2024-25 Season Discussion and Speculation Part III

[bwgood77]

This is a bit interesting. Around 3 min and at 3:30 what he says....

Watch on YouTube

[KdoubleDees23]

I'm still down to blow it up.

Devin Booker for Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, Suns picks back

KD for Chet and whatever else to make salaries work. The Mavs skunked the Thunder in the playoffs last year, and they showed they can do it again without Luka this year (Mavs 3-0 against them without Luka). They need the help.

Beal can stick around. HIs contract is a net negative right now, but in two seasons it'll be valuable since it will be an expiring contract. Keep him.

Grayson might be of some value to somewhere. Maybe a three-team deal where he goes to the Magic, Suns get Coby White, Bulls get a 1st.

Suns can keep Nurkic too. His contract may be of value next season to a team looking to shed salary.

^All that said... Ishbia won't allow that to happen. He's building around Booker and KD.

I don't even think we could get Amen for Book anymore. And certainly not Chet for KD. OKC is built around defensive identity, youth, and good contracts. KD is the opposite of that. Not only that he is left them in FA with no indication he was going to so he is the most hated player in OKC....that trade would make their fans almost as livid as Mavs fans are.

Dude OKC would trade Chet for KD in a heartbeat! What are you smoking. Add KD to that team and they win it all.

[BobbieL]

I'm still down to blow it up.

Devin Booker for Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, Suns picks back

KD for Chet and whatever else to make salaries work. The Mavs skunked the Thunder in the playoffs last year, and they showed they can do it again without Luka this year (Mavs 3-0 against them without Luka). They need the help.

Beal can stick around. HIs contract is a net negative right now, but in two seasons it'll be valuable since it will be an expiring contract. Keep him.

Grayson might be of some value to somewhere. Maybe a three-team deal where he goes to the Magic, Suns get Coby White, Bulls get a 1st.

Suns can keep Nurkic too. His contract may be of value next season to a team looking to shed salary.

^All that said... Ishbia won't allow that to happen. He's building around Booker and KD.

Ishbia can go one of three ways

1) make smaller moves with say Grayson Allen and really not sure who else. I am with you - let Nurkic stick around as the value to trade him (PWill) is probably not worth it. I think Gogi for Allen - if that is really would be about the best they can do without doing something major. Well aside from sending Damion lee to the Warriors or Tyus Jones somewhere for whatever

2) he can blow it up. and if the Rockets would do that trade, all for it. Even taking back Dillon Brooks!

3) he can just say "bleep it" - going all in. And that is the one that is concerning me because there is no telling how desperate and stupid he could be in the next four days

[mkot]

Embiid knee is cooked, what are we talking about?

[KdoubleDees23]

I would actually be down to blow it up! Would be fun to watch young guys hustling!

Give me Booker for Amen, Brooks, Adams, and 1 pick back
Give me KD for Chet and like 3 firsts.

A team of

Tyus Jones
Brooks
Amen
Chet
Adams

Would actually be more fun to watch and probably better than what we have now

[BobbieL]

I'm still down to blow it up.

Devin Booker for Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, Suns picks back

KD for Chet and whatever else to make salaries work. The Mavs skunked the Thunder in the playoffs last year, and they showed they can do it again without Luka this year (Mavs 3-0 against them without Luka). They need the help.

Beal can stick around. HIs contract is a net negative right now, but in two seasons it'll be valuable since it will be an expiring contract. Keep him.

Grayson might be of some value to somewhere. Maybe a three-team deal where he goes to the Magic, Suns get Coby White, Bulls get a 1st.

Suns can keep Nurkic too. His contract may be of value next season to a team looking to shed salary.

^All that said... Ishbia won't allow that to happen. He's building around Booker and KD.

I don't even think we could get Amen for Book anymore. And certainly not Chet for KD. OKC is built around defensive identity, youth, and good contracts. KD is the opposite of that. Not only that he is left them in FA with no indication he was going to so he is the most hated player in OKC....that trade would make their fans almost as livid as Mavs fans are.

Dude OKC would trade Chet for KD in a heartbeat! What are you smoking. Add KD to that team and they win it all.

Its pretty hard to make a trade work with the Thunder as they really only have one player making big money

Holmgren Dortz, Wiggins and Dieng works cap wise

[lilfishi22]

Maybe there wasn't an indication made by Luka's camp that they might leave, though I still think based on Nico's comments he was worried about him not signing the max...he talked about a tumultuous summer and if he doesn't sign the max extension, you are then on the clock. Maybe he got overly concerned/worried that Luka would leave and he'd have nothing. Maybe Luka wouldn't have, but I think he was scared of it.

The main reason I mention I don't think Luka said anything yet is this tweet I came across (though they could talk about him being out of shape, etc, too)..

Read on Twitter

Whether Luka wanted to leave or not, Nico jumped the shark. There's no doubt about it. They still had Luka's under contract for another season so it makes no sense to just trade him to the first (and only) team they called up

With the limited information we have, I agree. But typically if you are going to get anything for a guy coming up on his first UFA, where you think he might leave, you start looking 2 years out, usually try to do it no later than the trade deadline a year and a half out, and at the very latest, the offseason before. But he said in the press conference that if he didn't sign the extension this summer that puts them on the clock. I think he may have overthought it and figured he would have less leverage at that point, which he would. And he had the unknown of how healthy Luka would come back for the rest of this season...he's been out a long time with a calf injury. But still, I think they should have gotten more. But they probably valued in today's market, AD worth about 7 firsts, given KD got the equivalent of like 10 firsts and 5 2nds and Bridges got 5 firsts, etc.

People are kind of acting a little like AD is chopped liver. He's still playing at an All NBA 1st team level. The only big playing better than him is Jokic and maybe Wemby. He's 3 years younger than when we traded a ton for KD. AD's value should be AT LEAST what KD's was, being 3 years younger.

No I agree. I don't have an issue with the timing. IMO it's due diligence that I think should happen if you have ANY inkling your star may not be 100% onboard or the front office isn't sure about moving forward with the player. As you said, this is when teams start testing the waters, get a feel of what they can get. But that's exactly it, Mavs didn't do that at all. There's some talk that they may have reached out to 1-2 other teams but this 100% should've been opened to the entire market. Even if LA was the only team, I find it hard to believe they couldn't force LA to give up more than 1 pick and in fact, gave up a 2nd to Utah

That's why I said Nico jumped the shark, not specifically with the timing of the trade (Mavs can trade Luka whenever they feel like they should) but moving Luka for the first trade available instead of and before an open auction process because he's afraid of the upcoming offseason is what I mean by jumping the shark.

Also agree that AD is still an elite player when he's healthy. Top 3 2-way player in the league but when you move on from a 25yo perennial MVP candidate and all-NBA 1st teamer, you're trading away a big part of your future and the expectation should be to receive future draft capital back. A single first rounder doesn't come close to that

[BobbieL]

I would actually be down to blow it up! Would be fun to watch young guys hustling!

Give me Booker for Amen, Brooks, Adams, and 1 pick back
Give me KD for Chet and like 3 firsts.

A team of

Tyus Jones
Brooks
Amen
Chet
Adams

Would actually be more fun to watch and probably better than what we have now

At least there would be hope
overpaying for Butler combined with extending him and Durant would be a boring painful regression to the lower echelon of the NBA

but hey, Book KD and Butler would be making $175m together so what do they care

[kennydorglas]

Great take by Whitlock.
Finally someone speaking the truth.

[lilfishi22]

This is a bit interesting. Around 3 min and at 3:30 what he says....

Watch on YouTube

TLDR?

[lilfishi22]

I think a big thing that's just starting to get discussed (after the initial shock and understanding of the return) is the Mavs treatment of Luka. Moving your franchise guy, Dirk's heir apparent, and for him to find out through Shams. That's just dirty

There's no way the Mavs front office don't have a dark mark on them now

[bwgood77]

Whether Luka wanted to leave or not, Nico jumped the shark. There's no doubt about it. They still had Luka's under contract for another season so it makes no sense to just trade him to the first (and only) team they called up

With the limited information we have, I agree. But typically if you are going to get anything for a guy coming up on his first UFA, where you think he might leave, you start looking 2 years out, usually try to do it no later than the trade deadline a year and a half out, and at the very latest, the offseason before. But he said in the press conference that if he didn't sign the extension this summer that puts them on the clock. I think he may have overthought it and figured he would have less leverage at that point, which he would. And he had the unknown of how healthy Luka would come back for the rest of this season...he's been out a long time with a calf injury. But still, I think they should have gotten more. But they probably valued in today's market, AD worth about 7 firsts, given KD got the equivalent of like 10 firsts and 5 2nds and Bridges got 5 firsts, etc.

People are kind of acting a little like AD is chopped liver. He's still playing at an All NBA 1st team level. The only big playing better than him is Jokic and maybe Wemby. He's 3 years younger than when we traded a ton for KD. AD's value should be AT LEAST what KD's was, being 3 years younger.

No I agree. I don't have an issue with the timing. IMO it's due diligence that I think should happen if you have ANY inkling your star may not be 100% onboard or the front office isn't sure about moving forward with the player. As you said, this is when teams start testing the waters, get a feel of what they can get. But that's exactly it, Mavs didn't do that at all. There's some talk that they may have reached out to 1-2 other teams but this 100% should've been opened to the entire market. Even if LA was the only team, I find it hard to believe they couldn't force LA to give up more than 1 pick and in fact, gave up a 2nd to Utah

That's why I said Nico jumped the shark, not specifically with the timing of the trade (Mavs can trade Luka whenever they feel like they should) but moving Luka for the first trade available instead of and before an open auction process because he's afraid of the upcoming offseason is what I mean by jumping the shark.

Also agree that AD is still an elite player when he's healthy. Top 3 2-way player in the league but when you move on from a 25yo perennial MVP candidate and all-NBA 1st teamer, you're trading away a big part of your future and the expectation should be to receive future draft capital back. A single first rounder doesn't come close to that

This would have been kind of like Cleveland trading LeBron a year and a half before he left them in FA for Miami for an all NBA player and first rounder or OKC trading KD for an all NBA player and first rounder a year and ahalf before he left them in FA for GS.

Both teams and GMs would have been ridiculed to no end for it, and their fans would have hated it, but in the end, what happened was worse. Both teams luckily recovered nicely though.

[TeamTragic]

I think a big thing that's just starting to get discussed (after the initial shock and understanding of the return) is the Mavs treatment of Luka. Moving your franchise guy, Dirk's heir apparent, and for him to find out through Shams. That's just dirty

There's no way the Mavs front office don't have a dark mark on them now

Nico is an absolute clown. He doesn't understand how this looks around the league

Luka is not perfect but you were just in the Finals. What else do you want from him?

[kennydorglas]

This is a bit interesting. Around 3 min and at 3:30 what he says....

Watch on YouTube

TLDR?

Mavs blamed doncic fatass for his last injury lol

[bwgood77]

This is a bit interesting. Around 3 min and at 3:30 what he says....

Watch on YouTube

TLDR?

They think his injuries are because of his conditioning and they are tired of dealing with it day in and day out, and they are taking the opposite approach the Pelicans are taking with Zion and the Clippers with Kawhi and do not want to become beholden to him and his injuries and wonder when he will play.

Of course they are trading for AD, but he's never out of shape.

[mkot]

I think a big thing that's just starting to get discussed (after the initial shock and understanding of the return) is the Mavs treatment of Luka. Moving your franchise guy, Dirk's heir apparent, and for him to find out through Shams. That's just dirty

There's no way the Mavs front office don't have a dark mark on them now

Cold, and stupid.

How many picks did they give up to put these guys around Luka that made it to the Finals last season? A 1st for Kyrie, 2 1st for PJ Washington and a future swap for Gafford. Not only they can't get 2 1st from the Fakers (of course they need to leave Fakers enough assets looking to rob other teams ), they had to give away a 2nd to the Jazz. I'm still disgusted.

[BobbieL]

This is a bit interesting. Around 3 min and at 3:30 what he says....

Watch on YouTube

TLDR?

They think his injuries are because of his conditioning and they are tired of dealing with it day in and day out, and they are taking the opposite approach the Pelicans are taking with Zion and the Clippers with Kawhi and do not want to become beholden to him and his injuries and wonder when he will play.

Of course they are trading for AD, but he's never out of shape.

Still not so sure they got enough back for Luka in the deal but maybe there was a lot behind the scenes they were done with it

That chubby kid took them to the NBA Finals last year

[lilfishi22]

This is a bit interesting. Around 3 min and at 3:30 what he says....

Watch on YouTube

TLDR?

Mavs blamed doncic fatass for his last injury lol

It's probably no without merit but fat/injured Luka carried that team to the Finals lol

[lilfishi22]

I think a big thing that's just starting to get discussed (after the initial shock and understanding of the return) is the Mavs treatment of Luka. Moving your franchise guy, Dirk's heir apparent, and for him to find out through Shams. That's just dirty

There's no way the Mavs front office don't have a dark mark on them now

Cold, and stupid.

How many picks did they give up to put these guys around Luka that made it to the Finals last season? A 1st for Kyrie, 2 1st for PJ Washington and a future swap for Gafford. Not only they can't get 2 1st from the Fakers (of course they need to leave Fakers enough assets looking to rob other teams ), they had to give away a 2nd to the Jazz. I'm still disgusted.

The magnitude of F up this is

Read on Twitter

[lilfishi22]

This is a bit interesting. Around 3 min and at 3:30 what he says....

Watch on YouTube

TLDR?

They think his injuries are because of his conditioning and they are tired of dealing with it day in and day out, and they are taking the opposite approach the Pelicans are taking with Zion and the Clippers with Kawhi and do not want to become beholden to him and his injuries and wonder when he will play.

Of course they are trading for AD, but he's never out of shape.

lol Mavs BETTER hope Luka is missing 30-40 games a season from here on out