Speaker 1: What is up, fellowstickos.
Speaker 2: I am Dan Valley coming at you with another NBA
offseason look ahead post draft edition.
Speaker 1: We're onto the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 2: I have the distinct pleasure of being joined by my
good friend, my colleague over at bleacher Report. He is
also a contributor for Forbes, Liberty Bawlers, Fan Sided, Silver Screen,
and Roll podcasts a bunch.
Speaker 1: He also still claims to be.
Speaker 2: A process truster. We'll have to check in on that
and see what his status is there, mister Brian Tapoorak
before we dive in, sir, how the heck are you?
Speaker 3: I am good hanging in there is sleep deprived like
all of us at this time of year, but draft
is uh, you know, draft and free agency or our
time of year. So I'm excited to be here, thank
you as always for having me, and excited to chop
it up with you today.
Speaker 2: Do you like that there's more of a flurry of
I don't even want to say activity, but news breaks
now that they've changed the rules where you can negotiate
with your own free agents. Because it on the one hand,
now we have things to talk about with other teams,
and there's news breaking on the other hand, it's there
used to just be like that little blip of quiet
before the free agency storm, and now we don't get it.
And it also kind of makes you know, Austin Reeves
resigning with the Lakers. Yeah, we all kind of expected it,
but it just makes free agency itself even more anti
climactic than it had already become.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't really care as much. I mean,
maybe I'm saying this purely selfishly, but as someone who
is married to a doctor, June thirtieth, July first tend
to be a contentious time of year in our household
because July first is also the medical New Year, so
it's usually a busy time. So as you know, as
the slop starts dropping at six pm on June thirtieth,
im like I need to go retreat for six hours.
That usually doesn't go over so well in my house.
So I'm actually thrilled to have all this stuff coming earlier,
and it honestly helps just give you some perspective, Like
the Reefs stuff in particular, like that was a major
domino that needed to fall for the Lakers, and now
we can kind of chart out, well, Okay, what's their
next step. What does this mean for their bigger picture
plans this offseason. It's nice to have some time to
think that through rather than you know, it comes six
o five pm June thirtieth and you're like, oh god,
what is you know? That is like Lebron signs thirty
minutes later and you're like, I didn't even have time
to process the austral Races thing. Let's move along.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get.
Speaker 2: I guess my main complaint is I need the news
to come in a more reasonable hour when I'm trying
to start an off season schedule. Just the Yannis trade
coming in at after eleven Eastern time or whatever.
Speaker 1: I remember the Cat trade got me.
Speaker 2: I'd taken an edible and it came through with like
just randomly.
Speaker 1: That was a late Saturday night.
Speaker 2: Campfront offices just like, let's shut down it. I'm up
pretty late.
Speaker 1: During the season, the playoffs and of course during the
height of free agency.
Speaker 2: But there are other like let's shut it down by
like ten, We're gonna go about our night. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I know. Everyone was just fully anticipating the honest trade
coming through on Monday night and then it's still hit.
I forget it, Like, what time exactly eleven thirty ish.
I was like, ugh God. I literally told my wife,
I'm like, please hope it either comes at like three
am or just at nine pm, because if it comes
in this window, I'm going to feel compelled to stay
up to write about it. And thankfully I was already
writing about the Julius randall things, so I did not
did not do the honest thing that night. But yeah,
I'm fully on board with like midnight Eastern is the
hard cutoff. We cannot conduct any league business after that.
Speaker 2: But the Dallas Mavericks, let's i'll run through their cap
vitals or their off season vitals really quickly so that
we'll set the baseline for what we'll be talking about
the rest of this podcast. They are about thirty six
million dollars below the tax and forty four almost forty
five million below the first apron. That's with fourteen players
on the books. That includes both their first round well
both their first round picks, which ended up being number
twenty five at Sergio, and then of course Morris Johnson
Junior also includes options for Ryan Nemhard and AJ Johnson,
and the Brandon Williams hold does not include any holds
for Chris Middleton, Marvin Bagley, Dwight Powell.
Speaker 1: I know that's a rough one, et cetera.
Speaker 2: So they're projected to be able to work with the
fifteen million dollar non tax player mid level exception.
Speaker 1: They also have.
Speaker 2: The Anthony Davis TPE that expires on February fifth. It's
worth twenty point eight million dollars. In terms of notable
free agents, I would argue not many, just Chris Middleton,
Marvin Bagley, Dwight Powell, Brandon Williams, who they do have
full bird rights on. Musasise is a non bird restricted
free agent, and Ryan Nemhard has that two point two
million dollar team option. They've got a few interesting extension candidates.
Derek Wivey, the second is eligible for his rookie scale.
The maxes are on screen if you're watching, but I
don't need to I don't think he's getting the MAX.
Don't need to go through those. Mac Christy is extension eligible.
He could sign a four year, ninety two point eight
million dollars MAX that would kick in twenty seven to
twenty eight. Naji Marshall is eligible for the same extension.
Speaker 1: Their first round pick.
Speaker 2: Overview, they're twenty twenty seven, they don't control their own
first round pick again until two thoy thirty one. That's
the gist of this, But they owe twenty twenty seven
to Charlotte with top two protection, twenty twenty eight swap
rights with Oklahoma. Oklahoma City has swap rights with their pick.
In twenty twenty nine, their pick will go to Houston
or Brooklyn, but they do have the Lakers' unprotected first
round pick. Then in twenty thirty they owe San Antonio
swap rights, but they do have That's where I was
trying to figure out the other night where the top
twenty protected Golden State pick had gone.
Speaker 1: It is in Dallas, So they they have that.
Speaker 2: I wanted to start here, Brian with for Dallas, which
is just basically excuse me as I'm choking. Are they
like one of the NBA's prime sellers heading into the offseason,
just based on everything EUJII has said talking about being
future focused for the most part, they did hire Dusty
May as their next head coach, and they also like
their flirtations were with other coaches that were going to
be more in the first time realm of the spectrum.
Speaker 1: Do you think that kind of signals. They're really just
all big picture.
Speaker 2: And even when you look at positionally, they draft more
As Johnson and now Naji Marshall is still on the REDPJ.
Washington is still on this team. You have Gaffer, you
have Derek Lively, Flag. There's just a ton of bodies
in that four or five area for them. Do you
think they profile as one of the more interesting or
should I say active sellers of this offseason?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it would makes sense for them to
do so. I don't know that they'll feel pressure. I
don't know that they have to move all of these
guys this offseason. Like maybe they go into next year
and see how the season goes and then we can
reevaluate the trade deadline. I mean, as you brought up
like Clay is on an expiring deal. Now she's on
an expiring deal. Caleb Martin has a nine point four
million dollar player option twenty seven to twenty eight, but
it's also a small enough contract. I don't think it would be.
Speaker 1: He's extension eligible. Do you think he'll get better?
Speaker 3: Oh definitely, yeah, But you know, these guys are just
not aligned developmentally with Cooper Flag and now more As Johnson's,
So I think that's kind of the the focus is
like we are fully turning the page toward the Cooper
Flag era. I think Kyrie would be the obvious, you know,
like all these other guys are fine. You know, you
might get a couple second round picks for them, but
you're not going to get a massive haul for any
of them. Kyrie is the one where, you know, I
think that's you see how the dust settles. Johannis has
already moved, but that you know, John Morant could be
on the move this off season, Kawhi Leonard could be
on the move of this off season, Jalen Brown could
be on the move this off season. So you know,
you might not be super you know. Messiah's basically said
like we do want to see Kyrie with Flag, and
I think it could make sense to keep him there
going into next season. But we've also heard like Detroit
is really after shooting right now, and if they strike
out on Tyler Hero and Trey Murphy and Kobe White
and some of their other targets, do they get desperate
and do they call Dallas. I think you keep the
phone lines open, and you should make it clear you're
open for business. I would even say you should be
willing to take back some negative money if it means
getting extra picks or prospects. Since you've still got Cooper
Flag for three more years on a rookie scale deal,
like this is the time that you can kind of
be aggressive with how you build the team around him,
even if it means, you know, we take on bad
money now and we were able to have more assets
to kind of replenish the coffers that we have already drained,
at least when it comes to first round picks.
Speaker 2: What what ends up being the value of Kyrie Irving
right now? I kind of want to see him play
with Cooper Flag with That might say a lot about
the deficit of like spacing still on this team. What
do you accept as an like Kyrie aged going into
his age thirty four season, coming off the ACL injury.
The contract is totally fine. We know what Kyrie can be,
which is just like he could be. You want him
on the ball, like kind of running the offense, or
you want him off the ball like Detroit you mentioned
them could be perfect next to Kid Cunningham. But as
the MAVs, what do you accept for him? Because right
like if there's an offer built around a first round
pick and Ron Holland from Detroit. Let's say, I think
that's one that's been popular, It's been thrown about. Is
that enough for you? Or if you're Dallas, you're kind
of sitting there. One we'd like to see if he
can augment Cooper Flag and just some of the other
players on this team and maybe bet that his trade
value could be higher at the deadline or is or
is that package or it's equivalent? Is that enough to
get you thinking at this point?
Speaker 3: You know, assuming obviously they'd have to throw in more salary.
I think ISAA Stuart would be presumably included in there.
I would imagine Duncan Robinson might be as well. So
you're adding some shooting that you would need, especially with
Kyrie gone. You know, if it's really a package of
like Stuart, Duncan, Robinson, Ron Hollands and a first yeah,
I'm at least considering that. I mean, it's hard to
move big contract like Kyrie. I mean, it's thirty nine
point five million, so we're not talking like, you know,
fifty five for Giannis or anything like that, but it
it becomes more difficult to move those contracts mid season
once teams are dealing with hard caps, and you know
a lot of them tend to push pretty close up
to whatever aprin their hard cap. Too. You have more
flexibility in the offseason, you have more roster spots, so
it's easier to swing these big like three for one,
four for one deals. Those types of things get trickier
during the season two. So you know, I don't know
that that framework Dallas definitely agrees to, but I think
that's the type of thing they should be open to
considering at least.
Speaker 2: Do you have any we've talked about Detroit. Do you
have any teams that you think would be interesting fits
for Kyrie?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Detroit would definitely be one of them.
Speaker 2: I don't see a pathway to Minnesota getting a deal done,
although if they did put the twenty thirty three pick
on the table, they've already attached what would have been
their primary salary.
Speaker 3: Though.
Speaker 2: I guess they could span the Julius Randall trade as
we're recording this, but it doesn't seem like they want
to do that. It seems like they're going the route
of trying to save money.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hate to say it, I will preface this
by saying they should not do this.
Speaker 1: Who's they Dallas or team you're about to name.
Speaker 3: The team I'm about to name. But I could also
see them doing this the Pelicans.
Speaker 1: They were they've been having.
Speaker 2: People said that they could be a Joan Brown team too,
So that would seem to be right up their alley.
Speaker 3: Right exactly. I mean it's a fair point, though there
really aren't a ton of obvious landing spots for him.
You know, teams either have point guards or you know,
like Brooklyn and Chicago are just rebuilding right now. I
don't really see the point for either of them to add.
Speaker 2: Does Miami go conditional twenty nine pick plus Wiggins plus Jovich?
And do they have anything else that they could include
a swap? Does that get it done? And they could
just have three players on their team after that?
Speaker 3: Honestly, that might be the price. Just getting off of
Yovich alone might be the price. Yeah, I mean the
other one would be interesting, right sure, Houston would be Yeah,
and I guess you can do who I mean, is this.
Speaker 1: So fred van vleetops and I'm assuming he has to
be Yeah, that's part of that.
Speaker 3: And then like Jabari Smith, or include Tari Easton and
the sign and trade or something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're wow. That's actually it feels all
of a sudden, like a lot for like no picks.
Maybe maybe they can. I can't see them giving up Jabbari,
but maybe Tari. He'd be interesting in Dallas.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Orlando is another one that I could see it,
just because their offense still did not get on track
last year, but they're already just so expensive that I
guess this could be one where if it's a James
Harden situation in Cleveland, where like you're acquiring him with
the intention of re signing him for you give him
another multi year deal that's going to be less than
the whatever forty two million dollar player option that he
has next year, like if you think you can get
him back at thirty million, Like Orlando is just already
dealing with some financial concerns and it's only going to
get next year. So I don't know how they make
that work financially long term, but I think the fit
could make sense there and he could help elevate an
offense that desperately needs to be elevated.
Speaker 1: Are you trading Baine or Suggs?
Speaker 3: In Matthews sugs, I would think, yeah, which you know
deprives you of some point of attack defense, like you
hope Anthony Black can pick up the slack there. But
and then you know, you could include like Jonathan Isaac's
partially guaranteed deal something like that.
Speaker 2: I guess after bringing back Seag McCollum and drafting Kingston Fleming, Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Would be off the table.
Speaker 2: They do still have some they could stack salaries to
get there pretty easily, but I'm assuming they're appetite for Kyrie.
He was probably lowered with those transactions.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and like Washington doesn't make sense with Trey Charlotte,
Like that's the problem. So many teams have established point
guards that that already just wipes out almost half the league.
Speaker 2: And I can't see Toronto would be interesting, but I
can't see them being a Kyrie team.
Speaker 3: Yeah. At Phoenix, maybe.
Speaker 2: Let's just resign Gillespie so you're gonna yeah, I think
they keep him is what ends up happening, is what
I'm basically getting at.
Speaker 1: What's up? Fella?
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Speaker 1: And now back to the show.
Speaker 2: I also wanted to ask you do they have any
interesting extension candidates of the WARLD because they're in this
weird spot where some of the players who are extension
eligible you don't know, like a Nause Marshall is helpful,
but is he part of your bigger picture? I think
the two that stand out to me Kayleb Martin and
Clay top No are Max Christie and Derek Lively. The
second Who's like, do you who's the most interesting of
those two to you? Do you see either one of
them get it? Would you give either one of them
an extension? I think it's especially fascinating when you look
at Derek Loively second just doesn't have one a huge
sample size in general relative to being in the league
for three years. But like, you know, what is he
like outside the Luka Doncic bubble is still a question.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that one would just be so tricky,
especially with the injury history too. Like I can't see
them signing him unless it's a team friendly contract. And
I guess we'll see how like free agency plays out
with Mark Williams next week, but I mean, worst case scenario,
he becomes a restricted free agent next offseason, and you know,
just historically, restricted free agency tends to work against the players,
drives down the prices, teams don't want to preserve their
cap space. Maybe next summer is different because like in theory,
Honest and Jokic could become free agents. But I'm going
to go out on a limb and say Honest is
not available in twenty twenty seven. I think he's going
to sign the extension with Miami, so that already wipes
some spending power off the board. Jokic has made it
clear he wants to stay with the Nuggets. We just
go through this cycle every year of like, oh, this
next free agent class could be great, and so many
teams are going to hoard their cap space and not
spend it, and then you get to free agency, it's
like three teams have cap space and you know, so
I'm guessing that Lively unless he's willing to sign a
team friendly deal, they say stay healthy. If you do,
that's great. I hope you can get a good offer
shooting free agency next year and we'll be willing to
match it. But we're not paying you thirty plus million
dollars right now based on the hope that you can
stay healthy. You need to prove to us, and you
need to prove that you fit next to Cooper flag
and whereas Johnson long term before we make that kind
of commitment. Because we already have Daniel Gafford signed for
three more years, we don't necessarily need to go splurge Unlively.
So I think, just by process of elimination, Max Christie
is the more interesting extension candidate. I don't know that
he gets anywhere close to the full max that he's offered,
but he did quietly have a pretty solid season for them. Yeah,
he was much more you know, I feel like with
the Luca trade, it so much focus was ad and
the pick, but as it turned out, Max Christy was
actually a pretty quietly important part of that trade too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I I agree with you on lively for sure.
Speaker 1: I do wonder.
Speaker 2: What I guess is what would constitute a team friendly
deal in that if he just wants to lock down
long term. What if he came in is that I'll
signed the Daniel Gafford contract, which is let's say three
for sixty or something. Is that a number that gets
you thinking as the Mavericks or have you not even
seen enough to say, oh, I can commit because Gafford
was three for fifty four was his extension?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think somewhere in that ballpark makes sense. I mean,
that's just kind of like at above average starters are
making twenty five to thirty when it comes to centers.
So there's a chance that you get him at a
pretty significant discount if he does stay healthy, and then
you know, whether you keep him, move Gafford, or you know,
re sign him with the intention of trading him later
and getting positive trade value out of it. I think
that's but twenty million is probably where I stop. And again,
just you know, you know that pretty much everything is
working in your favor in terms of the market dynamics.
If you can't come to an agreement with him, you know,
if he wants twenty five to thirty, say that's great,
but you don't want to be trapped in like a
Yaka Pertol situation. I guess getting at where Toronto signs
him to this contract and all of a sudden he's
effectively I want to say, untradable, because everyone is tradable,
but you're not getting positive value for getting off of
Yaku perto Right now.
Speaker 2: Max Christie is fascinating in the sense I think I
might give him the four for ninety two, the one
hundred and forty percent of the estimated average player salary extension,
just as someone who's three and d and trying to
do a little bit off the dribble isn't going to
make plays for others.
Speaker 1: And if you're him, you have to sort of.
Speaker 2: Be looking at well, Christian Brown is worth five years
and one hundred and twenty five million. What like, isn't
Max Christie better than Christian Brown right now?
Speaker 1: Right now?
Speaker 2: And he's still Max Christy's still pretty young. He's twenty three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean, look at Christian Brown right now,
like the Nuggets are already feeling some financial pinch, whether
it's him or Aaron Gordon or Cameron Johnson, Like they're
gonna have to move off of one of those guys
this summer, and it sounds like there's not much appetite
to take Christian Brown on that contract, although the length
might be the bigger issue, Like maybe they can get Christy,
you know, they're willing to pay that price, but not
over that long of a deal. Maybe it's more of
a two or three year.
Speaker 1: Exception if you're the Mavericks.
Speaker 2: Though, in kind of knowing that so much is left unfinished,
you're trying to figure out so much right now? Are
you interested in extending Max Christie? Do you view the
miss up like he just feels like he fits whatever
iteration they're going to gravitate towards.
Speaker 1: So I would I'm curious to just because it's a
new regime.
Speaker 2: They didn't trade for Max Christy, and they are over
indexing on just like size and length right now when
you look at how the roster is built.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't know that there's necessarily a
hurry to do, so I think you can see how
the season plays out and then you know, you've got
this exclusive window after the finals end, if you want
to go that route, Like, I don't think it needs
to happen before the season. I think you should see
kind of how all of these new pieces fit together
with Kyrie, without Kyrie, whatever the case may be. I
would And if they move off of any of the
vets like that could open additional opportunities for Max Christie.
So you know, again, like if you move off or
if you extend him, now there's a chance that you
got him on a deal that looks better in retrospect
if he's willing to take something and then moves into
a larger role. But I think the Mavericks just have
such a relatively blank slate after this season, and I
would like to if I were running the team, I
would I would want to preserve that as much as
they possibly could, because we have this generational prospect in
Cooper flag who I think he's going to attract free
agents at some point that I would not want to
cut into my spending power or my potential spending power
down the road. Like Max Christie's a really good player,
I don't know that he is definitely a long term
piece of the puzzle. Alongside Cooper Flag, and I would
want and a more data before I made that type
of decision.
Speaker 2: So what is this roster need to you when you're
kind of looking at maybe not maximizing the present, but
optimizing the personnel that's already in play or the most
important personnel that's already in place.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say just more shooting in general, more playmaking.
If Kyrie is not part of the long term picture,
I know you're going to run a lot of the
offense through Flag, but like the Flag as point guard
experiment did not work out as they hoped. I'd say
those are probably the two biggest needs I'm trying to
look at. Yeah, I mean, the MAVs were twenty ninth
and made threes twenty seventh and three point attempts twenty
six and three point percentage last year twenty second and
assists per game, so you know they're they were a
great rebounding team. The offense was mediocre, but that's just
comes with the territory of being kind of in transition
last year. As they were, pace was good. I mean,
they'll improve defensively as especially if Lively stays healthy this year.
But I think to optimize Cooper Flag, you're gonna need
more shooting and more playmaking around him. You don't want
him to be the primary play creator as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd be interested to see if they because I
know you have Lively, I know you have Gafford, and
I know you also have PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington and Morris Johnson right now.
Speaker 2: I would like to see if they could get maybe
a floor spacing big as well. So if you play
lineups with Cooper Flag at the floor plus a floor
spacing big that's not PJ. Washington, that maybe has a
better size than PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington. There not something.
Speaker 2: I'm willing to let me go spend a ton to
do it or give up one of the few assets
like draft assets that we have to do it. But
that would be a look I would like them to see.
In addition to just generally, I think they definitely need
another ball handler on this team because Kyrie, even if
he's he's not part of the long term plan just
looking at his age, he can't be What does he
look like coming back from the ACL injury? How many
games does he play? And after that you don't want
you know, Ryan Emhard, Brandon Williams, assuming he's back, Max Christy,
that's just not that's not enough, and it puts undue pressure,
I think on Cooper Flag at that point, which is
why there's I'm a I am a big believer in
even if you go out and sign a veteran with
your non tax MLLE, if they can help we're trade
for a veteran using that, If they can help streamline
life for Cooper Flag, it's all right. Maybe they're not
part of our long term, but if they can help
streamline life for Cooper Flag, that ends up being a
pretty big and other guys on the roster, of course,
that ends up being a pretty big deal. I don't
know if there are any targets that's bring to mind
for me, because it feels like, especially with Messian Charge,
that they're not gonna like we're not they're not gonna
serve a name and then try and go out and
get that name on the trade market.
Speaker 1: They seem like they'd.
Speaker 2: Be more likely to be a team that, Oh, are
we taking just someone back because we decided to trade PJ.
Washington or would they you mentioned this at the top
of the podcast. Would they be willing to take back
some bad money that's attached to a sweetener rather than
let's go out and can we figure out a way
to get Kobe White or someone along those lines. And
so that's what makes their off season a little like
top seed Turvey for me. But just looking at guys
who might fall through the cracks. Maybe he doesn't provide
enough ball handling or playmaking for others, but Anthony Simons
might be someone whould be interesting on this team. I
think he'll probably fall in the non tax MLI range
unless the Chicago really does it up with him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he'd be very interesting. Yeah, I mean
that's I'm curious to see how many teams wind up
spending the full mL you know, I think we've kind
of seen that a lot of teams will enter the
offseason with it, but they'll save it either for a
trade exception or to spend on some free agents during
the season, like whether it's after the buyout market or whatever.
So you know what, there are always guys who slipped
through and who wind up being less expensive than we anticipate.
This year, we're already hearing, you know, some teams like Detroit,
I know, has come up as a team that you know,
was apparently trying to make a run at Austin Reeves
before the Lakers resigned him, So like there will be
some team that manufactures spending power that we're not necessarily
anticipating right now. I don't know that I love the
fit of Tyler Hero right that I'd want to give
up like premium assets for Tyler Hero. But I would
imagine that he's available. I don't really see why the
Bucks would keep him because he's about to be a
free agent after this year, you know, would I don't know,
Like I'm trying to think what would get you in
that salary range Klay Thompson and Derek Lively gets you
about twenty five million. Is that enough for Tyler Hero?
Maybe not. But I wouldn't want to give like multiple
first round picks for him or anything like that.
Speaker 2: No, And they don't have obviously they don't control their
own I don't think you look, I guess if it's
that Golden State top twenty protected pick, you talk yourself
and do it right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah, because that's not conveying. Yeah, I mean,
Steph will be how old man. Yeah, that I'm going
to go out on them and say they're not going
to finish in the bottom ten in twenty thirty. So yeah,
I mean I would I don't even consider that a
real significant asset for them, Like, that's just you could
throw that in and if you can trick some team
into thinking that's a real asset, that's great here. Yeah,
oh yeah, we give a first round pick for sure.
Speaker 1: Hero would be interesting.
Speaker 2: I wonder if they would be concerned about his next contract,
especially because if you're the Bucks, you got to be
a little bit furious about that Tray Young deal because
it almost makes Tyler Hero harder to trade because any
team might be looking saying, well, Trey not that Trey
Young's not a better player to speak, but if Trey
Young is out here getting max money, do we think
we're gonna get Tyler Hero cheaper than the thirty three
million he's on the books for this coming season, And
so that's going to now factor into I would think
his trade value with any team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a fair point. Maybe you just
chalk it up to the Wizards, but again, I like
it sounds like based on reporting that teams are now
scared of this new lottery system and the scared of
the new relegation zone. So that was why teams were
being ready to offer Trey younga MAX. I like, I
don't know what team. You know, Brooklyn Chicago were really
the only two teams that could have made.
Speaker 2: That, just based on the way they traded for Julius Randall.
I know they they're different positionally, but functionally they both
can be on the ball. I'm assuming it was Brooklyn. Yeah,
that's just going to be my guess.
Speaker 3: I would hope, so I really just but still, but
all that said, like I do wonder if whichever team
trades your hero then thinks, yeah, if we don't plan
to re sign him to a Max or a near
Maax in twenty twenty seven, some team is going to
want to what the relegation zone is going to throw
him too big of a contract that we don't feel
comfortable matching. So there are a lot of cancers with that.
But you know, just when we're talking about like available
guys who would address their needs for shooting and playmaking.
Speaker 1: He is Oh he's there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, He's the first that came to mind.
Speaker 2: Do you think how much would it cost to get
either Scottie Pippen Junior or Ti Jerome?
Speaker 3: Probably not a ton.
Speaker 2: I mean Memphis I think Scottie Pippen Junior probably takes
a first round pick. I'm not gonna lie in which case,
if it's more than that gold I give up the
Golden State pick for him.
Speaker 1: But beyond that, no.
Speaker 3: Because he's under contract for two more years.
Speaker 1: And he's he's too I would argue he's too cheap.
It's just so fricking cheap.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then how Ti Jerome Ti drones only one year,
has got a nine point seven million dollars player option
in twenty seven to twenty eight, which could go either
way on whether he picks that up. Yeah, I mean,
if sure, if they're willing to take the fake twenty
thirty pick, what does it turn into if it's not,
if it doesn't convey it, it's just like two seconds,
or is it just the obligation is gone.
Speaker 1: It's not. It's not two seconds.
Speaker 2: I don't I'll double check that, but the obligations automatically over.
Speaker 1: What does it turn into? Though? Yeah, that's a good,
good question.
Speaker 2: So Dallas's pick that they're getting from Golden State in
twenty and thirty, Oh yeah, just one second. I didn't
think it was to twenty thirty second though, sure, So.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and who knows what the draft is going
to look like in twenty thirty.
Speaker 2: Would you, because I'm assuming he would this team because
the team he's on it is just so inexplicably expensive.
Would you take on a league monk if you're Dallas
man he would fit?
Speaker 1: Or actually does he miss it? What's the size that
Anthony Davis trade? He does?
Speaker 2: I think he fits into the Anthony Davis tpe. You
have enough remoder, the touch, you could just take him
and maybe you're getting something else in exchange for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean I think that's a very smart and
viable thing that they should be exploring. Like if another
team is desperate to offload money and you can fit
him in, Yeah, that's actually a great shot. It looks
like he just fits, but he should fit, so yeah,
I think so. I mean, he's twenty point two this
year and then it's twenty one point six million dollar
player option next year. So worst case scenario, he picks
up the option, he's off your books. You know, well
before you have to worry about Flag's rookie scale extension,
and he would help you with shooting in the meantime. Yeah,
I'd be intrigued. By that.
Speaker 2: In terms of free agents, if they're just looking for
a lower cost just option there, Collin Sexton could be
interesting in Dallas. Now depending on how much are you
worried about we want to actually get Ryan Nemhard a
bunch of minutes, then yeah, maybe that's not the you
don't want to have you want to sacrifice his minutes
for someone like Colin Sexton. But as someone who can
drive and get downhill and space the floor might be
a pretty good option for them. Another Memphis tour Cam Spencer.
I don't know what it would cost to get him
out of Memphis.
Speaker 1: That'd be a good trade target for them as well.
Speaker 3: Do we think Kevin Porter Junior picks up his player option?
Speaker 1: Oh what is that for? It's like three to nine.
Speaker 3: Point yeah, five point four.
Speaker 2: I mean he's kind of when you look at how
many guards that Milwaukee has right now, he's a little
bit buried, Like how invested are they in him? You
could have to look at it as a good thing
the setup, But like if Tyler hero is still there,
they have Brandon Burry's Ryan oh Man speaking of a
good fit, this cost you real stuff that Ryan Rollins
would be great.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I would for Milwaukee's sake, I hope
they view him as a key. But he's also I
believe as a four million dollar player option next season
that he's obviously going to decline, so they only have
him for one more year at the hilariously low price
that he currently costs. Yeah, but yeah, I mean either
of those guys. I mean KPJ does not address your
shooting concerns really at all. Like he can shoot the three,
he's not particularly efficient, but he would add scoring and playmaking.
Speaker 2: So I think the month the Monk theoretical move feels
very much like that would be the type of offseason
we should expect from the MAVs. Not maybe even a
move that that's pricey because Malik Monk is making over
twenty million dollars, but it's they find someone.
Speaker 1: Who is maybe not viewed favorably around the league.
Speaker 2: Or whose team needs to cut Like what if Cleveland,
as for instance, is looking to like cut payrolls there
as they have to re sign Harden, they don't want
to be in a second Apron next year. Maybe you
come in and get a Max Strus or a Sam Merril.
I wouldn't want Dennis Shuder but if Max Shrews or
Sam Merril are on the table, I don't even need
an asset to take on one of those guys. If
I'm Dallas, I just think that they'd be instantly helpful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, or I mean your New York Knicks. We know
they are not trying to cross the second apron. If
Jose Alvarado picks up his player option, would they just
look to dump him. I don't think they would just
outright dump Miles McBride, But if they're looking to save
some money, would Dallas be willing to throw a couple
seconds from Miles McBride.
Speaker 2: Conversely, they should if he's assuming he's not going to
be back in New York, they could take a look
at Landry Shammitt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if he just doesn't cost too much, he'd be
a great fit.
Speaker 3: Oh this one, Isaiah Joe, Oh yeah, thunder or Roll.
Even Lou Dort, I mean he fits into that exception too,
like they'd have to give up stuff for him.
Speaker 2: But you actually a defense said as Cooper Flag, Lou Dort,
Morris Johnson, Derek Lively, the second Max Chris, that'd be nuts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a good idea though, Like just
look at the teams that are bumping up against whatever
apron or whatever hard gap or just like looking to
cut salary however they can. Uh. I mean, I wonder
if the Warriors, like now that would would you gamble
on Moses Moody knowing he's gonna miss a good that
year basically, yeah, but signed for two more years only
twenty four?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's sort of the three and D wing. He
would fit.
Speaker 2: You would need something as Dallas to take on that
contract though, because he doesn't solve anything for you this year.
Speaker 3: Right, And I don't know that Golden State is like
that eager to move off of him. But yeah, I'm
trying to think of any other team in the like
Cleveland obviously, Denver.
Speaker 1: They go.
Speaker 2: Would I mean, I don't know how much money they
could save Denver. You probably need to rope in a
third team. But Cam Johnson feels he's not duplicative, But
there is just positional redundancy if you have Cam Johnson,
but he does stuff that this team could need.
Speaker 3: Yeah, who else is super expensive? Those are the ones
that come to mind right away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those are all like the Kings are expensive, But
Monk would be the one, like you're not a Zachlovine
team as Dallas. I don't know who considers themselves as
Zaqulavine team to be honest.
Speaker 3: Timberwolves, if you're I mean again like Dante DiVincenzo is
doing nothing for you. But if you can just into
your TPE and get something for that, would.
Speaker 2: I mean like maybe Phoenix wants to get out from
Grayson Allen or Royce O'Neill one of those guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would not want Jalen Green, No, I would
agree with that if you can, yeah, I mean Grayson
or Royce fit into the TP as well.
Speaker 2: This is more so I'm curious the Jazz play want
real stuff for him, but just because I want to
the stretch element with the big man. But like Kyo Philipowski,
one of his role is going to be in Utah
moving forward.
Speaker 3: M h.
Speaker 2: That might be also even Bryce Sensaba or Shreim Mikaeluke,
both of whom are on the Jazz just as these
like Spacey Wings, you just have so many bodies now
in Utah with Keante, George, Darren Peterson, Marketing, Jaron Jackson, Junior,
Ace Bailey, I don't know what and then Cody Williams
is still there, so I don't know Bryce Sensabah and
uh Shee Makaa. Look, I don't know what their roles
are going to be long term. I even have bones
Highland circle. There's a free agency target for this team,
just someone who might be cheap and come in and
dribble for the Jazz.
Speaker 3: Is Cody Williams a second draft candidate or are we
just giving up on him already?
Speaker 2: He had a stronger close to the year let where
he looked like an actual NBA player, especially on his drives.
But I don't know what Like now you have Ace
Bam and Darren Peterson and Morkan and jareds Like, I
don't know what his role on that team is, what
tops out at seventh man now?
Speaker 1: Long term? So maybe yeah? But they should? Should Dallas
be a Zachary Re team? Is he a second?
Speaker 2: Does absolutely nothing that in theory, I guess he shoots.
I shouldn't say that it shoots in defense, so in theory, yeah,
do you have Do you have anything else on them?
Speaker 1: Though?
Speaker 2: I think this is gonna be I don't know if
they're gonna be heavy hitting sellers, but I think that
they're if anyone's looking for them to do something spicy.
Speaker 1: I just don't think it's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: I think they're gonna keep Kyrie and they'll be open
minded to everything else based on how they've gone about
their season off season so far and just the things
that Messi has has said.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I mean, I'm with you. I think it's
gonna be a relatively quiet off season for them, like
I would imagine they spend the mL E shops and
veterans around once the dust settles on all the big moves.
But no, I don't think I think they are being
They're wisely approaching this as a kind of multi year
retool around Flag. They do not feel imminent pressure to
get everything right right away, nor should they. You've got
this guy long term. Make sure you build it around
him right.
Speaker 2: Are you able just to tell our listener's audience where
they can find you in all the great work that
you do.
Speaker 3: Yes, you can find me at Blue Sky b T
O P O R E. K. As Dan mentioned at
the top. You can find just general NBA analysis, fans
sided and Forbes sports Sixers stuff at Liberty Bollers and
Lakers stuff at silver Screen and roll, including the latest
on the Austin reeves and what it means for their
off season plans and more importantly, their mL plans because
Dallas might not have to compete with them for a
non tax EML anymore.
Speaker 1: Brian, this was great.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much until next time, and as always,
I leave everybody with the shout out to the one,
the only, the indelible former Dallas Maverick, mister Frank Nila
Keina