Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[F Gump]

Flagg is great. Carry a playoff team great?? I don't see it yet, and there's the matter of all the support players being a fit with Luka and not him to think about, too. Kidd/Harrison seemed to want to get around that by sliding Flagg into the vacant hole left by Luka in the offense, a strategy I'm very much hoping is not continued by the new coach, but we'll see. 

Point being: I disagree with your binary view on it. In my NBA following experience, guys on rookie contracts don't lead teams to the top of the sport very often, if at all. I'l stand by what I wrote: I don't think a fully healthy season of Kyrie gets this thing into the playoffs next year. Sorry, I just don't. A fully healthy Kyrie, a fully healthy LIVELY and an AMAZING coach upgrade (not a first-timer), maybe. Still lots of time to figure a lot of things out - I'm just going off of what we know right now.

I'm with Scott. We all have already seen enough to know CF can be The Guy on an elite playoff team. It's only a matter of when he will do it, not if. 

We all should have also seen enough to now understand that CF's growth trajectory happens way faster than "normal." He has shown that for YEARS, and he demonstrated it again last season.. His game at the end of the year was worlds beyond what was expected here a year ago. That one is a told ya so, because before the season began, no one believed me when I said he levels up INCREDIBLY quickly, and they should not limit how he is challenged to do more. 

Let's not forget that what he did last season was done with a crappy tanking team alongside. Put him in a better context, and he would have looked very different. BUT he learned under major duress.

For next season, let me another prediction - by the end of the year CF will end playing at new levels that no one is currently thinking possible. 

For that reason, he will be ready way sooner than anyone thinks. The Mavs need to give him the right context to use what he will be obtaining, and grow even farther faster. This team SHOULD be pursuing winning, with a good coach, a better medical staff that brings better health, and some smart roster management, because it would be a mistake to hold him back again.

Does he need help? Yes. But there is no good reason to tear it all down or to take it slow and play for 2032 or whatever. That would be a waste of years. It's a question of who they can put alongside him this season, who can be here for multiple years, and keep up as that train starts taking off. (That's one reason I so strongly favor keeping Kyrie, as he is a player who CAN play at the level CF is headed very soon. Frankly, rather than selling Kyrie, imo it would be better if their mindset was: How do we add another who can play at that level?)