(01-26-2026, 12:29 PM)Nowitzki Way Wrote: Naji's value will never be higher.  He's playing the best ball of his career.  If we can start a small bidding war and get some real value for him, you trade him. Love the guy but now may be the time. 

He's 28. Not a great shooter and next year is a contract year. His long term fit. Well there doesn't seem to be one. 

Almost every contender can use a Naji Marshall type. He's not a superstar but his value is a 6th, 7th guy on a playoff rotation. A defensive wing who will play hard and play solid D.  And surprisingly score when needed. Every championship team has a Naji type.  He can have similar impact as Dort for OKC. Or Bruce Brown for the Nuggets when they won. Think DeShawn Stevenson for our 2011 championship team.  

If you're a contender this year like Detroit, Boston, Houston, San Antonio.  You'd want to be the team acquiring a guy like that and not by someone you'll have to play in the playoffs.

(01-26-2026, 12:19 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Agree about Gafford's lack of fit here now. I've written often about that. I just wouldn't expect significant cap relief AND "getting assets back." That's my worry. I think whatever method they choose to acquire cap relief, said cap relief will be viewed by all parties as part of the return value, and perhaps a significant part. In other words, I worry you'd be significantly lowering your talent in the exchange, not just your team's age and salary. Maybe you'd get a small something else, but not nearly as much, I don't think, as you would if you were willing to take salary back that extends past this summer. Under those circumstances, you could get better young player(s)...better pick(s), whatever. 

With an AD trade for mostly expirings, all your financial issues just disappear with one, quick nose-pinch of a stinky bite. I don't love that, either, and to be clear I'm not sure it's the way to go, but I do think I'd be considering it if the decision was mine to make. If nothing else, it would concretely clear the way for Gafford/Marshall/PJW/Thompson, whomever, to be dealt for on court basketball reasons, exclusively.

(01-26-2026, 12:47 PM)mvossman Wrote: As down as I am on AD, I think he has more on court value to Mavs than Gafford + Klay and its not really close.  If you can't get a significantly better return for AD than those two, you might as well just go with those two.

(01-26-2026, 09:15 AM)KillerLeft Wrote: Everyone here (well almost) is and has been focused on this summer's pick since day 1. You won't find any argument there. 

The issue is the following seasons, tbh. The kind of picks you're likely to get for guys like Gafford and Marshall aren't any kind of replacement for your own picks that you've traded away if you have to tear the house down to the studs and rebuild from scratch. That's why the Mavs are trying to avoid doing that, I'm sure. SO, what's the best way to move forward? Do you accept a less than favorable outcome on an AD trade (should an offer even manifest) in order to shed salary, so that you can keep guys like Thompson, Marshall and Gafford? Do these guys even fit well enough to consider keeping? Do you reshuffle those guys instead, hoping to add Kyrie and AD to a team that actually works next season? This trade deadline is potentially a huge crossroads for the franchise.

• G: Kyrie, Nembhard, BWill
  
• G: Christie, White, Hardy
  
• F: Cooper, PWill, Martin
  
• F: Buzelis, PJW, Collins
  
• C: Gafford, Lively, Cisse

(01-26-2026, 01:31 PM)RDB Wrote: OKC accepted losing to not skip steps.  Plenty of others choose the opposite.

(01-26-2026, 01:59 PM)cow Wrote: 76ers embraced the process too.  OKC is interesting as they had a lot of success with KD/Russ/Harden and then with KD/Russ and then with Russ, but got out of the Russ business at the appropriate time.  All that success buys you a lot of grace with the fanbase and they had a good GM with a vision.  

Comparatively, here we are coming off of a bad GM who gave us a large deficit in draft capital.  We have no incentive to be bad after this year and I think Cooper has shown enough that he can prevent you from being a bottom feeder even with a supporting cast that is mostly hurt and/or role players.  Our neighboring basketball teams look to be the cream of the crop in the West for the near term.  That sets my sights on 5-7 years from now which gives us time to get a new GM to dig out of our current mess while developing Cooper and hopefully a running mate in this years draft.  Because of our asset situation, I'm in no rush to make any moves.   Yes, I'd like to be a little worse this year, but that can be accomplished without trading players away.  And as favorable as the ping pong ball God were to us this past year, I expect we return to the norm after that incredible luck.  And while our situation isn't ideal, there is a lot of freedom to be had in not being married to anyone on the roster outside of Cooper (I'd argue Nembhard too) and also not having to be bad after this year.   Keep developing Cooper and trade away the plus assets when it makes the most sense to build towards five years from now.

(01-26-2026, 02:26 PM)mvossman Wrote: If your outlook is really 5-7 years (I think its possible to be a lot sooner than that) then shouldn't the focus be maximizing your assets now?  Wouldn't it also be crazy to spend a massive tax bill and maintain repeater status for even larger bills in the future?  That is basically where I am at, maximizing assets while getting out of the tax.  I don't know if the goal is to avoid tax, but it will have to be eventually due to repeater penalties, so better now than closer to your outlook window.

(01-26-2026, 02:43 PM)cow Wrote: We don't have a GM.  I don't care about the tax bill, especially if that's being leveraged against me in negotiations (Dumont could think differently of course).  I think those two factors work against maximizing our assets.  I'm not opposed to making trades now, but I also don't have urgency to do it either.   If the right deal is there, take it, but don't make trades just to make trades.  I'm perfectly fine going into next season with the current roster.  I do think we'll eventually trade AD, Gafford, Nanji, PJ and Kyrie (possibly others, but those are the ones that I think can return valuable assets).

My 5-7 outlook is putting together a championship team, but I do think we'll be a playoff team prior.  That timing let's some of the power players in the west figure themselves out.

(01-26-2026, 02:43 PM)cow Wrote: I don't care about the tax bill, especially if that's being leveraged against me in negotiations (Dumont could think differently of course).  I think those two factors work against maximizing our assets. .

(01-26-2026, 03:54 PM)RasheedsBigWhiteSpot Wrote: As was discussed on Locked on Mavs:

OKC has so many 1sts to the point that they're undervalued. Unlike most teams, they can almost afford to toss them aside in an effort to tweak on the margins.

I love Naji and Max, but if you could get back the Clippers'pick, another 1st, Topic, and fitting salaries for those guys, do you do it?  I started the "this is the time to sell high on Naji (good numbers on cheap salary), so I'm fine with moving him.  But I gotta be gaga over the return for Max.  I think he has a chance to be a regular 18 ppg SG on good %'s.

Even Naji for the Clippers pick + Dieng is a good deal.

(01-26-2026, 04:08 PM)mvossman Wrote: I'm having a hard time with why we would want to move Max.  He is continuing to improve, fits the timeline, fits with Flagg, and seems to like it here.  I mean if you get blown away by an offer I guess you have to, but he would not be on my radar at all to move.  Naji has fit questions, timeline questions and his value may be peaking.  He makes more sense if you like whats coming back.

(01-26-2026, 04:58 PM)Chicagojk Wrote: Personally, I am not expecting much at the trade deadline.  Would be fine with any deal that I think put us in a better position.  Of the regular players, Gafford probably has the best odds of being moved.  Although, without a permanent GM (if they really are looking), I just have trouble looking at a lot of moves.   One move sort of pushes you in one direction, while another moves pulls you in another direction.    I would like to leave those decisions to a guy who has the vision to rebuild this team.  Especially as I don't think any of the guys will lose value from now to the summer.  This summer PJ is trade eligible too, so you have someone who know what he wants and can build the roster in his vision.  

I would like to see Klay moved to a contender and DLO (and the other non rotation players) moved.   Just don't know if there will be a market for any of them.

(01-26-2026, 05:30 PM)mvossman Wrote: Do they need a GM to determine if they want to pay tax?  If the goal is to stop the repeater train, it will probably be a lot easier to do it now than wait until offseason.

(01-26-2026, 05:35 PM)Chicagojk Wrote: Well hopefully that is where Klay for an expiring and DLO getting a condo at the Marina Bay Sands takes care of that.

(01-26-2026, 05:30 PM)mvossman Wrote: Do they need a GM to determine if they want to pay tax?  If the goal is to stop the repeater train, it will probably be a lot easier to do it now than wait until offseason.

(01-26-2026, 05:57 PM)F Gump Wrote: The elite GM should offer way more answers than that, all of them crucial to determining what to do or not do re the tax questions.