MAVS NEWS:

[Smitty]

The problem is they potentially need to shed 27 mil, and Gafford is one of the better tools to do it.  They would have to trade AD or both Klay and Naji to get there.  I'm not sure what Mathurin will cost either.  One of the cap space teams could offer him more than that and put tax pressure on Mavs.

I think making a Gafford for Mathurin trade this deadline will be a good indicator that Dumont is willing to pay up.

I think they’ll still want to reduce their tax bill, but probably don’t feel the need to avoid it all together.

Just my .02

I think if you keep Mathurin, using Naji to reduce payroll, while getting an asset, would be ideal in the summer. Mathurin is the natural Naji replacement in this hypothetical, and Naji’s salary can be traded for air to a team with the MLE. Shedding his $9.4M, saves 10’s of millions.