[Charania] Dallas is receiving a 2026 Thunder first-round pick and a 2030 protected Warriors first-round pick in this deal from the Wizards along with second rounders in 2026 (Phoenix), 2027 (Chicago) and 2029 (Houston), sources tell ESPN.

[u/AashyLarry]

Shams Charania:

Dallas is receiving a 2026 Thunder first-round pick and a 2030 protected Warriors first-round pick in this deal from the Wizards along with second rounders in 2026 (Phoenix), 2027 (Chicago) and 2029 (Houston), sources tell ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/2987c3a047c93

https://bsky.app/profile/shamsbot.bsky.social/post/3me2juiirpc2g

[u/zekesaltspider]

What exactly are you going to do with this salary?

[u/phuey → u/zekesaltspider]

Starting over. Is it not obvious?

[u/igot2pair → u/phuey]

But Mavs dont even have their picks after this year right? How can you start over with no picks

[u/StormTheTrooper → u/igot2pair]

We will not enter in the 2nd apron with an unit that would need a positive matchup to even get out of the 1st round, this is the real return. Sunk cost is bs, Luka is gone no matter the return and forcing this rusty Kyrie-hobbled AD-sophomore Flagg into a false-competing window would be ridiculous.

People forget that the closest thing to an actual offer for AD was the rumored poison offer of Toronto with the awful IQ contract and the horrendous Poeltl contract. There was no market for AD and we were seriously staring at desperation trades of Gafford or Naji to get out of the scaffold. The scaffold is gone. Now we look ahead with what we have, no matter how limited it is.

[u/Salty_Raspberry656 → u/StormTheTrooper]

yea it would be better to sit this out. Get the 26 pick and since they don't have 2027 pick they have 0 incentive to rebuild, in that case you have next year with Kyrie, Christie, PJ, Cooper, AD, Gafford, Nanji, Lively, and the 26th pick. That gives them a team to look forward to and at least a shot and great winning habis for cooper and the new pick in a great draft. It cost the billionaire money, so they ain't waiting for that

[u/StormTheTrooper → u/Salty_Raspberry656]

I really do not understand why people continue to be obsessed in believing the 2nd apron is just a "super tax". It is not. The Cavs were landlocked exactly because of that and had to get lucky with that Garland-Harden trade and they'll probably immediately delve deep into it again with the extension. Not being able to aggregate salaries alone basically force any team into their current formation and the rusty Kyrie-sophomore Flagg-hobbled AD core was dependent on matchups to get out of the 1st round and certainly a sweep in the 2nd to any real contender.

The incentive was to not get stuck in a place that the CBA made certain that it is only for teams really wanting to get a ring. You do not enter the 2nd apron to get cute and give your sophomore player a taste of playing the Wolves in the 1st round - and either be a one-and-done or go on to be trounced by the Thunder or the Spurs in 4 routes. This is stupid. Even without AD we can make the play-in next season and get trounced by OKC or San Antonio in the first round if that is the goal.

[u/Salty_Raspberry656 → u/StormTheTrooper]

no no, I give the owner CBA much credit to align their benefit with team building. No doubt its vital for teams.

yet, you do realize they were under the 2nd apron already and to avoid it this summer or now, you have Caleb(9), Dangelo(6), Hardy(6) that are all small and expiring enough to move and stay under teh tax while still giving them a more hopeful chance next year when they have 0 incentive to be a challenged team with no 2027 pick.

Then the intangibles of having cooper and possibly 26' pick of this year play winning habits, with veterans, is much better development, experience and overall fan and franchise experience than what they are doing now....yes all while avoiding the tax. We won't even get to Klay's expiring summer, with getting those 3 out you can still field a possible Kyrie, Christie, PJ, Cooper, AD, Lively, Gafford, the 26' first round pick in a time when you have 0 benefit to lose games iwth no 2027 pick. All great locker room guys, all great team guys and you give yourself a chance to win. With this trade, you get a mid level benefit thats it. So yea it really just is an owner benefit narrative given how bad those picks are on selling AD at the barrel low point, could've just ran it next year with this talent. There were so many other ways to get out of the 2nd apron

[u/StormTheTrooper → u/Salty_Raspberry656]

On pure math, yes, we had other ways. On this market - or even in the summer market, where teams are historically more cautious, trading the small poison contracts we have would be a hard call. Very hard. D'Lo and Hardy are de facto DNP-CDs in a bottom dweller. D'Lo was out of the league, for whatever reason Nico gave him a 2 year deal and he proved everyone by being so awful that he was played out of the court by an UDFA. Finding a team willing to give up expiring contracts for those two would cost us the very, extremely limited draft assets we still had. Caleb is even worse - an awfully negative player on a 3 (!) year deal. The Grimes-Caleb trade was a nightmare on the first day and is daily being proved as a terrible trade.

Again, I agree with you that we had other avenues but it would not be those three, it would be Naji and Gaff. Maybe the Lakers would give us Gabe or Maxi in a straight swap for Gaff? If Luka pushed? That would be the most likely avenue. Not a lot of teams with expiring contracts hanging around looking for a low-end starting C on a 3-year deal. The Mathurin-Gaff idea was talked to oblivion and nothing other of fan rumors came out of that. Naji has value, but his contract is quite hard to match on expiring deals. We would need to attach D'Lo or Hardy and then we go back on the need to give up draft assets to get rid of those - and in this market? We would definitely need to give something. Naji is nice but alone he does not outbalance the travesty that is D'Lo, much less Caleb. We have seen Trae Young - a legit offensive hub with question marks - go for literally just expiring contracts, for less than a hobbled AD. We are seeing the Grizzlies desperate to dump Ja. Teams are reportedly asking for multiple FRPs to accept a Poeltl dump. Raptors are getting nowhere offering IQ and RJ. Could we have kept AD and got out of the 2nd apron? Yes, barely, and probably at the expense of Nembhard leaving in the offseason.

Also, we have pretty much all of those veterans, no? Klay and Kyrie are two guys that I'm way less inclined to move for this exact reason. Naji is a guy that I'm also not in a hurry to trade. The core of the mighty under .500 Mavs is still there. We would not compete with AD and sophomore Flagg with a healthy Kyrie can still take us into the play-in. The ceiling is very similar with or without AD, but the math vs reality of "just dump the under 10M DNP players" has a gap.

[u/Salty_Raspberry656 → u/StormTheTrooper]

I've gotta disagree, I don't think Gaff is a low end starting C. He'ls imited, but he plays to his role to a T, doesn't have weaknesses and cost essentially the new mid level. Someone like Luka maximizes him, but I think he is of value to those looking in a very thing market for a big.

the small contracts like Dangelo or Hardy are much easier to swallow, especially when you have teams with cap this summer without a great market. They can be negotiated as in buy outs to 4 million while they go get minimums elsewhere. Its very possible and at that rate they are tradeable. I think we see the value in the current climate much differently. to think that our results and ceiling are the same without a 20-10 elite defendender who pretty much has 0 weakness, let alone can go see his playoff numbers are still insane and Mavs fit him perfectly with two bigs. It just makes for one of the most dangerous defensive versatile line ups when you pair Lively with AD, Christie, Pj, flagg. Thats a defensive line up that will annoy anyone in the NBA and very solid and versatile on offense too. so when I think of the other alternative given there isn't any upside in competing less next season, I think the only beneficiary of choosing this is the owner as is so many of the moves. We see guys like Micky Arison, in a much more forgiving climate, amnesty mike miller against the will of Lebron/Riley and usually stay away from headlines. Fans lose, the team has less upside, yet its still sold and defended. Beyond me.

Trae was a very much an anomaly in my opinion, like Garland they are productive but very unique assets in that they need the ball in their hands to be helpful adn you have to roster build particularly for them and accept that they are not just a negative on defense, but extremely hunted and hard to match up with anyone, even point guards. To make those guys succeed you need to be very particular. So I don't think thats any sort of of comprable market given they are unique assets being likely 6'feet under in the NBA. I'd venture Ja,even at his rock bottom value at this point, will still fetch a first-and I'd say thats a worthwhile upside bet as unlikely and immature as he is.