently mentioned in an interview how much help he was getting from some of the Clippers guys on refining his defense and how he wanted to be a great two way guy. Doesn't mean much, but at least his head is pointed in that direction. It's a flier on a guy with plenty of holes, but I feel like this type of profile is a little better to take the risk on than the guy with the clearly broken shot, who doesn't have the length, strength or athletic ability to ever be a decent defender. His ability to get to the line obviously gives him an efficiency buffer to work from even if he isn't shooting the ball well, which is why he has a decent 57% career TS.

Happy for this to never eventuate, and just focus on smaller asset acquisition moves, but I also see a path to it paying off if it is real just because of the specific traits he has. Would obviously be preferring to give up the likes of Klay and Martin in a deal like this rather than Gaff and definitely not PJ.

Risacher is not a bad comp from a flyer standpoint.  The difference is they are only on the hook for one year at 14 mil and get to see Risacher for all of training camp and preseason before making a decision on one more year at 17 mil.  Mathurin will require a much longer more expensive commitment and potentially cost more assets than a second round pick and a player they were likely going to cut anyways.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

I would love to take a flyer on Mathurin.  3-4 years at the type of money to match Gafford's contract is not a flier.  That's a commitment.

edit:  should've kept reading

[Jakeospikez]

Not saying Mathurin is great or anything like that, but knocking him because Rick Carlisle couldn't get him developed in a few years shouldn't be a reason for it. Prob his biggest flaw as a coach is developing young players and overplaying vets so that young players don't even get any experience at all. Kidd developed most of the young guys that were here that had some potential. Carlisle very hit or miss, lots of misses in Dallas. Developed Andrew Nembhard, but big whiffs on Jarace Walker & Mathurin in Indy. Carlisle seems better at developing late picks/undrafted guys into clear defined roles like DFS.