The Dallas Mavericks HAVE TO TANK This Season

The Dallas Mavericks HAVE TO TANK This Season

Today’s show, the Dallas Mavericks may not have an option whether to tank or not. It’s kind of already happening. This is Cooper Flag and you’re listening to Locked On. I think that’s a good question. Morning. All these changes, you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal, your daily Mavericks podcast. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. I’m going to get a city like back and welcome. You are locked on to the Dallas Mavericks your team every day. My name is Nick Angstad medium member coming to the M for 10 years. Thanks for meeting every day or making lockdown apps your first listen and the Lockdown Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network out there. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now. New customers can bet just $5. If you bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanduel.com to get started. Joining me as always, my co-host, medium member, covering the Master for 10 years right alongside me, the Tank Titan, the One More Thing King. What you got for me, Isaac Harris? Nick, have you ever seen the the movie Fury? It’s a good pit. No. Fury. Fury. Tank. Tank movie. Brad Pit. No. All right. Whatever. I just ran the hole open. I thought you’ve seen it before, so I was going to Yes, I’ve seen I’ve seen that movie with Brad. The one with Brad Pitt, right? He’s really mad the whole time. Oh, a little punk. Today’s episode. Did you see the Moana live action? I saw I saw the trailer. I’m not really into it. They’re doing We’re doing this again. We’re doing this again. I don’t care. It’s still fun. Just give me Moana. Just give me Maui. Today’s episode we’re going to The Rock with that hair is going to be something. That’s That’s going to be That’s going to be a I want a fat head of it. Today’s episode we’re going to get into the maps. Should they tank? Should Anthony Davis play? Should Kyrie Irving play? How good will the Mavs be if Anthony Davis like when he does return? The Mavs have all these cap implications. They have draft implications. All kinds of different things with this whole situation this season because now they find themselves in this spot right here. And let’s start with this. The Dallas Mavericks are now 4-1. I keep tracking this because I want to everyone to realize how dire this situation is and how deep the Mavericks, this is your your thing, your stat. I’m owning this stat. I’m owning this stat. Since 2000, 124 teams have started 4 and 11 or worse. How many of them do you think have made the playoffs? Isaac Harris, I don’t know. You could go to your Twitter. I haven’t posted this one yet. I don’t know. 20. Eight. Eight out of 124. And only one team in the West has ever done this since 2000. And that was the Pelicans like three years ago. And they were they ended the season 36 and 46. And that was under Will that was under Willie Green. The Mavs are in a dire situation right now. They’re probably not going to dig themselves out of this already. Like that’s the spot that we’re in. I’ve seen a lot of people go, “Well, those teams didn’t have Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving ready to come back into the fold.” Well, I don’t know when Kyrie is coming back into the fold. We got that report that you and I both talked about in different episodes from Mark Spears that he is ahead of schedule and that one that is a great report that he if he was the playoffs, he could play right now. But I’m not trying to rush Kyrie Irving back. We I’ve been very clear on that. Like let’s not try and and rush him back in any way. and you’re definitely not rushing him back to this team. Then with Anthony Davis, he’s out for another se another week or so and you don’t know what he’s going to look like when he when he comes back either. Then we’ve already seen Anthony Davis with this team for five games and it did not look very good at all. And so the Mavs are in the situation where oh should they tank? Should they shut him down? Should they not? They might not have to make a choice. They’re they’re like tanking already. Yeah, this this is tough for me because historically I have been like I have teetered on the tank anti-tank crowd u because I do think let me let me say this I do think franchises who consistently tank over the years it does have effect on players players of development um just like the habits you’re creating around your organization your team and all of that. Um, but right now you got a tank. It’s I’m I’m all in. Like I I’m all aboard. Uh, I think it’s the only viable path um for you from this point on and I expect them to. What does tank look like to you for this team? Yeah. No, I I think well one I mean you haven’t actively I mean if you want to say you threw Cooper flag out a point guard day one. Um but they will say that you haven’t actively like shut down anyone. However you want to describe the AD situation right now and you’re still losing games and you’re bad. So, it it’s not like there’s going to be it’s not like you got to really go to the drawing board here and be like, “How are we going to lose games?” Just do what you keep doing. Uh but but what does like tanking actually mean for this team is one, you got to you got to hire a decision maker who’s going to make these decisions. Preferably, hopefully, it’s somebody who’s done it before. And then you start canvasing the league of for your for the vets on your team. Does that mean you’re going to trade everybody in the team? No, it doesn’t. But I think you realistically have the AD conversation. You realistically put the Flyers out there on his market. Um and then I mean the two players I fully expect to not be on this team come trade deadline is Klay Thompson and D’Angelo Russell. I think both of them are gone um for sure before the deadline, maybe even sooner, which is wild because D’Angel Russell, one of the only point guards healthy on the roster right now, which tells you just how bad that has been. We talked about that yesterday on the post game where we’re just like this should be his opportunity. This should be his time. He should be like leading leading the charge for this Mavs team. They need somebody. They need that skill set so badly. And for it to be this bad and for him to not be be filling that void is just woof, that is tough. Yeah, I still think a team like if Yeah, I still think a team would take him off the bench and stuff. Um I could be wrong on that, but yeah, the D do experience has been weird. That’s not the big conversation for our pod today, but it it’s been weird cuz it’s like I thought he was going to like start and have this defined role and then his role has just been super weird, too. And then some nights it’s like crap, man. Like we kind of need his scoring to even like be in this game. and he goes on these runs and stuff, but then he will dribble forever and then he falls into the bad habits and it’s just like, all right, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what’s what’s going on with it. It the decision-m has been frustrating and I I expected there to be ups and downs when when you get him, but for that to be as the downs are like weeks and the ups are like a game, you know? It’s like that’s that’s what we we’ve been in. and and and one, you know, we could sit here and talk about a lot of different reasons why they should tank. Um, and it’s not one, it’s not as easy, you know, especially with players involved, professionals involved. I think you and Slightly talked about it’s like, hey, it’s not realistic just look at Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving and say, “Hey, you’re just not going to play the rest of the year.” They’re in their 30s. Like, they’re win now players. They are uh they have been there, done that, won rings before um and all of the things with their careers and accolades. So looking at them at this point and saying at where they’re at in their career, especially like a Kyrie who’s coming off done all of this rehab from his injury and wherever that time is that he’s cleared to look at him and say, “Well, we kind of want that draft pick, so you’re not going to play.” And it’s like, dude, he’s been, you know, if I’m him, he’s like, “Dude, I’ve been busting my butt every single day to get back on the basketball court.” And now it’s like, well, now you’re not going to play. Um, so it’s more about looking at those guys. It’s the it’s the the players of Anthony Davis, it’s um Klay Thompson, it’s D’Angelo Russell, um you’re looking at a Daniel Gaffford. Uh and then I’ll even take it up a notch of saying if a team comes calling offering a first round pick for a Derek Lively or Max Christie, I think that’s something to have the conversation on too. You’re ready to just sell the farm. you’re ready to just like you but you you just did yesterday that you shouldn’t trade Kyrie and to me that that’s like the that’s the piece that is going to help you win the most out of maybe anybody anybody on the roster. It’s a man, it’s just it’s just such a tough situation the Mavs are in right now because if you’re like, “All right, they should tank.” All right. Well, then you’re telling Kyrie to sit for the rest of the year and telling him to not come back, right? No, I I think there’s a path that, you know, Kyrie can come back and start playing. Maybe not coming back in January, but you’re looking at I mean, the whole timeline, the whole, you know, time I’ve been saying end of February 1st to March. Yeah, Mark Spears threw out an earlier time time frame of like before the trade deadline, but um if he comes back midFebruary or end of February, early March, you don’t have that much left of the season. All right, so and you’re going to be at the bottom of the West anyway. There’s ways that you can bring him back, start building some chemistry with him, him and Cooper on the floor. Um, for me, I’m looking at three players that I’m like, well, one, you can’t trade PJ, and I love how PJ’s playing, so thank God you can’t trade him right now. Yeah. But I’m just looking at like Cooper, Kyrie, and PJ and saying like, hey, these are the three guys I’m kind of like keeping that core intact and then stepping into kind of that next phase next season. Man, I just don’t know if you’re I don’t know what you’re selling to Kyrie, especially if you’re like, “All right, we’re going to trade AD. We’re going to trade some of these other guys, too.” And he this is all depending on if he wants it. Like if you sit down with his camp and you know I said that and there’s some people like sit down with him. Who cares what he thinks? No, you do that. Like that’s just the spot you’re in. You sit down with him. Um and you’re like hey what do you want? Like do you want us to help you help get you somewhere? You’re going to be ready for a playoff like run and do you want us to help get you to Houston or wherever it’s at? And if so then you do right by him. I mean, he’s been incredible since he’s been here and you could get some good like value back for him. But for me personally, if he’s willing to stay and here’s one of my points I want us to talk about uh in the next, you know, segment or two is this is kind of like your one shot to tank. I’m like against this consistent tanking over the years, even though you need as many bites at the apple to get this like superstars in your system and in the draft uh in the in the hot draft picks. But I think that’s kind of like what you’re telling Cooper and Kyrie right now of hey, like we really can’t tank. This is 2023 all over again with getting Lively. Like literally it’s like the same season. We can’t tank from literally 2027 until our 2031 pick. So there’s really no incentive for us the next like four seasons to be bad. So this is our one shot. This is our one time to do it. And now we’re gonna like be building everything starting next summer honestly before this deadline. And that’s what makes it so difficult of a decision for the Mavericks because they cannot be bad next season. So how do you tank without I honestly don’t think it’s that difficult a decision. I think it’s pretty easy. Like you got to do it. There’s no other way around it. But but to sit every to sit the guys and then to like convince them to come back next year because you have to be like you have to be still viable and still like competitive I think is the thing. We’ll talk about that coming up next. How do they how do they weave that and how do they they make both those things work? We’ll talk about that coming. Today’s episode of Lock Apps brought to you by Skims when Skim out there making underwear for men. The reaction made perfect sense. People have been talking about skims comfort for years. Most guys though stick to what they’ve been buying and wearing since college. I know. I was doing that and then Skiim sent me a free pair of their underwear and I’ve been buying Skiims ever since because it is the best underwear that I’ve ever worn and uh it’s the same fit same waistbands that you have all the time and you got to get something different. Try something different with SKIMS. The favorite my favorite pair is the uh the box briefs. Got to love that. Holds everything. The waistband. Got a new package in, baby. Oh, how’s How are they feeling? How are they How are they feeling? They’re feeling great. We’re about to have baby number three. 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Why is it easier to to actually tank than what I’m what I’m making it? Uh because Kyrie’s not back yet. I think whenever the time that Kyrie comes back, the ship is already so much underwater that it’s not going to affect very much. Yeah, we are talking two months from now. Like a lot is going to happen between now and then. Yeah. And that’s why I’m saying like if Kyrie comes back midFebruary, you have what, eight weeks left of the season. Reminder for everyone, the trade deadline is not the halfway point of the season. U we’ve said this forever. If you make the finals, it’s halfway. Uh so there’s a way to bring Kyrie back and it’s, oh, Kyrie’s on a minute restriction, but he’s still like playing. he still gets to come back and ease back into or Kyrie’s playing, you know, three quarter. Oh, now we’re seeing kids pulling Kyrie in the fourth quarter. Wonder why. You know, it’s stuff like that to where he’s still playing. He’s happy. He’s fought to come back. He’s building some chemistry with Cooper and all and everything with Kyrie. So, I’m not worried about that. And the the way with AD, you trade him, which I think they’ll do. and you trade him pretty soon here coming up in um yeah before Christmas once that December 15th head um deadline starts. And the thing with AD here’s the thing with AD that everybody everybody’s been saying that I’m I actually like go the opposite way on it is you hear a lot of people saying right now with AD, well they can’t trade him until he comes back and plays a healthy stretch. He’s got to get some weeks under him playing a healthy stretch to prove his value. No, I think it’s the other way. I think his value will be hurt if he comes back and plays because one because one of the biggest things we’ve talked about that’s been reported on is he didn’t look in good shape and you think he’s been in working on his excellent shape with a calf strain. You can’t. So like it’s not like he’s like been doing a ton of conditioning as he’s working his way back to get healthier for from a calf strain. So, I I swing the opposite direction of you you let the hope of Anthony Davis of, hey, he’s healthy. His team says he’s healthy. he’s ready to go and we’ve just been ho like and you you let the hope sell him more than him get him get back on the floor and he and everybody signs off and it’s like well everybody signed off that he’s fully healthy everybody’s fully clear and he doesn’t look great on the floor and then the other teams are like well crap like this is what he is quote healthy and so I swing the other direction on it like I think they continue to hold him out continue to shop around if they’re going to do the trade in trading before he gets back on the floor. Man, I just I just think you’re selling really low if you’re if you’re just selling on on hope, which I guess you got to accept that like you’re not getting a a super ton back for Anthony Davis at this point or even just a decent offer for Anthony Davis. the the other problem with all of this and especially with Anthony Davis is like the Mavs are going to be a second apron team if they don’t do something next season that they’ll and that won’t probably won’t happen. They’ll make some moves, but they’ve got to make some but they have to make some moves between now and and next season with some of these guys. And so like you’re like, “All right, well, we got to take advantage of a time when we can move on from Anthony Davis whenever we can because it’s not working and you cannot pay in the luxury tax and in one of the aprons for this team, that guy, and all that.” They’re not going to be a second apron team next year. I’m just saying they’re projected. If they kept everybody, didn’t do anything. The first thing as passive damont that I’m telling the new GM, Dennis Lindsay, whoever it is is I’m saying you can’t look back at any of the past stuff. You can’t look back at the past trades and how players and picks and everything got here. You’re just about now and moving forward. And that’s where the Anthony Davis stuff comes into play. You can’t be attached to the Luca trade of saying, “Well, we’re going to hold on to him until we get Luca type of value back because everyone’s going to do the well, Luca was traded for and then include the Anthony Davis return, you know, the the next trade back.” You can’t do that. People will still do it, but you got to tell the GM you can’t look back at that trade as the the foundation for whatever you will get back from Anthony Davis right now. If you are going to build around the future, whatever you get back from Anthony Davis, the Anthony Davis like trade return, whether it’s a young player, a flyer at a young player, uh whether it’s cap relief, you know, going into next off season, whether it’s, you know, another draft pick or something like that, whatever that is, is that better than the mediocrity or the back and forth of the injuries with a 50, you know, $8 million price tag with the because that’s the that’s the thing too is like you got the extension stuff now and this is why I think the Anthony Davis trade like before Christmas or before the end of the year is the way to go with it because the the further you go closer to the deadline the more everyone is thinking about well crap now we’re going to have to be the team that has to make the decision of extending him and giving him 200 something million dollar extension over four years. Is he in shape right now? How what’s the status of him? So that’s that’s why I continuously go back to December 15th to December 31st. I feel like that’s like the best time frame if like you’re making an Anthony trade Anthony Davis. I just think that’s the that’s the Yeah, that’s the window. And you got to accept that that that deal is probably not going to be anywhere close to what you would love it to be. Sadly, we’re like it’s like the Porzingis trade all over again in a way, right? Like we didn’t like that. We didn’t like the the trade they got back from from that, but they split it into two contracts. They were more palatable. And with Anthony Davis, you you mentioned all the things the Mavs are dealing with right now with the Anthony Davis. You’re looking at the pressure to win. Now, if you have Anthony Davis on the roster, you’re looking at the squeeze of the uh the cap and the the next extension coming. So, you’re like you’re a second apron team next year. you have to potentially do an extension this summer and and all that that he’s gonna want and everything. And then the last thing is you’re on this hamster wheel of just like constantly dealing with the injuries and coming back and ramping up and then the injuries and then coming back and ramping up and all that. Like would you rather just get out from under that? Would you rather just get out from under that and just be done with it and move and move on and move forward or would you rather try and hold out for the potential that Anthony Davis can show that he can be like a top 10 player that we think that we think he can be when he’s healthy? And I think that’s that’s the question for the new GM is how low are you willing to go is how bad do you want to turn the page to the Cooper movement to flexibility? um to another asset, young asset, like if they did trade him to Chicago for basically like expiring contracts. Let’s say no pick was involved and it’s Vu Herder and Kobe White. Like that’s going to piss off a lot of fans, but the new GM is going to be like, well, we get the rest of the season to try out Kobe White, see what we want to give him for an extension. We clear off how, you know, $30 million off the books. we don’t have to decide on the 4-year, you know, max contract extension for AD coming up this off season. And we’re kind of just starting wiping that off off the books there. Like that’s a tough that’s a tough sale, but that’s what you almost have to do as a GM of coming in. Like you can’t connect what you do with AD to the Luca Dona trade. You just can’t do it. Quickbooks trade is what the what the MS are doing. Like making making a trade to make the books feel better, which I mean they may have to do coming up. How good would the Mavs actually be if Anthony Davis did return? Like let’s say they he does return. What would that look like? We’ll talk about some other I also want to talk Yeah, I also want to talk about some draft picks in the third segment, too. Why the why tanking is so important because of these draft picks coming today’s episode of lockdown maps brought to you by Ripling. If you’re a business owner, here’s the truth. SAS pro promised to make work easier. But did they? Now the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams and simply they just don’t work together like the maps on offense. That’s not SAS. That’s sad. Software as a disservice. That’s why you need Rippling. Rippling is the unified platform for global HR, payroll, IT, and finance all in one place. They’ve helped millions of businesses replace a mess of disconnected tools with one system designed to give leaders clarity, speed, and control. You can do all kinds of things with Ripling. You have everything from onboarding to payroll to IT access. It runs automatically and perfectly in sync. Whether you want to run your entire HR, IT, and finance operations as one, or just fill in the gaps in your software stack, Ripling can do it all. Right now, you can get six months free when you go to rippling.com/lockdownba. So you can learn more at ripp png.com/lockton NBA. Ripling.com/lockton NBA. You get six months free. Shut it down. Let’s go home. All right, Isaac, you want to talk about the drafts? Because one of the things with with tanking is like you have to think that you’re going to get something good and something worth going there, right? You don’t just tank for like the 2024 draft or where you’re going, all right, the top pick has reached Shay. We’re just getting like a solid rotation player. What is at the top of this draft or what is near the top of this draft that is so worth the Mavericks doing all this, tanking all this, potentially having Kyrie ask them out, you know, all all the things that could come with it. If you go back to the Luca stuff, remember back when Luca came in the league and he was so dang good and we compared him, we compared those rebuilds to other rebuilds and like you look at like Atlanta and everybody was talking about Atlanta’s young core. It’s like well yeah because they still sucked after Trey was drafted and they got all these like different young players to you know kind of swing on to go around Trey. You never got that with Luca because he came in and was first team all NBA his second year and it was like you were off and rolling and everything and you had to give up that draft that first draft pick after Luca’s rookie season. That’s what you had to give up in that trade with the Hawks to move up, right? Like so you didn’t get that that pick after the rookie season to try to get somebody to land around, you know, to to go with Luca. Well, now you have that chance with a Cooper flag to get that prospect after the rookie season and you don’t have all the other picks. So, this is your one chance to where you own your pick. Literally, it goes to Charlotte the next year and then you have the worst swap in the world in 2028, okay, with OKC, which the only reason you got that is because you got a first from OKC to send in the Daniel Gaffford trade to get Daniel Gaffford. And in return, they’re like, “Hey, we’ll give you this first to get Gaffford, but you got to swap, do a pick swap in 2028.” Galaxy Brand by Prey because now Luca is not on the team. So, and then there’s a swap after that. And then, you know, you get the Lakers pick. The Lakers pick is literally the only thing that’s like decent or could be decent through there, but still like it’s probably it might still be in the 20s. What are you What are you betting on there? So you get a chance, you get this one shot to add this other young super good piece around Cooper flag and you look at the top of the draft pick. I mean the top of the draft like I mean you get Kansas and Duke that’s playing tonight and being a Peterson’s out with a hamstring injury. He’s missed three straight games. But Darren Peterson’s one of the best guard prospects I’ve ever seen. So if you have a chance I mean he’s it feels like he’s going to go one or two. If you have a chance to pair Darren Peterson with Cooper Flag, that’s just unfair. So, and then after that is you got Debons at at BYU, he’s a super long wing and it feels like them two are going to I think they’re going to like separate themselves from the rest of the pack there. But like you get a you get a chance at one of those two guys like there’s a chance AJ’s better than Cooper. All right. So there’s a chance Peterson’s better than Cooper. We’re talking about them as like the A and Cooper is like Robin. So, and you get a chance to pair two prospects like that together with a chance at it. And then after that, you have Michael Brown. Like, I mean, you’re talking about Boozer if you want to go the big route. Boozer at Duke. Um, North Carolina, Caleb Wilson. You got the Tennessee. I was wondering why you didn’t put Boozer in with the top with the other top guys. I was like, “Oh, yeah, he’s ghosted.” I like Boozer. It’s just like I think there’s just a He’s kind of like that tweener. He’s like a 69 four slash5 big body. I mean, super skill. He’s going to be amazing. Um, but then like you look at like Michael Brown at Loville, dude is I mean can light it up. One of the quickest releases. So let’s say you land at six and you still get Michael Brown. You get to pair Michael Brown with Cooper Flag. Like that’s your chance. Like so I just think so many things are have added up to this one moment that there’s literally only one path to take is to have this one shot at getting you just walked through a mini rebuild with a superstar seven eight years ago in Luca and you’re like you had to like swing for these like catch like these trades like a a Porzingis or to try to find that running mate for Luca early on because you didn’t have that chance to draft one after his rookie season whenever you sucked and now you got that one chance to do it. You got to do it. And you look at some of the best teams in recent memory. The Thunder had they got SG out of that trade. So they had that that was their number one. And then they got Jayla Williams because they were bad still. They got CE because they were bad still. You know, they got they some of those were one of those was was a trade that they got, but they were still bad. So they were able to get a high pick. You look at the the Celtics and they were able to take advantage of a of a Nets trade and get Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum. Like it’s one of the only ways to really pair two guys together unless you’re one of these big markets that can attract some of these guys or you can get somebody to to like, you know, pair up or you know pair together and like demand that they come to Dallas. And we’ve seen that that hasn’t hasn’t worked out necessarily. Maps have tried to plan plan powder or anything like that trying to clear up cap space. And so this is the one way to to to really get somebody. And the odds are not like insanely against you anymore because a lot of people are also saying, “Well, look at Indiana. Look at Washington. Look at Brooklyn. Look at New Orleans. You’re not going to catch those guys.” That’s probably true. You’re probably not going to catch them. It’s also a long season. We’ll see. The Mavs have four wins and some of those teams have two. You know, it’s like not a huge not a huge difference. The Mavs are about to say, “Hold my beer.” But here we go. the difference between the Pelicans right or the yeah the the Brooklyn Nets right now at four. They have a 13% chance at number one. The Mavs at seven in the tanking standings have an 8% chance. That’s not that big of that’s not that big of a difference in in the ch in like the percent of chance. The Mavs have proven that like all right well a team can come out of nowhere and jump everybody in in in this draft lottery the way that it has been positioned now. But but that’s the thing too is like even if you don’t jump. Yes, you could jump and have a generational type of pairing of a Peterson with Cooper or a Debons with with Cooper. I mean that’s is insane. Uh or you know even a Boozer and that’s your big with Cooper moving forward. Um but even if you land at like six or seven and you get a Caleb Wilson or you get you know a Mike Brown like these are amazing prospects. like the top of this draft is as advertised, but like these these are good prospects and it’s not like, you know, you’re just kind of searching around like last draft and it’s like, oh, Demon, here we go. He’s in, he can pass. And I I just I lean obviously towards the the backcourt type of prospects, I think, for Dallas. Maybe because I’m just a little burned right now of just watching a team without good backcourt play and I’m just sick and tired of it. Um, but I’ve just love Yeah, I just Yeah, there’s just too much stuff that’s that’s added up. And the fact that you can’t do it consistently moving forward, that’s where that’s where you can’t sell me on that. You can’t sell me on, well, we’re just going to be we’re just going to be bad for the next like six years. I hate that. And and I get it. I you can give me all the math and all the hey, well, you just need all the first round picks. I get all of that. I just I I will never sign up for that. But one season, you get one shot at it right now. This is And I think the selling point to Cooper, even to Kyrie, like I think it all like makes sense in that. And and it starts with you got to get somebody in there that’s going to call the shots. And you got to start shopping around your vets. And that’s that’s the route I expect them to take. It worked in 2023 when the Mavs got Derrick Lively. They they tanked at the end of that season. They got they got Kyrie that that season didn’t go well. They didn’t take very long in that season. They just end up being way worse than we thought. But you get the Derek Lively pick and that one worked out so well you made the finals. The AD situation is the only one out of the vets that I think could have a drastic negative effect like moving forward if you don’t do anything about it. Like let’s say you you can’t like you don’t find something that you you like for clay. Let’s say the value just is like fully tanked on Clay and you you just keep him. Like I don’t expect them to trade him and work with him to go somewhere, but it’s that’s not going to like kill you this summer because you have Clay on your books for $15 million. Same with DLO. Like they would probably just wave him at that point and just say, “Hey, go go go find another team before the playoffs.” AD is the one that if you don’t handle it correctly over the next two months that it could I mean it could be a huge damper on your roster building around Cooper in these early years if you don’t get that right. Lots of things going against them in that in that sense. So we’ll be here documenting all of them. We’ll be following whatever the Mavs end up doing. So we’ll be here five days a week and more covering every single postgame and all that. Go check out all the great shows we’ve been doing this week. Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Mavs. Peace out. Boom. Rev up those tanks.

The Dallas Mavericks find themselves facing a tough decision: should the Mavs tank the rest of the NBA season or push forward, especially with rookies like Cooper Flagg and stars like Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving impacted by injuries? With critical draft picks, cap implications, and the future of the franchise at stake, the Mavericks’ direction could shape their place in the Western Conference and the wider NBA landscape.

Nick Angstadt and Isaac Harris break down the Mavs’ current struggles, potential tanking scenarios, and how players like Klay Thompson, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, and D’Angelo Russell factor into both the present and future of the Dallas Mavericks. They discuss GM decisions, cap space challenges, and trade possibilities surrounding veterans including Anthony Davis, as well as the impact of Jason Kidd, Patrick Dumont, and the rest of the front office. Get insightful analysis on how the Mavs can build around Cooper Flagg, what Kyrie Irving’s timeline means for the season, and whether tanking is the only realistic path forward for Dallas.

Tune in for comprehensive NBA coverage, in-depth Dallas Mavericks talk, and analysis on draft prospects, team strategy, and what it means for the Mavs’ long-term success.

0:00 Mavs’ Dire Tanking Situation
13:39 Should Mavericks Trade Vets?
23:34 Draft Prospects & Tanking Value

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