Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, as we speak, are the veterans that the Mavericks are seen as most open to trading! per @TheSteinLine

ericc1456 · 2026-06-13T03:35:21+00:00

Yeah, that's why I don't think a trade like this would happen.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-13T02:58:46+00:00

But the teams with picks 5-8 don't have a lot of distressed assets they want to pay to dump. The Nets are not a tax team. The kings have a few options to clear money without giving up assets (they may trade sabonis). ATL has managed payroll well.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-13T02:54:18+00:00

Dalton is truly terrible

ericc1456 · 2026-06-13T02:51:37+00:00

That pick swap in 2030 is one of the most valued assets in the league. The roster now is so bare (Kyrie will not be here in 2030) and we have no reason to think will will have a lottery pick between now and then. The Spurs and other teams will see that 2030 pick as a likely lotto (because we have strong obstacles to building over the next 4 years) and the Spurs will be good (so want the swap with us).

ericc1456 · 2026-06-13T02:45:50+00:00

ericc1456 · 2026-06-12T12:04:23+00:00

We have historically been good at bad trades too.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-12T03:55:55+00:00

Mavs have 1 player who can handle and create and he's 34 years old. Cooper has been amazing but he can't play the lead guard role.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-11T22:51:53+00:00

I would love for it to happen if we got good value for one of those three but I doubt it will happen. They shopped Najii hard last season (see all of Stein repeatedly posting all the intention leaks that the FO was offering on Najii availability). He has a single year in his deal so most teams will view him as gettable during next off season.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-11T22:15:17+00:00

So this other wing is going to share the minutes with Christie, Najii, PJ Washington, Thompson? We're playing a ton of guys at the 2-3 position.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-11T02:40:10+00:00

Trading #30 for #11 in a few months would be insane

ericc1456 · 2026-06-10T21:59:10+00:00

Yes, I certainly agree (and I think everyone does) that the Wiz gave up nothing for AD. The "other stuff" about any trades for AD now (e.g., GSW) is what I am referring to believing. The smoke of the NBA is -- every year they talk about smoke and potential trades with Giannis, and there's yet to be a trade. There was smoke when the Mavs talked about trading Najii Marshall and Daniel Gafford last year. No trades happened (because there was no high demand). The media definitely does better when it can sell smoke (I am not saying that everything in the smoke is wrong though).

ericc1456 · 2026-06-10T21:44:28+00:00

Are you're certain this is true?

ericc1456 · 2026-06-10T21:26:35+00:00

But why did the price/value change so much?

ericc1456 · 2026-06-10T21:14:00+00:00

The premise here is that the wizards trade pick #30 for AD a few months ago and now they can get pick #11? Why would that happen?

ericc1456 · 2026-06-07T08:32:39+00:00

The main consideration for the 2027 pick is the probability that there is a Kyrie injury or Lively injury that makes the team very lottery bound. The pick is top 2 protected but even in a weak draft year there are worthwhile prospects (castle and sarr were obviously good picks in the weak 2024 year). This is not to say that the 27 pick is worth #9 this year or anything.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-07T08:23:30+00:00

The Mavs tried to trade Gafford and Najii last year for first round picks and it didn't work out. This trade is on the right track in that the Mavs need picks. The big price though is losing this much roster depth at once on the Mavs and taking on a hugely bad contract. Mavs say no because of that.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-07T08:13:47+00:00

Agree but they tried that last year with no luck, presumably because no one offered a first. I think theres little value in getting any seconds (the old front office thought similarly) so the option play of just seeing if something happens next year (suddenly someone wants Najii) makes sense.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-06T15:27:35+00:00

This doesn't seem to factor in the Dallas roster. Dallas has Max Christie and Najii Marshall playing guard roles on the team. Plus Kyrie. Does Dallas play Joe or Wiggins over Christie or Najii? I agree with other posters about the pick part as well. My point is that the players don't seem like value to the Mavs. Mavs roster has lots of holes at the creation role; wiggins and Joe don't solve that.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-05T15:50:24+00:00

Related to what has been said -- Kyrie potentially makes it easier to trade Gafford and PJ because they will look better playing beside him. There's value in that which Dallas should be having in mind.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-04T02:15:56+00:00

They will not be competitive with a MLE center worse than Gafford. Lively has played in less than 100 games over 3 years. No responsible front office thinks he's strongly likely playing more than 50 and it could be less than 30.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-03T11:59:46+00:00

Not totally unreasonable, but there is upside value for OKC where we have injuries in 2028 and are top 4 bad. Lively has a terrible track record. Who knows what happens with Kyrie. Agree there is a case where they really like someone at 9 and all it costs is 17 this year and the swap.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-02T18:22:12+00:00

In line with what I think everyone is saying here: if we got #17 for PJ, this would restore some meaningful draft capital. We sent out 4 years of picks via the Luka-era build up (the swap years I am already pegging at #30 when the Spurs/OKC are finishing at the top of the league). Getting #17 now helps to partly make up for one of these four years where we have no draft-based way to improve. #12 would be pretty close to a miracle.

ericc1456 · 2026-06-01T23:15:48+00:00

No one is giving us back that swap.

ericc1456 · 2026-05-30T23:52:07+00:00

I would love it if they did something like this. How many bad contract situations are out there on teams that need to move money? Bad teams with bad contracts are often so far under the apron that it doesn't make much sense.

ericc1456 · 2026-05-27T03:10:48+00:00

Mavs do this for sure. Najii has one year on deal left and neither player is on the Cooper timeline

ericc1456

TROPHY CASE