Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[mvossman]

The wording that they are looking at using "a healthy portion" of the mid-level to try to obtain Mathurin jumps off the page to me. Our assumptions about what contract Mathurin is worth, and perhaps for the price range for RFAs in general, have apparently been way too high. We are seeing this with Watson as well.

I think this also has relevance to what it is likely to cost the Mavs to re-sign players (especially RFAs) next summer. Big raises that have been assumed to be necessary may turn out to be small ones (or even no raise at all). 

This also may be instructional to not get overburdened cap wise in advance of next summer, because prices next summer for all but the top players may be inviting.

In this context, I would certainly avoid taking on any bloated contract just to solve the roster issues they have at the moment. It looks possible that the same level of player may be gettable next summer at a fraction of the cost, and with the hard cap and softening revenues, payroll efficiency is super vital.

Wouldn't this be more of an argument to send out big contracts like PJ and Gafford for somebody like Butler to clear the books?