Official Trade Thread Part XLVI

[9 and 20]

Rockets have lots of forwards/wings. Maybe we can get one for Gafford. Once we trade Kuz, we'll be kind of thin at forward. A 15 win team is thin is everywhere, but we'll be early career Dave Chappelle skinny.

If Dallas goes out and brings back Zingus, maybe we can trade for him again. We'll send them Gaff plus whatever other Dinwiddie or Bertans-level malcontent they want. Jordan Poole?? He and Kyrie together would be magical.

[popper]

I'm guessing Gaff's about to be traded as well?

Why? At $12MM a year, Gaff is good value and still relatively young. Unless they get a really good draft pick, there really is no reason to trade him.

I read there's 3 teams that want him.

[payitforward]

Again, it’s not just the variance. It’s timing. If we were to get the 23rd pick and take a guy who ends up being exactly like Aldana (ie. Kwame Evan’s or Almansa). Their peak being in 2027-31 aligns better with our path.

This sounds to like an argument for trading for Aldama….assuming that the Zards believe he’s a quality starter down the road.

If the Zards expect to be truly competitive by around 2027 they’re going to need to begin developing talent ASAP. I don’t have a problem with Aldama being 25 or 26 years old in 2027. He’d be at or near his peak.

It’s unlikely that Evans, who is 19 yrs old, would be at or near his peak at 22 or 23.

This whole discussion is thoughtful & interesting.

Obviously, if we trade Kuz this year, it'll be to get younger. That said, there's no reason to think that whatever younger player(s) we acquire must be the "ultimate" next-generation guy(s) at any particular spot(s).

They just have to be young, reasonably good, & have meaningful growth potential -- b/c, if so, then they too have trade potential!

As to Aldama in particular, yep he's young (turned 23 ten days ago), & he's shown he can play in the NBA. He hasn't been great or anything, but he hasn't been terrible either. TBh, I wish he'd shown some marked improvement this year that made me get interested in a serious way.

Of course, this is all speculative. We don't know that Dawkins wants to trade Kuz right now, we don't know that Memphis is interested in him -- or that they want to trade Aldama -- & we don't know what they'd be willing to give in a trade overall even if they are interested in Kuz & willing to move Aldama.

[payitforward]

I'm guessing Gaff's about to be traded as well?

The de
Why? At $12MM a year, Gaff is good value and still relatively young. Unless they get a really good draft pick, there really is no reason to trade him.

I read there's 3 teams that want him.

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks/trade-rumors/dallas-mavs-trade-deadline-update-interest-wizards-daniel-gafford-kyle-kuzma.

The deal proposed in the above -- whereby the Mavs get Kuz & Gaff & we get Tim Hardaway Jr., Richaun Holmes, Josh Green, & Olivier-Maxence Prosper -- doesn't make a lot of sense to me as drawn up, b/c we could have no interest in taking on Holmes' & Hardaway's guaranteed salaries for next year.

OTOH, Josh Green is a h#ll of a young player, & Prosper is a worthwhile roll of the dice, so maybe it's not so bad...?

[nate33]

The de
Why? At $12MM a year, Gaff is good value and still relatively young. Unless they get a really good draft pick, there really is no reason to trade him.

I read there's 3 teams that want him.

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks/trade-rumors/dallas-mavs-trade-deadline-update-interest-wizards-daniel-gafford-kyle-kuzma.

The deal proposed in the above -- whereby the Mavs get Kuz & Gaff & we get Tim Hardaway Jr., Richaun Holmes, Josh Green, & Olivier-Maxence Prosper -- doesn't make a lot of sense to me as drawn up, b/c we could have no interest in taking on Holmes' & Hardaway's guaranteed salaries for next year.

OTOH, Josh Green is a h#ll of a young player, & Prosper is a worthwhile roll of the dice, so maybe it's not so bad...?

Yeah, that trade is not happening. Pure wishcasting from Dallas.

[popper]

That's not the deal I read about. I think Gaff will be moved before the deadline. Not sure what the return will be.

[TGW]

What a garbage juice offer. I can't believe he took the time to even print that for the world to see.

[nate33]

These last 3 games have been such a disaster. If we had won against Detroit and San Antonio, we would be 3-1 in our last 4 games and 6-12 in our last 18. Good players on a bad-but-not-embarrassingly-awful team like that have trade value. But by losing to the worst 2 teams in the league, it gets pretty hard to sell our players as being useful to anyone else.

I'm sure the plan by Dawkins and Co. was to tank with dignity. They resigned Kuzma and acquired Tyus, Poole, Shamet and Gallo in an attempt to be a respectable club. They knew the team wasn't good enough to win, but I think they expected to win one-third of their games and be sitting at 14-27 right about now. The idea was to look pretty good and then sell the veteran players who were responsible for making the team look pretty good.

But by sucking this hard, the vets have lost value. (Gallo and Muscala were pure filler in the Bagley trade, the value was in absorbing $4M in salary this year and $12.5M next year.) I doubt Wright has any value now. And the market for Jones and Kuzma is pretty tepid. The only guys teams want are our young guys that we still can use (Gafford, Kispert, Avdija).

In retrospect, I think they miscalculated when they failed to acquire a real backup center like Biyombo. I think they feared the team would be too good with a real backup center and might mess around and make the play-in, so they intentionally left the position unfilled. The end result is they missed the target. You want to tank with dignity, not be a laughingstock.

[Frichuela]

These last 3 games have been such a disaster. If we had won against Detroit and San Antonio, we would be 3-1 in our last 4 games and 6-12 in our last 18. Good players on a bad-but-not-embarrassingly-awful team like that have trade value. But by losing to the worst 2 teams in the league, it gets pretty hard to sell our players as being useful to anyone else.

I'm sure the plan by Dawkins and Co. was to tank with dignity. They resigned Kuzma and acquired Tyus, Poole, Shamet and Gallo in an attempt to be a respectable club. They knew the team wasn't good enough to win, but I think they expected to win one-third of their games and be sitting at 14-27 right about now. The idea was to look pretty good and then sell the veteran players who were responsible for making the team look pretty good.

But by sucking this hard, the vets have lost value. (Gallo and Muscala were pure filler in the Bagley trade, the value was in absorbing $4M in salary this year and $12.5M next year.) I doubt Wright has any value now. And the market for Jones and Kuzma is pretty tepid. The only guys teams want are our young guys that we still can use (Gafford, Kispert, Avdija).

In retrospect, I think they miscalculated when they failed to acquire a real backup center like Biyombo. I think they feared the team would be too good with a real backup center and might mess around and make the play-in, so they intentionally left the position unfilled. The end result is they missed the target. You want to tank with dignity, not be a laughingstock.

In addition to Poole’s train wreck, their faith on that bum of Nepo Wes has costed the team dearly. So many 4th quarter leads gone to waste. I still hope they can trade both Kuz and Tyus for a decent return before the deadline.

[penbeast0]

Bigger problem than that is how weak the top of the draft is this year. We will have to get lucky or hard tank next year again to get that sure thing or else risk being stuck in that fighting for the playin spot. I'm fine with winning 10 game all year, I'm not fine with still having a losing record in 2028.

[payitforward]

These last 3 games have been such a disaster. If we had won against Detroit and San Antonio, we would be 3-1 in our last 4 games and 6-12 in our last 18. Good players on a bad-but-not-embarrassingly-awful team like that have trade value. But by losing to the worst 2 teams in the league, it gets pretty hard to sell our players as being useful to anyone else.

I'm sure the plan by Dawkins and Co. was to tank with dignity. They resigned Kuzma and acquired Tyus, Poole, Shamet and Gallo in an attempt to be a respectable club. They knew the team wasn't good enough to win, but I think they expected to win one-third of their games and be sitting at 14-27 right about now. The idea was to look pretty good and then sell the veteran players who were responsible for making the team look pretty good.

But by sucking this hard, the vets have lost value. (Gallo and Muscala were pure filler in the Bagley trade, the value was in absorbing $4M in salary this year and $12.5M next year.) I doubt Wright has any value now. And the market for Jones and Kuzma is pretty tepid. The only guys teams want are our young guys that we still can use (Gafford, Kispert, Avdija).

In retrospect, I think they miscalculated when they failed to acquire a real backup center like Biyombo. I think they feared the team would be too good with a real backup center and might mess around and make the play-in, so they intentionally left the position unfilled. The end result is they missed the target. You want to tank with dignity, not be a laughingstock.

Thoughtful, nate -- but, yeah...

Poole’s train wreck...

...was completely unexpected.

"tank with dignity" -- I love that idea!

[penbeast0]

I don't think it was completely unexpected. This was the Poole was saw last year after he got his contract in GS magnified by being on a losing team where everything seemed pointless anyway. We had hopes but he was considered a bad contract well before we got him.

I was hoping for a truly bad season, which we did. I was also hoping for more hope for the future which we have less of than I hoped after giving away Porzingis and Morris for very little. But at least we FINALLY decided we weren't going to try to friggin aim for the in contention for the play-in category and chose to tank. Dignity smignity.

[PaulinVA]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

[Frichuela]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

This FO is aggressive no doubt, as they should! The proof shall be in the pudding. Here is to hoping someone (e.g. SAC, GSW?) gets desperate before the deadline and overpays.

[payitforward]

I've got the over-the-top absolutely perfect Kuzma trade!

Spoiler:

Send him to Brooklyn -- doesn't matter for what: just reunite him with his buddy Spencer Dinwiddie!

Whaddya think? Great, huh?

[pcbothwel]

The Mavs seem to be sniffing, but they can only trade their 2026 pick outright at their 2024 and 2029 picks are already gone.
Maybe a Kuz & Gaff for Lively & 2026 1st (Hardaway & Holmes as filler) could be interesting… but it feels light and they can’t deal another pick.

[payitforward]

The Mavs seem to be sniffing, but they can only trade their 2026 pick outright at their 2024 and 2029 picks are already gone.
Maybe a Kuz & Gaff for Lively & 2026 1st (Hardaway & Holmes as filler) could be interesting… but it feels light and they can’t deal another pick.

Whooaaah -- I'd do that trade in a minute! But they are NOT trading Dereck Lively, who looks like an absolutely terrific young player.

[nate33]

The Mavs seem to be sniffing, but they can only trade their 2026 pick outright at their 2024 and 2029 picks are already gone.
Maybe a Kuz & Gaff for Lively & 2026 1st (Hardaway & Holmes as filler) could be interesting… but it feels light and they can’t deal another pick.

Whooaaah -- I'd do that trade in a minute! But they are NOT trading Dereck Lively, who looks like an absolutely terrific young player.

Yeah, I can't figure out a trade that makes sense.

The core would be Kuzma for Hardaway and a FRP. But that's not enough for Kuzma, and it leaves us very lopsided with about 19 shooting guards and only Deni at PF. They could throw in Josh Green to try and bring the value in line, but that's yet another SG.

What if we gave them Jordan Poole in exchange for Grant Williams? Eh. As much as I'd like to unload Poole, we're going to have enough trouble as it is getting up to the salary floor. If we dump Poole we're just going to have to overpay some free agent anyhow.

[pcbothwel]

The Mavs seem to be sniffing, but they can only trade their 2026 pick outright at their 2024 and 2029 picks are already gone.
Maybe a Kuz & Gaff for Lively & 2026 1st (Hardaway & Holmes as filler) could be interesting… but it feels light and they can’t deal another pick.

Whooaaah -- I'd do that trade in a minute! But they are NOT trading Dereck Lively, who looks like an absolutely terrific young player.

That’s your opinion, but gafford is currently a better version of Lively and locked up for 3 years.
You have to give value to get something, and Dallas has nothing else. They can elect to enjoy Doncic for another year or 2 before he demands out. They are, at best, the 5th seed and could very well be the 8th.

[Frichuela]

Yes. I don’t think Dallas is a good trading partner.

I believe SAC, GS, MEM, SAS, UTA or OKC can give more attractive packages for Kuzma.