2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[Tyler]

That means you have two choices.  1. Get value for him now (you know, dump him for nothing), or 2.  Ride it out and hope. 

Well I do think there's a 3: Communicate with Brunson now to determine his goals. It's different than Kemba because he's our own guy who we can talk to daily. And it's even different from Nash because Donnie is gone and Mark seems to have learned from that experience. So the good news is that I don't think #2 is even really on the table. I trust that Nico has a good understanding by now of what it will take to keep Brunson, and will either be willing to accommodate it or not. And if not, then he can work with JB to help both parties via trade.

Knowing Brunson's desirability around the league and the cap dynamics involved, I personally think he is worth more than a low 1st rounder in '23 (Dallas's own pick) to someone out there. Or at the very least, my initial asking price would be way higher than that and I'd be pitting multiple teams against each other in a bidding war for his Bird rights. Sure, other teams will need assurances from Brunson that he'll stay at a certain salary, but that's something that can be navigated. Maybe that better offer is an extra player or pick from NY. Maybe it's a more desirable offer from another team. Maybe Brunson's play makes him the key ingredient in our own offer for an even better player. And just maybe he and Dallas are completely on the same page and have every intention of riding this out well beyond this year. We'll see!

That last option may sometimes feel like "ride it out and hope" to beleaguered Mavs fans who have been burned in the past more times than they can count. But importantly, that's not necessarily the same thing that is going on behind the scenes. Nico may still be mostly a mystery to fans, but from what I've seen he doesn't really seem like a winging it type of person. Going back to his Nike days, he's a methodical relationship guy. One might even argue that he's the ideal person to be in charge of navigating a complicated relationship issue with a good young player that they want to keep under contract and away from the competition. 

So personally, I feel pretty good about the Brunson situation right now. I'd love to have assurances that he'll be here past this year, but I have also not seen any evidence that he's anything but happy to stay. I do think that the tax situation is going to force some tough decisions at some point, but I'm not convinced that letting Brunson walk or trading him for below market value is necessarily the solution to that problem. But again -- we'll see. This will be an interesting test for Nico, for sure.