Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[KillerLeft]

This seems likely and is exactly where I am - which is one of the reasons I can't focus on any one "need" for the Mavs in the upcoming draft. If players are traded soon, then I suspect the new FO is not banking on the skills currently on the roster at present.

Not me. I'm "focused" on the need of creation so hard I might burst into flame at any moment. Without the ability to play efficient offense that consistently and (relatively) easily generates high value shots, there's no point in putting a team on the floor, imo. Hence, nothing else should hold any sort of priority until you have a core together that you're confident can do that. 

None of the names on that list, nor all of them combined, would bring back a solution for this in trade, particularly because it's probable that multiple solutions are needed. Those guys could potentially be swapped for off-ball players or future avenues to get off-ball players who more perfectly fit with Flagg and whomever the other on-ball players end up being, but getting elite on-ball talent for any package that includes them seems far-fetched to me. A Kyrie trade, MAYBE, but even that would probably require a gamble on future potential. 

The Mavs have a top-10 pick in a draft loaded with potentially difference-making ON-BALL talent. There are several good scenarios that could play out, including some we probably don't even see coming, but if they choose a path that doesn't result in at least one potential on-ball partner for Flagg, they are stupid, stupid, stupid.