Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[omahen]

And back to the PJ topic, how could questionable draft compensation and end-of-the-bench players help the Mavs this season..?

Please re-read my disclaimer in the initial post  I don't think this move is on the table. I was only discussing the value of role players on 20 per or higher contracts. 

While I do agree that that specific case seems light, I guess the argument the author made is not about this season. There are several positive outlooks, that have a lot to do with how you value the specific player and long-term situation:
- Mavs save huge money. If you see that contract as a negative, that is certainly a plus. It brings more flexibility moving forward. The saving doesn't help this season as it is not needed, but it does help in the future
- Mavs open minutes for other guys in their otherwise forward heavy line-up. This would help improve their value. As currently constructed, Mavs would have a sort of imbalance on the roster, that would result also in playing players out of their natural positions
- one could also argue, that PJ value will further decrease if Mavs decide to play Morez more at the four. It is not like PJ will be expiring after this season, he will still have 3 years left on his deal, will be a year older,...
- Pick swap is basically a lottery ticket. Who knows where Lakers and Mavs will be in 2032, totally subjective. Luka, if he is still on the team, will be 33 at that time. Flagg will be in his early prime. So one could hope that Mavs are much better than Lakers then. Perhaps you are lucky, and Lakers really suck. Teams like OKC with several lottery tickets like that, tend to hit on (some of) them on a regular basis. Of course you can also be more pesimistic and claim that Lakers are always good and their pick swap is worthless.