Trade & FA 2023-24: OKC The Favorite For Nic Claxton Should He Leave BRK

[F Gump]

the author (Milwaukee beat writer) proposed GW for Portis straight up

If that was an actual offer by MIL, I say "Yes!" and proceed without any thought of tweaking it.

[HoosierDaddyKidd]

Zach Lavine opting for surgery and is out for the year.  The Pistons almost got their guy.  LOL

They weren't trading for him. You've been misinformed.

[Branduil]

At this point I would be doing everything I can to somehow swing Irving to the Lakers as part of a 3-team trade to get Dejounte Murray here

[Smitty]

Combing two other strong rumors.

Mavs - Bridges, Wiggins, Richards
CHA - Gwill, Moody, 2 SRP’s
GS - Holmes, Curry, Morris


Luka - Exum - Hardy
Irving - THJ - Lawson
Wiggins - Green - Omax
Bridges - DJJ - Maxi
Lively - Richards - Powell

Not a fan of THJ but his 6th man role would still be important with that bench unit. He’s more efficient than Kuzma

[DallasMaverick]

Kuzma out for tomorrow night’s game. 

Trade imminent??

[Jakeospikez]

This team will instantly be way better with any normal sized starting PF but Kuzma still ain't it. Wouldn't trust him to buy into his role, he's never been like that. He's always tried to do more than he should, especially when he has an impending contract situation coming up. Me first player doesn't have a place here, with Luka + Kyrie you don't need another guy jacking up tons of ill advised inefficient shots. The beef Dinwiddie had with him was because of his playstyle and me first attitude. Dinwiddie comes to the Mavs and loves it here. Dinwiddie also didn't have to play with THJ during that WCF run who has similar tendencies. I'd take literally any other deal other than Kuzma. I'd actually rather just force OMax into the rotation and just play with him than pay a premium to trade for Kuzma, then make a deal in the offseason when all the picks and expirings are available.

[Mavs2021]

Is it time for the nuke?

Kyrie to the Lakers
Avdija/Hachimura/Kuzma to the Mavs
Russell/Green/Morris/Wiggins/Lakers 1st/Warriors 1st to the Wizards
Gafford/Jones to the Warriors

Fultz/Goga to the Mavs
THJ to the Magic


New Mavs

Doncic/Fultz
Hardy/Curry
Avdija/Williams
Kuzma/Hachimura
Lively/Goga

[DanSchwartzgan]

For those who want to wait until the summer:



Josh Bowe
@Boweman55
the mavericks big money offseason trade/free agent acquisitions since luka's rookie season:

delon wright, 2019
josh richardson, 2020
reggie bullock, 2021
christian wood, 2022
grant williams, 2023

[dirkfansince1998]

For those who want to wait until the summer:



Josh Bowe
@Boweman55
the mavericks big money offseason trade/free agent acquisitions since luka's rookie season:

delon wright, 2019
josh richardson, 2020
reggie bullock, 2021
christian wood, 2022
grant williams, 2023

I don't have a horse in this race but there is only so much you can do in the summer when you are low on tradeable assets because you gave up multiple picks in desperation midseason trades. Not to mention the lack of capspace because they had to max/near max the deadline additions.
Could easily flip this around and think about the lack of assets. Did they lose them in the summer or in midseason trades.

[Knutsen]

I don't have a horse in this race but there is only so much you can do in the summer when you are low on tradeable assets because you gave up multiple picks in desperation midseason trades. Not to mention the lack of capspace because they had to max/near max the deadline additions.
Could easily flip this around and think about the lack of assets. Did they lose them in the summer or in midseason trades.

If you don‘t have strong assets you need to maximize the ones you do have even more, for example the Midlevel Exception. 

The guys on the list all disappointed and were paid in a range where a solid Top 5-7 player on a competitive roster must be found, like Bullock was for a single season. I give Williams another chance because he’s young and has never been a starter before, but ideally you hit on all these acquisitions.

[omahen]

For those who want to wait until the summer:



Josh Bowe
@Boweman55
the mavericks big money offseason trade/free agent acquisitions since luka's rookie season:

delon wright, 2019
josh richardson, 2020
reggie bullock, 2021
christian wood, 2022
grant williams, 2023

That is true, but lets not neglect the fact that both big trade acquisitions (KP, Irving) were done at TDL while using some of the best assets available. This offseason will be the first one since drafting Luka where Mavs will actually have serious assets available. Another connecting dot for all of the moves above was Mavs opting for meh options instead of collecting/saving assets to use once the real opportunity comes. And then spending assets to dump those guys, whose main fault was that they were simply not good enough for the role Mavs wanted them to be. Wright, Richardson and even Bullock are solid rotation players, but none of them is close to the quality of third best guy Mavs are searching through this whole period (first third best guy to play next to Luka and KP and second third best guy to play next to Luka and Kyrie). The exact same mistake they are likely to repeat this TDL by spending assets on an average player that will just not be good enough for the role they need.

The big fail was free agency in KP years, where they had cap space possibilities twice but used them as described above. Even if big targets were not available or didn't want to come, a better approach would be to capitalize on cap space by eating some bad salaries for assets instead of signing and overpaying average rotation players.

[dirkfansince1998]

If you don‘t have strong assets you need to maximize the ones you do have even more, for example the Midlevel Exception. 

The guys on the list all disappointed and were paid in a range where a solid Top 5-7 player on a competitive roster must be found, like Bullock was for a single season. I give Williams another chance because he’s young and has never been a starter before, but ideally you hit on all these acquisitions.

Of course. I just don't think you can make the case that the Mavs have to make a move at the deadline because their offseason moves tend to disappoint when I could just as easily point out that the Mavs burned the majority of tradeable assets in bad deadline trades.

[Winter]

That is true, but lets not neglect the fact that both big trade acquisitions (KP, Irving) were done at TDL while using some of the best assets available. This offseason will be the first one since drafting Luka where Mavs will actually have serious assets available. Another connecting dot for all of the moves above was Mavs opting for meh options instead of collecting/saving assets to use once the real opportunity comes. And then spending assets to dump those guys, whose main fault was that they were simply not good enough for the role Mavs wanted them to be. Wright, Richardson and even Bullock are solid rotation players, but none of them is close to the quality of third best guy Mavs are searching through this whole period (first third best guy to play next to Luka and KP and second third best guy to play next to Luka and Kyrie). The exact same mistake they are likely to repeat this TDL by spending assets on an average player that will just not be good enough for the role they need.

The big fail was free agency in KP years, where they had cap space possibilities twice but used them as described above. Even if big targets were not available or didn't want to come, a better approach would be to capitalize on cap space by eating some bad salaries for assets instead of signing and overpaying average rotation players.

I don't think "waiting" is a strategy unless you know who you're waiting for and whether it's realistic. We could have more assets only to be faced with a limited number of two-way players (see above problem).

There are players like Gafford and maybe Portis that I would argue are available now and would be significant players on this roster. Maybe we can't afford them, but I think it's mostly that we haven't been very creative. Perhaps this Front Office is different. I doubt they're thinking let's do nothing and hold onto our assets just in case there's some top tier two-way players hitting the market. If I were Luca, that would be the last thing I wanted to hear. I hope that's not the how this FO works.

There are 30 teams competing for the best players. You're going to have to work to upgrade your roster, and you're going to have to look for every opportunity to do that.

[surfpuckmd]

I don't think "waiting" is a strategy unless you know who you're waiting for and whether it's realistic. We could have more assets only to be faced with a limited number of two-way players (see above problem).

There are players like Gafford and maybe Portis that I would argue are available now and would be significant players on this roster. Maybe we can't afford them, but I think it's mostly that we haven't been very creative. Perhaps this Front Office is different. I doubt they're thinking let's do nothing and hold onto our assets just in case there's some top tier two-way players hitting the market. If I were Luca, that would be the last thing I wanted to hear. I hope that's not the how this FO works.

There are 30 teams competing for the best players. You're going to have to work to upgrade your roster, and you're going to have to look for every opportunity to do that.

I wish we'd go ahead and make the move.  As you said, there are only a few teams looking to tank and a very limited number of good players on the market right now.  I'd like to add Isaiah Stewart, Gafford or Avdija before someone else grabs them.  I think each would be worth our top-10 protected 2027 pick.

[youzigizag]

I wish we'd go ahead and make the move.  As you said, there are only a few teams looking to tank and a very limited number of good players on the market right now.  I'd like to add Isaiah Stewart, Gafford or Avdija before someone else grabs them.  I think each would be worth our top-10 protected 2027 pick.

Can anyone clear up the Avdija talk for me?  Is he is second string to a better player so he might be available?

RealGM posts seem to suggest he isnt available and the team likes him.   Not untouchable, but not available is what I took from reading their board a few days ago. He is talked about like he is pretty gettable around here.

Im getting mixed signals

[surfpuckmd]

Can anyone clear up the Avdija talk for me?  Is he is second string to a better player so he might be available?

RealGM posts seem to suggest he isnt available and the team likes him.   Not untouchable, but not available is what I took from reading their board a few days ago.  He is talked about like he is pretty gettable around here. 

Im getting mixed signals

I don't think we know.  It's been circulated that the Wizards GM was "directed" to obtain first-round picks this trade deadline.  Avdija is one of only maybe 3 players on their roster who is worth a first.  It's also been mentioned that the Mavs have shown interest in the past.

Avdija is one of only two promising young players on the Wizards roster so they probably shouldn't trade him.

However, Washington is one of the few NBA organizations that is run as poorly as the Mavericks.  That gives me some hope that we might swindle them.

[mvossman]

I don't think "waiting" is a strategy unless you know who you're waiting for and whether it's realistic. We could have more assets only to be faced with a limited number of two-way players (see above problem).

There are players like Gafford and maybe Portis that I would argue are available now and would be significant players on this roster. Maybe we can't afford them, but I think it's mostly that we haven't been very creative. Perhaps this Front Office is different. I doubt they're thinking let's do nothing and hold onto our assets just in case there's some top tier two-way players hitting the market. If I were Luca, that would be the last thing I wanted to hear. I hope that's not the how this FO works.

There are 30 teams competing for the best players. You're going to have to work to upgrade your roster, and you're going to have to look for every opportunity to do that.

What you call waiting I call patience. It’s a trait all of the good FOs have. Too often the alternative is panic moves. That’s how bad orgs stay bad. If the right deal is out there, then make it, but if approach this TDL like we have to make a move then the other side has all the leverage.  that’s when things tend to go wrong

[Smitty]

This trade allows for a path to resign Bridges.

Mavs - Bridges, Hayward, 2 SRP’s
CHA - THJ, Gwill, Maxi, ‘27 FRP


The Hornets are taking on a lot of salary and PHX can offer a decent package for Bridges so you have to pay to play. Giving up the FRP is painful but a Nico special this offseason was getting back second rounders in the process.

The move to clear space to resign Bridges is trading Holmes (expiring) at the draft/start of new year. That’s where the second round pick(s) come into play.


Luka - Exum - Curry
Irving - Hardy
Hayward - Green
Bridges - DJJ - Omax - Morris
Lively - Powell - Holmes

[omahen]

I don't think "waiting" is a strategy unless you know who you're waiting for and whether it's realistic. We could have more assets only to be faced with a limited number of two-way players (see above problem).

There are players like Gafford and maybe Portis that I would argue are available now and would be significant players on this roster. Maybe we can't afford them, but I think it's mostly that we haven't been very creative. Perhaps this Front Office is different. I doubt they're thinking let's do nothing and hold onto our assets just in case there's some top tier two-way players hitting the market. If I were Luca, that would be the last thing I wanted to hear. I hope that's not the how this FO works.

There are 30 teams competing for the best players. You're going to have to work to upgrade your roster, and you're going to have to look for every opportunity to do that.

I agree you should have some knowledge or even certainty on who becomes available. But, that is not my job. I can only guess. That is a job that good (or better put successful) FO not just identify but also create. Especially in player empowerement era. 

Lets face it. Mavs can forever stay average by changing role players and spend assets on role players hoping to become third best players on a contender. Gafford is a back-up center. Portis is a back-up PF/C on a contender. Those kind of guys will not erase the talent difference between Mavs and top teams. No matter how many of them you shuffle.

[omahen]

This trade allows for a path to resign Bridges.

Mavs - Bridges, Hayward, 2 SRP’s
CHA - THJ, Gwill, Maxi, ‘27 FRP


The Hornets are taking on a lot of salary and PHX can offer a decent package for Bridges so you have to pay to play. Giving up the FRP is painful but a Nico special this offseason was getting back second rounders in the process.

The move to clear space to resign Bridges is trading Holmes (expiring) at the draft/start of new year. That’s where the second round pick(s) come into play.


Luka - Exum - Curry
Irving - Hardy
Hayward - Green
Bridges - DJJ - Omax - Morris
Lively - Powell - Holmes

This move would create less than 20 mil of cap space. What if someone like Detroit moneywhips Bridges with 25+ offer? Way too risky to do it, imho