Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[Dundalis]

Simons is trash.

Empty stats, no defense, ballhog.

He's trash if you try and give him a large role. If you bring him in cheap on a short term contract like Sexton's, he's perfectly fine to have as scoring punch off the bench. He doesn't do much of anything else, but he can score, and on decent efficiency. He's perfectly solid if you're lacking bench scoring like the Mavs certainly are, and limit his role and minutes. Obviously would have preferred Sexton. Maybe they get him for cheaper.

[Scott41theMavs]

Lumping all picks together in one bucket ignores the enormous difference in values between, say, a top-5 pick, a mid-first-round pick, and a second.

Statistically, second-round picks have very little chance of becoming good NBA players. Throwing a couple in to get a solid player is totally acceptable.

…until you run out of them.

[Chicagojk]

I understand the draft pick thing. I would like to add, rather than lose. I don’t have an issue on the trades where they have given up picks so far, but we will see if the mavs are right on their evaluations.

Still though, I hope they value their picks moving forward. Use them if you really like a player but don’t be careless. It seems like Masai had a great hit rate with picks in Toronto but it also seemed like they were without a lot of picks and were unable to acquire draft prospects they really liked because they had no picks.

Talent evaluation comes in a lot of different ways. Draft, FA, undrafted, international, etc. I really hope draft is a major building block for us. Even later round picks.

[Scott41theMavs]

He's trash if you try and give him a large role. If you bring him in cheap on a short term contract like Sexton's, he's perfectly fine to have as scoring punch off the bench. He doesn't do much of anything else, but he can score, and on decent efficiency. He's perfectly solid if you're lacking bench scoring like the Mavs certainly are, and limit his role and minutes. Obviously would have preferred Sexton. Maybe they get him for cheaper.

I don’t see much chance of getting him at cheaper money, given the competition (depending on what they can offer). I would hope a Mavs contract with him would be a 2 + 1 (TO).

[Dundalis]

I don’t see much chance of getting him at cheaper money, given the competition (depending on what they can offer). I would hope a Mavs contract with him would be a 2 + 1 (TO).

Possibly. But Sexton's contract is surely some type of indicator, otherwise any teams that are in for Simons must surely have been in for Sexton, and therefore ought to have driven his price up beyond what the Lakers paid. We will see though.

[Scott41theMavs]

His trash is pretty much exactly what we need right now, presuming Wallace and Mathurin are not available.

Silly me - forgot Scoot or Sharpe. Mavs have lots of pivots if they don’t get Simons. Anthony Black would be nice too, depending on trade price. Of those six:
1) Wallace
2) Scoot (supreme upside, if Schmitz signs off)
3) Black
4) Mathurin
5) Simons
6) Sharpe

Any one of them would be many times better than not getting any of them.

[Smitty]

NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral)
“When this trade happened at 3:20 pacific time I had a camera up my ass and I had Paul George being rammed up my ass, and it was happening at the same time”

- Bill Simmons

(h/t @RealTomPetrini )

[Smitty]

That would complete the 15-man roster. Can still buy out/trade Klay or waive/trade Nemby, if needed. Naji, PJ, and Gafford still tradable, positive value guys also.

Kyrie | Simons | Sasser | Nemby
Max | Klay | Sergio
Flagg | Naji | Martin
PJW | Aldama
Gafford | Morez | Lively

Thinking about this some more... Is there something there with POR, who have way too many guards and no Wings. So many combinations that work between the two. I think something that makes sense for both is:

POR: Naji Marshall, Klay Thompson
DAL: Jrue Holiday

Sure, Jrue is 36. Same as Klay... but he fits here pretty well. This move saves the cheap owner in POR ~$8M and gives them two rotational Wings. If my math is right, you'd have ~$10m to offer Simons in Year 1 of any deal. Similar to what Sexton got.


Jrue | Sasser | Nemby
Kyrie | Simons | Sergio
Flagg | Max | Martin
PJW | Aldama
Gafford | Morez | Lively


I know most won't like any depth chart where Lively is 3rd, but my thinking there is that even IF he's healthy for 60+ games, I think he'll be a 15-16 mpg guy no matter what next season. Never play a b2b. It'd be malpractice to not limit his minutes in an 82-game season. Anyway, I think the POA defense with Jrue and Sasser works. The bench scoring in the backcourt from Simons is a plus. More depth at the "PG" spot for when players inevitably miss games. All of Jrue, Sasser, Nemby, Kyrie, Simons, and Sergio can play the Point... It's not my absolute favorite trade possibility with POR, but one that makes a lot of sense for both...

[Winter]

I think Holiday is a solid one or two-year rental and a great role model for a bunch of young players.

[loki]

I think it may be more important to consider current value than fit potentially.   That is why I come back to Marshall.   He was good last year and has a unique skill for this team.   He has a great contract and seems like a guy who can play in playoff games.  His lack of shooting sticks out on a team that can't shoot well too.   If so, why don't the Mavs keep him?  Maybe they do.   Although, they need to be ready to commit to him soon if they keep him.    What does he look like as a bench player who signs a 18 million dollar contract (in that range)?  Does he still have value  in that range moving forward?

Naji is probably worth 2-3 2nds right now. If his salary doubles I think the Mavs would have to pay to trade him, especially if it's a long term contract. It's tough to find players of his caliber making that much money that aren't seen as negatives.

[dirkfansince1998]

Naji is probably worth 2-3 2nds right now. If his salary doubles I think the Mavs would have to pay to trade him, especially if it's a long term contract. It's tough to find players of his caliber making that much money that aren't seen as negatives.

He is the only trade candidate that falls into the sell high category. Had a solid season but on a hopefully improved Mavs team he probably doesn't get as many opportunities on offense and unless he learns to shoot the fit next to Flagg will always be an issue. From a pure asset management perspective it makes a lot of sense to trade him.

[Moviemavguy]

Simons is a mix between Dlo and THJ which I think fans will sour on quickly. But the Mavs need shooting from the guard position pretty badly, so, that's kinda what ya got to choose from right now.

A tad worrisome that they can't flip PJ for a guard though if this is the path. Like, I do wonder if Aldami was a replacement for Bagley vs thinking it's a replacement for PJ.

[Smitty]

He is the only trade candidate that falls into the sell high category. Had a solid season but on a hopefully improved Mavs team he probably doesn't get as many opportunities on offense and unless he learns to shoot the fit next to Flagg will always be an issue. From a pure asset management perspective it makes a lot of sense to trade him.

Agree. To your point... In the hypothetical trade for Jrue, where Naji is the one outgoing. I think Jrue would have a lot more value as an expiring next season than Naji on an extension at $15m+/yr. Not that I'm trying to trade everyone. I just think it's good asset management is all.

[cow]

Simons is a mix between Dlo and THJ...

[HoosierDaddyKid]

No team in the league currently has fewer draft assets than the Lakers, who don’t control their own first-round pick until 2032 and their own second-round selection until 2033. The only other team I can remember emptying its asset cache in this way recently is the Minnesota Timberwolves. To say this deal must work is an understatement. It’s really hard to look at this as anything other than a desperation move for a much-maligned Lakers front office led by Rob Pelinka, who has consistently made the wrong moves on the margins while falling backward into superstars.

New York Times

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Simons is trash.

Empty stats, no defense, ballhog.

According to you, that's most of the players in the NBA.

[mvossman]

Simons is a mix between Dlo and THJ which I think fans will sour on quickly.  But the Mavs need shooting from the guard position pretty badly, so, that's kinda what ya got to choose from right now. 

A tad worrisome that they can't flip PJ for a guard though if this is the path.  Like, I do wonder if Aldami was a replacement for Bagley vs thinking it's a replacement for PJ.

I'm not a huge fan of either, but I'm going to be bummed if they spend more on Simmons than LA spent on Sexton.

[BigDirk41]

I'm not a huge fan of either, but I'm going to be bummed if they spend more on Simmons than LA spent on Sexton.

I think they are different situations. Sexton has a PO in year 2. He's probably looking at playing a year with Luka and building his value up. LA is a lot more desirable at the moment than the Mavs. I don't think we can expect to get value contracts from quality players. Hopefully down the road, we can.

[Winter]

I'm not a huge fan of either, but I'm going to be bummed if they spend more on Simmons than LA spent on Sexton.

According to reports, the only interested parties now for Simons is GSW and Miami - neither of which can out-bid Dallas. If that's the case, there's no big hurry to sign him and certainly no reason to overpay.

[Smitty]

The Mavs Blog (@TheMavsBlog)
Simons has his problems, but don’t underrate how insane he is as a shooter.