Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[Scott41theMavs]

Through 12 games, it's pretty clear that our best players are
1) Luka (duh)
2) Kyrie
3) Lively (yay!)
4) THJ
5) DJJ

See the problem? Many of us, me included, were clamoring as the season started, "Need to trade THJ for a useful rotation player!" Given Hardy's stagnation and Green's regression, we need his scoring. Not sure who's going to trade us an as-good scorer with better defense at the same money. Moreover, DJJ is slightly out-playing GW and crushingly out-playing Green. At this point, I'm not sure the Mavs can or do make any significant, rotation-shaking in-season moves. However, given the FA difficulties DJJ presents, I suppose they would have to find a way to generate cap room by jettisoning THJ, Maxi, and Holmes - if not also Green - to be able to re-sign him. However, those players are more likely to be traded with picks for our third star, so that we don't have cap room.

TLDR - don't get too cozy with DJJ. He's clearly Brunson 2.0. Kudos to the MBT (probably Kidd - blech! - most of all, tbqh) for recognizing the player he could be. Too bad they couldn't sign him to something more team-favorable.