He's not getting traded, but at least we might suck more. Full disclosure I don't think he was getting traded by the deadline anyways. Everything I have read sounds like the offers either haven't been good enough or suggested that they likely were not going to get an offer good enough right now.

is shack still a thing? handle name change?

should just trade him now anyways, so we dont risk giving him more years

I think this is for the best. Of course, if there actually was a good AD trade on the table then this sucks. But my suspicion is that all of the AD trades presented to the Mavs have been poor. Otherwise he would already be gone. Maybe they were offered someone like Risacher, who doesn't appear to be anything more than a good rotation player at best. I just don't believe they were offered any premium picks or were ever going to get one for AD.

The most critical thing is for the Mavs to tank and drop as low in the standings as possible. Then pray for some luck. The Mavs winning percentage when AD plays was at 50%, but they are 10 games under .500 when AD doesn't play. Mavs are currently sitting on the 9th fewest wins. It is a guarantee at this point that they won't be catching MIL (2 wins above them). I think it is also a guarantee that LAC will pass them as they chase a playoff berth. The worst case finish is 8th best odds, but they are only 1 win above 6th best odds at the moment. WSH just got Trae Young and has been playing decent in their last 10. Maybe they can get as low as 4th in the best case. Mavs need to shamelessly go for maximum ping pong balls, just play Nico's guy Caleb Martin for 40 minutes and let the magic happen. Get a little lucky, give me a top 4 pick to pair with Flagg and I don't care what happens to AD.

As for AD is concerned, you just play him next year as available and move on when he is off contract. There is nothing really to do here. When the trade happened last year, everyone knew on the day it happened what an abomination it was. The Mavs lost Luka effectively for nothing because racist Nico wanted to hang out with his buddies. Salvaging value here has never been on the table.

zgolfz85 said:

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is shack still a thing? handle name change?

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Seeing as where his last posts reside and the things he was advocating for in said thread… I'm assuming he earned an extended break.

light_bulb said:

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zgolfz85 said:

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is shack still a thing? handle name change?

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Seeing as where his last posts reside and the things he was advocating for in said thread… I'm assuming he earned an extended break.

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Ah I must've missed that

Street Clothes!

“You always doing this Scott. You cheated the Pacers all the way throughout out the Finals last year. Don’t cheat me, dumbass.”

— Jason Kidd to Scott Foster 😳pic.twitter.com/Cxn6n48X52

— Playoff Sports (@PlayoffSports_) January 11, 2026

Kick his ass, Jason

Mavs are about to lose a lot of games. Hunker down.

Tksymm7 said:

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Mavs are about to lose a lot of games. Hunker down.

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Man. Being a Dallas sports fan sucks right now. All of our teams are ass or playing like ass

Dallas sports are in a really weird spot right now. The Stars are clearly the best team and have the best front office by a country mile, however they are also faltering right now and could use tweaking or freshening up. The rest are definitely in a weird spot. The Cowboys are half really really good and half really really bad, but at least have some draft capital to work with. The Mavs just got bailed out getting what looks like a generational talent in Coop and appear headed to top eight-ish draft odds, but are so loaded with bad contracts it'll make your head spin. I also hate tanking with a player like Coop on the team because I think it wears on his competitive spirit. The Rangers to me are in ultimate no-mans land. They have huge contracts, are going to get hit with luxury tax, some young players, no farm system whatsoever, and feel like a quintessential 81-81 team.

Rangers won the World Series 3 years ago.
Stars were in the Conference Finals each of the last 3 seasons.
Mavs were in the Finals 2 years ago.

None of those teams are trending upwards at the moment, but they've each undeniably had success in recent years. The Cowboys are the only Dallas franchise annually allergic to post season success and have been largely irrelevant my entire adult life.

Mark Stein went on the DLLS podcast and basically confirmed that there were no actionable AD offers on the table. Obviously there won't be any offers until next trade deadline at the earliest. And let's be real, that would imply AD is healthy and playing well. In other words, very unlikely we ever see an AD trade in my opinion. I would imagine AD is picking up his option and playing 2 more seasons for the Mavs.

In the meantime I think Gafford, Klay, and Naji are all potential trade targets for other teams. Klay might be interesting for some teams with expiring salary, but I wouldn't expect any major return for him. Gafford might get you expiring salary and a first round pick in the 20's. Naji is an interesting player and might get you something in the late 20's as well or some 2nd rounders. I would think at least one of those guys is getting moved for tax reasons if nothing else. I wouldn't mind another pick in this year's draft.

As far as Nico nuking the franchise is concerned, I will say this. Obviously trading Luka for AD was insanely stupid. Not only is that your franchise and most popular player, but he also the better, healthier, younger player. But Nico's monumental stupidity (and a little bit of luck) has opened a small chance for the Mavericks to speed run a rebuild before it is too late. That trade decision is why the Mavs missed the playoff and Kyrie ultimately got hurt. That is also why they have Flagg today. The ripple effects of that decision are why $100M in payroll (AD / Kyrie) isn't playing this year. It is also why the Mavs should get a top 8 pick. If they hit on some ping pong balls (Dybanasta, Peterson, Boozer, Wilson) or hit on a prospect (Flemings, Philon, Brown Jr., Quaintance), then Mavs will have something real to build on. If they pick a bust to pair with Flagg, then they will be pretty trapped with few good moves available. I just don't think we will know how this shakes out until the summer. All that being said, Nico's unbelievable incompetence may have inadvertently built a good future team. Something at the time of the trade I didn't think was possible. Maybe this was 4D Nico vision all along.

jeffdjohnson said:

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Mark Stein went on the DLLS podcast and basically confirmed that there were no actionable AD offers on the table. Obviously there won't be any offers until next trade deadline at the earliest. And let's be real, that would imply AD is healthy and playing well. In other words, very unlikely we ever see an AD trade in my opinion. I would imagine AD is picking up his option and playing 2 more seasons for the Mavs.

In the meantime I think Gafford, Klay, and Naji are all potential trade targets for other teams. Klay might be interesting for some teams with expiring salary, but I wouldn't expect any major return for him. Gafford might get you expiring salary and a first round pick in the 20's. Naji is an interesting player and might get you something in the late 20's as well or some 2nd rounders. I would think at least one of those guys is getting moved for tax reasons if nothing else. I wouldn't mind another pick in this year's draft.

As far as Nico nuking the franchise is concerned, I will say this. Obviously trading Luka for AD was insanely stupid. Not only is that your franchise and most popular player, but he also the better, healthier, younger player. But Nico's monumental stupidity (and a little bit of luck) has opened a small chance for the Mavericks to speed run a rebuild before it is too late. That trade decision is why the Mavs missed the playoff and Kyrie ultimately got hurt. That is also why they have Flagg today. The ripple effects of that decision are why $100M in payroll (AD / Kyrie) isn't playing this year. It is also why the Mavs should get a top 8 pick. If they hit on some ping pong balls (Dybanasta, Peterson, Boozer, Wilson) or hit on a prospect (Flemings, Philon, Brown Jr., Quaintance), then Mavs will have something real to build on. If they pick a bust to pair with Flagg, then they will be pretty trapped with few good moves available. I just don't think we will know how this shakes out until the summer. All that being said, Nico's unbelievable incompetence may have inadvertently built a good future team. Something at the time of the trade I didn't think was possible. Maybe this was 4D Nico vision all along.

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All of this reinforces what a monumentally stupid trade it was for Nico, as you pointed out. What seems clear to me is that Dallas is currently stuck between a rebuild and a "win now" roster, and that a rebuild is the only real path forward. AD is perpetually hurt, LIKE WE ALL KNEW WOULD BE THE CASE (except Nico inexplicably), and they need to trade him ASAP, even if its for a ham sandwich. I would also trade Kyrie and Klay, and get whatever prospects or draft picks you can salvage, and start the rebuild process now while Flagg is a young pup. It has to be a youth movement at this point.

Again, the crime committed imo is that Nico got a half full chip bag in return for Luka, not the act of trading Luka itself. I am not a Luka guy whatsoever, so I have no problem pivoting off and trading him in a vacuum, but they got absolutely NOTHING in return to help their future. Criminal.

Now, regarding the Mavs future, we've talked it to death but now with the injuries I think they MUST and can end up in the bottom 6. It's going to be competitive to get there (what an insane concept honestly) but they can do it if guys stay injured or continue to get injured. I think going into next year if you do somehow manage to get a top 5 pick, you spend the entire offseason getting guys healthy and see if you can craft some sort of schedule to keep AD on the floor for as much as possible. Go into next year with Coop, Kyrie, AD, top 5 pick, PJ, and Lively and see what happens.

jeffdjohnson said:

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Mark Stein went on the DLLS podcast and basically confirmed that there were no actionable AD offers on the table. Obviously there won't be any offers until next trade deadline at the earliest. And let's be real, that would imply AD is healthy and playing well. In other words, very unlikely we ever see an AD trade in my opinion. I would imagine AD is picking up his option and playing 2 more seasons for the Mavs.

In the meantime I think Gafford, Klay, and Naji are all potential trade targets for other teams. Klay might be interesting for some teams with expiring salary, but I wouldn't expect any major return for him. Gafford might get you expiring salary and a first round pick in the 20's. Naji is an interesting player and might get you something in the late 20's as well or some 2nd rounders. I would think at least one of those guys is getting moved for tax reasons if nothing else. I wouldn't mind another pick in this year's draft.

As far as Nico nuking the franchise is concerned, I will say this. Obviously trading Luka for AD was insanely stupid. Not only is that your franchise and most popular player, but he also the better, healthier, younger player. But Nico's monumental stupidity (and a little bit of luck) has opened a small chance for the Mavericks to speed run a rebuild before it is too late. That trade decision is why the Mavs missed the playoff and Kyrie ultimately got hurt. That is also why they have Flagg today. The ripple effects of that decision are why $100M in payroll (AD / Kyrie) isn't playing this year. It is also why the Mavs should get a top 8 pick. If they hit on some ping pong balls (Dybanasta, Peterson, Boozer, Wilson) or hit on a prospect (Flemings, Philon, Brown Jr., Quaintance), then Mavs will have something real to build on. If they pick a bust to pair with Flagg, then they will be pretty trapped with few good moves available. I just don't think we will know how this shakes out until the summer. All that being said, Nico's unbelievable incompetence may have inadvertently built a good future team. Something at the time of the trade I didn't think was possible. Maybe this was 4D Nico vision all along.

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I watched a couple interviews with Stein, and some of it seemed to be the Hawks/Mavs deal was close but there were two hang ups

1. They wanted to dump Trae first, then AD was hurt the day after the Trae trade
2. Mavs were demanding the Pelicans pick, which was an obvious deal breaker

I think first and foremost adding a fully healthy Kyrie for a few years would pour gas on what Coop is and can be in the future. Keeping Max Christie and adding another young shoot first guard/forward is step number two. The Mavs are so bad at consistently shooting the ball outside of Max Christie. Step number three would be to hopefully add a top five pick that develops into an all-star talent.

Agree on a shooter. Coop could have so many more assists if someone could knock down the wide open shots he creates.

My only thing on Kyrie is if you introduce a healthy version of him to this team we're a play-in team. I still think he's that good and impactful. Say your starting five next year is Kyrie, Max Christie, PJ Washington, Coop and Lively II, I think that is a really competitive team and a 6-8 seed. Again, the Mavs cannot afford to be bad or a lottery team again after this year, and I think if they were to trade Kyrie we'd be pretty close to that again.

In a perfect world I don't disagree trading Kyrie would be the smart move, but with where they are with their draft picks (or lack thereof) and overall future, trading Kyrie seems pretty risky and like something that could really blow us up.

With that being said, Kyrie isn't touching the floor for them this year, and tbh I would sit Gafford and PJ Washington until further notice with how beat-up they have been and are. You'd love to trade Gafford but I am not sure what he would fetch right now or if anyone wants him with how limited he's been.

Tksymm7 said:

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With that being said, Kyrie isn't touching the floor for them this year, and tbh I would sit Gafford and PJ Washington until further notice with how beat-up they have been and are. You'd love to trade Gafford but I am not sure what he would fetch right now or if anyone wants him with how limited he's been.

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I'd actually consider moving on from PJ and trying to get younger if he has any trade value. I really haven't enjoyed watching him play this year. The number of elementary level mistakes he makes on the court is kinda crazy for a player of his pedigree and contract.

I hated his game against the 76ers a couple weeks ago so I did a semi-deep dive on him and it's not good.

The Mavs are 9-21 in games that PJ plays in this year (6-4 in games without PJ). Both wins against Denver had no PJ. One of the wins in a game PJ played was the Houston game where he got his most recent injury in which he was a -6 in the 12 minutes he played.

On a career level, he consistently has a net rating between -6 and -11. He's -9 this year and he was -8 in the regular season in '24 after being traded to the Mavs. He had one year outside of that range in which he was a +1, and it was the year Charlotte primarily moved him to the bench. He was -3 net rating in the 24 playoffs. Every single year of his career he has been a negative in OBPM. According to VORP, he's barely above replacement-level every season.

TLDR: He's good for losing games right now, but he probably shouldn't be a major piece of the Mavs' future.

He can't be traded until the summer but he does have a ton of value. He will likely be a sought after asset if the Mavs decide to make him available.

Quote:

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Only way I'd consider trading Kyrie is if it gets you the NO pick from Atlanta.

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There's no way a 34yo guard coming off major injury gets you a top 6 pick.

I think Atlanta was going to do Davis after moving Trae, but now will pivot to Gafford or maybe JJJ.

Fascinating development: The Mavericks are having renewed Davis trade talks with multiple interested teams, sources said. If moved to a playoff contender, the return timeline could allow Davis to return during the postseason while establishing himself for the long-term elsewhere. https://t.co/RtoY5SutHr

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2026

I would not have guessed that about PJ. I love watching him play. Always seems like he's doing so much. My son's favorite Mav.

No surgery

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47603292/sources-anthony-davis-forgoes-surgery-reevaluated-6-weeks

100% a "hey let's float this rumor and see if we get more bites at a trade" hahah