Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[KillerLeft]

I know its only one game and a preseason game at that, but the way the front court of Lively-PJ-Flagg looked makes a trade like this appear to be a smart play.  Which of course means Nico will never do it.

This isn't meant as a defense of Harrison, but to me, this is more of a Kidd problem. That lineup is awesome, no doubt, but it would be just as awesome, if not more, if you substitute AD for Lively. 

It's so, so obvious that the best lineup this team can floor will be:

AD (or Lively)
PJW
Flagg
Thompson (or Christie)
Dlo (or Kyrie, when healthy)

Pretty tough not to see that coming, but here's another lineup approach I bet will be better than the "starters":

AD (or Lively)
Flagg (or PJW)
Thompson (or Marshall)
Christie (or DLo)
Dlo (or Kyrie, when healthy)

With those two approaches above, I'd bet a lot of money that there'd be about 7 lineups that are more effective than any two big lineup the Mavs can play, whether Davis is with Lively or Gafford. It's so stupid. THAT lineup (the two-big lineup) is the "special circumstance" adjustment, and it's a great testament to AD that it's even a consideration, but it shouldn't be the default, imo. I'm ok with starting games like that, especially the way the roster is balanced now, but I'll be pretty upset if Kidd tries to force that approach as a closing lineup. 

Once it's clear who's playing and who isn't, I'm pretty confident the GM will be willing to make a trade (though I doubt it will be Davis), so to me, the ball is in Kidd's court.