Dallas Mavericks Center Dereck Lively II OUT FOR SEASON | DLLS Mavs Podcast

Dallas Mavericks Center Dereck Lively II OUT FOR SEASON | DLLS Mavs Podcast

Another day, another unfortunate injury setback for the Dallas Mavericks. We will talk about that and more coming up next on the DLS Mavs podcast. [Music] [Music] [Music] Welcome in to the DLS mass podcast powered by Game Time and Michelob Ultra. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code DLS for $20 off your first purchase. And Michelob Ultra, official beer sponsor of the NBA, Kevin Gray, alongside our DLLS MAS beatriter, Ron Har Jr., our DLS Mavs analyst, Bobby Kura, and our national NBA insider Mark Stein. We are DLLS Mavs, your favorite guys cover your favorite team every single day. appreciate you hanging out with us here on this unfortunate uh newsworthy day for the Dallas Mavericks here. The breaking news, Derek Lively II is going to be out for the rest of the 202526 season as the team announced earlier today that he will be undergoing foot surgery uh on his right foot and will be done for the remainder of the year. We will break all that down and more here on today’s episode on this um yeah unfortunate day in Mavericks news. Ron Haraj, how are we feeling? You know um sad day for the Mavericks hopeful. So I I feel bad for everyone involved. Bobby, what’s going on? Uh I want to say that this is the worst day of my life, but it’s not even the worst day of this year. So it’s another another tough blow for Mavs fans. Um, Kent Ketchum, uh, I think that’s Ash Ketchum’s dad in the chat saying, “Come on, guys. We knew this was coming.” I think we all kind of maybe thought kind of had an idea, but it’s one thing to think and it’s another thing for it to be reality. And the reality reality is terrible. Mark Stein, life is life is very difficult. Bobby insists that he is not sick and I’m going to believe him. He I’m not sick. I have been crying. Sounds like he’s been crying his eyes out for an hour and I would believe that I haven’t. It’s been two hours. Um, yeah. Look, I I think realistically, all joking aside, that since since late November, the the worry has been that, you know, this was going to be long-term absence and it’s now a for the season absence. is just Derek Lively is such a lovable young man. He had such a great rookie season. You see what little we’ve seen of him with Cooper flag. They’ve got the Duke bond. They’re on the same injury timeline. You know, the ma last year was a nightmare for Lively on the injury front. Obviously, the trade of Luca Donuch affected him probably as much as anyone because playing off Luca was so good for him as a rookie. This was supposed to be a big season. He had the procedure in July to deal with bone spurs and now to require another procedure. Like he has such a great spirit. You see it even when he’s on the bench in street clothes interacting with his teammates and just it just there’s no other way to say it. It just this sucks. It just it’s really sad and let’s hope that this next procedure can do the trick and keep him on the floor for 60 plus games next season. But look, I mean, the young man has been played with this kind of stuff since he’s been a Mav. There’s been one thing after another. And again, it’s just it’s very sad cuz the whole process to make him a Mav to to get that draft pick, to bring him in here, he’s embraced it so much. And again, spirit-wise, he’s a huge part of this team, even though he’s so young. And yeah, I mean, what what can you say? I mean, it just it it’s it’s brutal. It’s worth crying about. No, it’s uh a brutal day. wouldn’t know for for not only for live but obviously for Mavericks fans to enjoy the player who has been and become a fan favorite for this team. Uh unfortunately only playing seven games this year um in his now what will be three seasons uh only played 98 games in his career uh unfortunately. So, as we start to not only react to this news, Mark, I’ll come back to you on this as well. The timeline, you kind of started to lay it out a little bit, having the bone spur cleanup uh during the summer, obviously continuing to deal with the foot issue. Now, what is next in terms of not only for him, but how this team starts to evaluate uh its overall center situation with Anthony Davis? Obviously, Daniel Gaffney uh is dealing with the right ankle injury that he’s been dealing with since day one of training camp. Uh you still have Musa Cece and Dwight Pal obviously on this roster. What does this start to look like from uh that standpoint for this team? Well, look, I’ve I think I’ve written it two, three, four times. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve written it. There is interest in Daniel Gaffford. From the moment Daniel Gaffford signed that extension, which was to the dollar, the max amount he could receive and remain tradable in season before the February 5th trade deadline, there’s interest in him. Yesterday on my Substack, Jake Fiser reported that Indiana is believed to have interest in Gaffford. I’ve heard the same. They won’t be alone. But what I’ve also been writing along the way is if you’re the Mavs, do you trade Gaffford when you have when you see Lively with these ongoing and incessant injury setbacks? But the reality is Gaffford’s missed time here lately, too. Anthony Davis, we know he doesn’t want to play the five, but his his best basketball as a Maverick has been at the five. He’s been playing almost exclusively at the five here lately and all these big games and big numbers. he’s been posting. So, you know, look for if nobody’s they’re not calling me to ask my opinion, but I am firmly of the belief the Mavs need to end up in the lottery at season’s end. I don’t know if they can in this West because the bottom of the West is so much weaker than we expected and it’s going to be difficult for them to just make sure they’re in the lottery. But because this is the only first round pick they control between now and 2031, they have to end up in the lottery. And so if that means trading Gaffford, to me, Gaffford is the most tradable Maverick of anyone on the roster in season. His contract is such that the interest will only it interest will persist and it’s an it’s a much easier deal to do than trading Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis just by virtue of the high contract number he has, it’s just a much tougher trade. And so to me, even with Lively out for the year, if I’m the Mavs, Gaffford has been a tremendous Mav. But if you can get a future draft asset for him, it’s something that I mean that should be what they’re pursuing in my in my opinion. you know, Klay Thompson, D’Angelo Russell, I think both of those players are gonna be pretty hard to move. So, and we’ll get into some more of that a little bit later on in the show for sure. Like, you got to move Gaffford to me, which is it’s tough to say because he’s he’s been a he’s been a great Mav and um I think he loves being here, but you know, the Mavs have painted themselves into into a corner to say the least. And this going forward, this is about Cooper Flag and getting the best team, assembling the best team you can on his timeline, which is precisely why if you are going to lose, you want to be able to evaluate the players that you have on your team. And unfortunately, they’re just not going to be able to do that because one of the guys that you would want to take into the future is Lively. Uh he and Coupe have played 56 minutes together in their careers. Uh he Lively Davis and Coupe have played 28 minutes together. Uh Coupe and Kyrie have played zero. Lively and Kyrie going back to the start of last season have played 433 minutes together. Like oh wow, you haven’t seen you haven’t seen them on the floor. That’s less than 10 games. You have not seen them on the floor. And so if if all you’re gonna do is trade Gaffford, but think like, okay, well, we got AD, we got Kyrie coming back, Lively will be back, ready to go next year, and we got Coupe. Like, you got a sourcing call? Oh, okay. Sign dropped the computer. It was like, hold on, wait, after I finish my after I finish my my spiel. No, no, you’re good. Um, sorry to mislead you. The whole the whole point of saying like, “All right, man. Let’s just let’s suck.” so much this year that we will get as many ping pong balls as possible and then we’ll go into next year with this core that we believe in. What reason do you have to believe in this core? Like that foresome Lively Kyrie AD Coupe is guaranteed to play zero minutes together this season. They will never appear on the court together this season and frankly they might never appear on the court together because who knows if AD will be on the team next year or whatever. Um so your core is not really a core. It’s all hypothetical. It is a complete idea. It is all projection. It is wishing and hope is not a strategy. And I think that this, you know, hoping that I can reach the outlet from here is not a strateg. But like you’re building the whole house out of hope. And that’s why again on the show, I know that it was so annoying to sit here and listen to me be like, I don’t know about this guys for the last 6 months. Uh really longer than that. But over the summer I was like, man, this is not this is not a basketball team. This is not a team. This is not a this is not the way you should be doing it. This is not the way you should be doing it. And like all of that stuff is real. But the this is not a victory lap. The problem, Mark, is they again they do not have any reason to believe that this is a core because they haven’t seen them play. And with Lively, he was getting ready to play a game 11 months ago. Oh my gosh. on a broken foot that they complet that someone or multiple people either misdiagnosed or ignored or just completely missed altogether or whatever. It was originally diagnosed as an ankle sprain and now he’s having the second a second procedure on that foot like complete and utter incompetence and malpractice by the previous staff and anyone that is still left over from that that was part of that misdiagnosis. Who knows if what is happening now is related in any way to what happened then, but you know, I’m not a doctor. It’s a quite a coincidence if nothing else. Um, like this guy’s career is in danger because of that issue. And you know, I know that some of the people that were on the medical staff last year are no longer here, but like why should Mavs fans and why should Mavs players You can’t pick that either. You can’t pick that up. have any come on have any hope or any belief that any injured player is in good hands including Daniel Gaffford who is injured. Anthony Davis who was about to play on a serious uh calf injury uh or Achilles tendonopathy or whatever. Uh Kyrie Irving who’s trying to come back from one of the most catastrophic injuries a basketball player could recover. And also Cooper Flag who now like for the next eight I don’t even want Coupe to play basketball anymore until next year. Like cuz I’m afraid he’s going to get hurt too. Like what is the state of the training staff of this team right now? Wow, Bobby. Sorry. Uh I’m sorry. You don’t see I’m having issues. You guys just keep You’re only looking this way. Well, I mean we I none of us can answer None of us can answer that question. But like I mean holy good like Oh my god. How many missteps? I’m distracted cuz somebody in the chat said there’s such a thing as a cordless power pack for a computer. That is true. Oh yeah. I mean, nobody’s I didn’t know it’s 2025 time. It’s a lot of cordless things that you could utilize to your advantage. But I mean, yeah, w with just with the lively thing. I mean, it’s just it’s such a sad day. I mean, for the kid, I mean, it’s heartbreaking. He’s played less than 100 games in his NBA career. Like, this is a kid. This is He’s supposed to be a part of the Mavs’s under 25 core. And while yes, he’s will still be on the team and he’s played less than 100 games in his career, he’s just kind of trying to figure out, okay, how do I play basketball at a high level? And he was doing such a good job earlier in his career, showing he’s one of the best short roll passers in the NBA, let alone under 25. And it’s like, you need more reps. You need to build on your early success. And it’s like he’s been robbed of just building on what he’s already proven to show because of injuries that are kind of out of his control. I mean, of foot injuries is crazy. And just just doing some quick research now, I have an article probably out after this. I mean, just looking at the sevenfooters with foot injuries, you know, in the history of the NBA, it’s it gets real scary. So, it just it’s it’s almost like not only am I sad for Derek Lively, I’m starting to get a little nervous. Yeah. I think before we go to break, the thing I’ll say real quick is um anger, sadness, frustration for the young man. I mean, he, as Stein mentioned, a joy to be around someone who has become a fan favorite here, but also through his fir through his time on the floor, has been a very productive player and someone who I thought could potentially be uh an all-star this year with a potential leap uh that he was going to have if this roster was going to be healthy. I just hope for him now going forward he will get the care that he needs to have to eventually get him on the floor where he can stay on the floor. Um but yeah and the sad reality is you don’t know if he’s going to get it from this team and that and that’s the part that is very very frustrating. I mean according to the team he’s going to London to go get this surgery done. So going to get some bionic stuff putting his foot over there. So that’s I think that part is player choice though. I think the player is deciding. Yes. I was just reading based off of what the uh the the press release said, but yes, um that is the case for him. So, uh we’ll dive more into this, including what options the Mavericks may have available uh from a roster standpoint uh to try to mitigate some of this. But unfortunately, the breaking news is that Derrick Lively I is done for the season and will undergo foot surgery uh having only played seven games this year as the Mavericks move forward from there. When we come back, after we take our first break here, more on not only the Derek Lively situation, what options the Mavericks have, but later on in our show, the trade rumors and situations around Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Daniel Gaffer, D’Angelo Russell, and more with our National NBA insider, Mark Stein. All that and more coming up next. Are you a lastminute shopper like me when it comes to the holiday season? I know you are. That’s why I’ve got the perfect gift for you when it comes to Aura Frames. With Aura Frames, you can upload unlimited photos and video by just downloading the Aura app and connecting to Wi-Fi. And you can preload photos before it ships as well. In fact, you can personalize your gift by adding a message to it at any time. And you can share photos and videos effortlessly straight from your phone all year long. With Aura Frames, you can’t wrap togetherness, but you can definitely frame it. So, I got a special deal for you. 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Uh for the second time in 10 months, we’ll be undergoing season ending surgery uh as he will be having surgery on his right foot. uh as the team announced uh about an hour or so ago as Derek Live will miss for the remainder of the season. Coming up here in our next segment, we’re going to be dialing up the Steel Line with our National NBA insider Mark Stein live in studio with us here. Uh the latest when it comes to Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Daniel Gaffford, D’Angelo Russell, and all of the things in trade room surrounding this basketball team currently. Before we get there, let’s uh answer a couple of your super chats here. Uh Lance with a 499 super chat. Uh the win streak was cool, but the reality remains the Dallas Mavericks need to focus on capitalizing on their final draft pick of the decade. Everything is happening all at the same time, right? Like on the one hand, you’re thinking about what’s already happened. On the other hand, you’re thinking about today, tomorrow, and the next day. And on the other hand, you’re thinking, well, on your third hand, on your 14th hand, you’re thinking about five years from now, 10 years from now. And uh yeah, you’re absolutely right. I mean, like the Mavs could they could very well go on a run and make the playoffs and hurt their draft pick and then they’re probably going to be buming about it because three years from now basically no one on this team will still be on the team probably except for one or two guys will still probably be here, right? Um just on average. So, you definitely want to position yourselves as as good as you can as well as you can for the future. Uh Don Juan with the $499 super chat. Thank you so much for your contribution. Really appreciate your shout out to Don uh Lanessa with the $2 super chat. Uh, Wi-Fi is back on. Any good news today, guys? Yes. Um, there is good news. Yeah, there’s good news. Um, we’re breathing. I just need to I’m I’m I’ll get back to you with that in a little bit. Uh, well, I do have some good news if you’re interested in it. Uh, this comes from ESPN, the front office insider Bobby Marks, and of course, friends of the Ellis Mavs podcast. Uh, Dallas will be eligible to apply for a $2.6 million disabled player exception for Derek Live II if granted. Uh Dallas could sign or trade for a player with one year left on their contract. Now seems like there’s a butt coming. It is. Uh they would however need to have an open roster spot and fit that salary below the second apron which Bobby Carella they cannot they can’t do that. They cannot they can’t even sign a guy to replace the injured guys because right now this is a second April team and they do not have an open and dare I dare I say a a larger priority which I covered last Friday in my Ryan Nebard feature a larger priority than using an injury exception would be to get enough money off the books to be able to convert Ryan Nebard to a standard contract. fact that keeps him on the roster beyond this season because Nebart has played so well in this stretch and again it’s a short it’s still a it’s still in the small sample size range but Nebart has play played so well that if you’re him even if the Mavs could offer him a longer like let’s just say they offered him a two-year deal at the minimum why would he want a 2-year year deal at the minimum. Yeah. Why would he when he when he is converted from a two-way to a standard, he will become a restricted free agent and the chances are that he would be offered something better than a minimum even in restricted free agency. So to me, that’s that’s a larger priority than trying to replace Derek Lively is just creating enough flexibility under the second apron to be able to convert Nebard to a deal that he likes and is good and keeps him here cuz I cannot even I don’t even want to picture the amount of sadness emanating from the Carella trader. Poor Bobby. He lost Nebard. He can’t be a pacer. He can’t be a pacer. The Mavs right now are $1.29 million below the second apron. So, they cannot use they cannot spend a single cent more than the uh that second apron cut off. And my good friend Jay, who’s posting comments in the chat, is right. The apron, why does there have to be two aprons? One apron would have been enough. Why did Why did they No one has explained this to me. Well, why did they need two aprons? CJ deals. They got the salary cap. They got the first apron. They got the tax line. They got the second apron. There’s four thresholds that you got to think about if you build a team. I don’t understand any of that. Look, the reason the reason they did it was because they didn’t want you teams like the Clippers and the Warriors the Clippers anyway with ownerships that said we’ll pay any amount of luxury tax. These were the measures that were put in so that if you did take the stance of we will pay zillions of dollars in luxury tax that there would be penalties to stop that. But did they go too far? You can certainly argue that they went too far. It’s just why would the players care about that? Cuz the players just wanted money, man. Yeah, they just want because the average salary in I mean look at the What’s the mid-level exception? It just keeps going. Yeah, it just keeps going. Why do they play with the aprons, though? Oh, the players don’t care. They just they want the big split of BRI and the TV money and they’re like, “Yeah, I mean the players go to luxury tax, pay me.” Yeah, but that like all of these safeguards are literally all of these things that are difficult to understand and even more difficult to explain that you need a law degree to figure it out. It is all to protect the guy with $5 billion from the guy with $50 billion. Like that is literally it. It is just so some dude that owns the Bucks can make money off of this multi-billion dollar franchise. Correct. On an annual basis as opposed to only whenever he sells it to an even richer person. That is it. So that’s the reason the Mavs can’t sign Ryan Nimhard right now. Which is why I like Thanks a lot, Steve Balmer. So So to be clear, the Mavs, Bobby, what you’re saying, they don’t have Cap room. Correct. Their young star center is out for the season. Correct. That’s right. Anthony Davis, who’s back, is coming back from missing 14 games this season. Correct. And and is now holding his hand all the time because he banged it on the rim real hard. Yeah, he’s got some kind of finger issue. These are a lot of problems, man. It seems Gaffford out there is looking great though. He’s playing right now playing. Oh, he’s not playing at all. Oh, darn. So then you have players out. You don’t have money. You don’t have draft capital. your second best player right now is on a two-way deal and you can’t sign him and well third let’s be honest like fifth but still one of your five best players legit is not even under like a long-term deal right now and we talked about Max Christie who’s played pretty good this year is extension going to be extension eligible and we’ll get more into this in the next segment but theoretically your best player just started a threeyear $175 million contract extension this year and is eligible August 6th for a four-year $275 million extension that would pay him $76 million in his age 37 season. Like, so you’ve got a decision to make on that. Just because he’s eligible doesn’t mean I know, I know, I know. I’m just saying those are Yes. I we just like the Kyrie situation. He was eligible for a 5-year 320 some million dollar contract extension. Obviously, he was not going to get that. Uh but those are the the numbers that are, you know, that are out there and what he’s No one is giving AD an extension. Not right now. No one. We’ll talk about more of that next segment because when you say no one, I’m assuming that you’re including the team that he currently plays. More. Notice how the more we’re talking the super chats just keep rolling in. Like we we seem to be Well, you’re back. So, folks want to hear from you. They want to know the intel. Yeah. They want to know what’s going on. Get 81 in the next segment, I think. Right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. We Mark, I I do want to ask So, this was during uh this is while you were trying to get your charter situation figured out and everything. Um, I was I was that you offered to help help me with but did not. Well, it’s because I wouldn’t shut up. Wow. It’s because I wouldn’t shut up. But uh I was I was going on a little temper tantrum about the uh the Mavs training staff and how they were Lively was about to play on a foot and AD was about to play on an Achilles or a calf strain or whatever. um like Mavs fans that are watching this right now and Mavs players that are employed by the team, like how much confidence should Mavs fans have in the team’s training staff um and in the uh the outlook medically for all the players on the team in the short and long term? I mean, after what’s happened, I mean, I totally understand when anybody questions it. I mean, I I think in on this show, we get more questions about the training staff than I’ve ever fielded about any training staff in all my years of covering the league. Like, it’s become a story here because of what happened last season and it was, you know, so out there. Now, obviously, they removed the previous strength coach and replaced him with an outside hire formerly from the Bulls, Kevin Gray. always Jeff pulls. Thank you. Mhm. Why can’t I I’m really You’re the one that reported it. I know I did, but I’m aging badly. Just remember just remember Kevin Gray always pulls the name. Whoa. Thank god for Kevin Gray. Uh but there have been no other there have been very there have been no other changes. So it is it is the same staff as it was before essentially. Good. And four in the morning. Uh if it is 4 in the morning, uh shout out to you for your optimism. Y’all make it sound like the Mavs are in the worst position for a team in the league. Can never be me glass half full. Look, what we do for this job is to tell you everything from every angle that we need to cover for this team. Like, and if you want to be glass half full guy, be my guest. Like, there’s nothing wrong with that. But you also have to look at the totality of the situation. This team is in a lot of difficult positions with decisions that they have to make that are coming very, very quickly. So, as glass half full as it may be with Cooper Flag, who’s been sensational, number one rookie in the NBA, a two-way guy, Ryan Nhar, making a tremendous impact for this team, there are positive elements for this team. There are a lot of other ones that have to be decided upon today, tomorrow, and within the next two months and then going into the summer about what the next five, six years look like. So, that’s what we are here to discuss and what we will continue to discuss uh on a daily basis. But I’m not wanting to put a damper on what has been successes for certain guys, individuals on this team. Max Christie has been really good so far this year as well. But don’t come in here acting like what we do on a daily basis is doom and gloom. This is the situation they find themselves in. So it is what it is. Well, I mean, you know, they’ve won four out of five. Yeah, that’s even winning four out of five and playing well. There there’s a cost with that. I mean, exactly. Well, that’s what I was going to say. They’re they’re four and five. They’ve won four out of five. They got two rookies that are playing great and they’re nine and 16. So like they’re in a really they’re in a really bad position. Yeah. They can’t take back more money in a trade. They only control one pick for the next five years. Like there’s a lot working against them. But Ryan Nhard is awesome. I got to say he’s right. He’s been objectively pretty. Yeah, he’s playing great. He’s playing good. Locker room’s fun. And I don’t know, maybe just for sport, we should ask, you know, if you want in the chat, please put in the glass half full reasons that we should be citing. Throw them in the chat and we’ll we’ll shout out a few. Yeah. Reasons to feel good. Yeah, we’ll shout out a few. I like feeling good. Positive December. Holiday season. No negativity. It was supposed to be that. I guess no negativity December is over. We left that in 2024. All right. We left that behind in 2024. Oh, I thought you’d left it back in 2022 is the the year of triggering dread. My computer My computer’s back on glass. That’s good. I’ve spent the entirety of 2025 screaming into the abyss. All right. And the abyss is screaming right back at me. It’s deep. It’s a deep black hole. It is yanking me in and I’m just falling down. Yeah, I’ll save it for the next segment. I’ll save the next segment. We’ll never find the bottom of this abyss. Just falling and crying. and so incredibly alone. Oh, we haven’t We’re not in break. No, go to break. I was I was about to. We just started talking. Let’s take our next break here on our show. When we come back, we dial at the Stein with our National NBA insider Mark Stein. The latest on everything when it comes to your Dallas Mavericks, including Anthony Davis and those trade rumors. All that and more coming up next. You know that moment? That moment when you forget your favorite pair of sunglasses when you leave on the top of your car or you’re leaving three states over after you come on vacation? Well, guess what? Shady Rays can protect you when it comes to any of these situations. With Shady Rays, they changed the game by making sunglasses that are made for real life. They’re seriously good-looking. They’re polarized, durable, and they’re not stupidly expensive either. In fact, with Shady Rays, if you lose or break them all day one, they will replace them with a brand new pair. No guilt trip, just replacements. 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When I’m feeling down, sometimes you just need a little bit bit of a pickme up and you have your good old Michelob Ultra beer to make you feel a lot better in these type of sad moments, these type of sad times. It’s going to be right there, right next to you, right where you need it to make you feel a a totally lot better. And with Michelob Ultra, you can cheer on your team with Dallas Mavericks, even while they’re going through a tough time. With Michelob Ultra, at just 2.6 26 carbs and 95 calories is a superior smooth taste worth playing for. Miglo Ultra, the official beer sponsor of the NBA. Welcome back to the DLS Mass podcast. Thank you so much for joining us here on our program today. Just a moment. We’ll dial Steinlight here with our national NBA insider Mark Stein. Make sure you like, comment, and subscribe to DLLS Sports. Join the over 38,000 subscribers here with us at DLLS Sports as well. full crew in the studio today. Glad to have back our guy Mark Stein here. A very, very, very busy man uh these days. So, good to have him back in studio. Uh Stein, we’ll kick off the sign line with this super chat uh from Sheldon Fennel for 499. Thank you so much. Uh do you think the mass could get more in an Anthony Davis trade if he is part is he part of a Giannis trade in this scenario? AD and Giannis uh would be going to other teams. Good question. Loaded question. Does a dollar fordoll match in their contract? Which that’s why it’s a good question because I don’t know that it would I don’t know that it would lead to quote more. I mean, and that’s one of the complications here when you’re dealing with salaries of this size. The reality is it’s just easier to do trades with players who have salaries of that magnitude in the offseason rather than in season. And that’s why there’s still this conversation around again with Giannis. Let’s to be, you know, I will I say it on seemingly every show I’m on and I’m going to keep saying it. Until Giannis himself goes to the Bucks and clearly states, I want to be moved. I just don’t think it’s going to happen. the Bucks do not want to trade him, but there is still a conversation externally among the other 29 teams. Is this something that can happen during the season or does it have to wait till the offseason? And I do think it’s easier. It’s always easier in the offseason. I mean, if we just want to shift right to AD, my thought is I just don’t know that the Mavericks are going to get an offer anything close to what they would hope for in an AD deal in season. I just think in the off season, they are more likely to get something that they would consider palatable. But the problem again is what we always talk about with this draft in 2026 being so important. If you have AD on your team all season, that obviously only increases the chances that you’re going to be in the playin or even the playoffs. I mean, I don’t know that the Mavs are going to jump all the way up to number six, but are the Mavs a playing team with AD on the court for the rest of the season and Kyrie Irving coming back at some point in 2026? You would think yes. So, that is the quote downside of waiting until the off seasonason to trade Anthony Davis. But on the other hand, he was the return. He was the focal point of your return for the trade that we don’t want to bring up. So like you do you want to compound and to even call it a mistake is not enough. It is so much more than a mistake. It was the dumbest thing that has ever happened. That’s what it was. It was the dumbest thing that has ever happened in the history of the world. If you want to compound the dumbest thing that ever happened in the history of the world dumb by making an Anthony Davis trade where you just settle for parts, I wouldn’t. So it that’s what I’m saying. This is such What choice have they left themselves? It’s a It’s a terrible It’s a very difficult choice. If you keep Davis, you’re going to make it a lot harder to be in the lottery. If you trade Davis for a subpar package, you’re hurting yourself in a bunch of other ways. There’s no good choice. There is no good choice. Well, what what is the best in as you see it? What is the best course of action if they want to be in contention to win a title within the next let’s say 3 years? like what gives them the best because like let’s I don’t know that I have a fully formed answer but I think keeping AD has to be on the list three years from now because I mean like I said I I think no not three years from now but like playing out the season and then seeing what the offers are that might be the best course it but but again I’m underlining might cuz I I don’t have this figured out either because if the Mavs aren’t in the lottery, that’s going to be really really bad. I I mean, so and again, I don’t know how you ensure that you’re in the lottery if AD plays the rest of the season and Kyrie comes back. I genuinely do not know. I don’t know, man. Well, I think there is a way that you again with the lottery odds being flattened, the idea of just outright racing to the bottom, you can’t necessarily do. I mean, see, that’s that’s that’s important. I wrote about this recently, too. I don’t know if you guys saw this. The new lottery system, there’s been seven years of it. Excuse me. The teams that have finished five through nine in the lottery have jumped up 12 out of 35 times. So almost a third of the time if you just have the fifth through the ninth be worst record in the league. Fifth through ninth which is like you’re not going to catch the Washingtons and the New Orleans like but like to have the eighth or ninth worst record you have a one in three chance of of moving into the top four. Mhm. in this new system. And that’s why I keep saying this draft pick is so important because like this draft is said to be so good. You don’t necessarily have to win it again, but can you get if you a top four pick in this draft would be hugely hugely valuable. You see that Debons dunk the other night. Yeah, it was great. I mean, that’s the thing. If you can get that come back, you could just get a top four pick. But but every the thing is there’s a bunch of teams thinking this way. It’s not just this is not just dawned on the maps. I mean, like you look at the there. The last I looked, there were 13 teams in the league under 500. Six in the East, seven in the West. Remarkably, more in the West. Everybody’s thinking this way cuz look who who’s won the last two lotteryies? The Hawks and the Mavs. The Hawks with the 10th worst record in the league and the Mavs with the 11th worst record in the league. So, but yeah, I mean I appreci, you know, I’m I’m honored that you think I’m smart enough to like have the answer. I don’t know the answer. Ron, what do you think? I I don’t know. Three years from now. Can we get to one year from now? I’m being honest. I mean, that’s things I like. Three years from now is hard to even So, three years from now is the 2028 29, let’s say. Oh, yeah. Okay. So, 289 season, is Anthony Davis going to be on that team? I I would be pretty shocked. Um, one, if to be honest, Anthony might not be in the NBA. Let me let me frame the question though. Let me just just cuz three years is breaking my brain. I can’t think that far. Let’s just think next year. Let’s just let’s just say glass half full. The Mavs ring the bell. The Mavs if healthy. If healthy, right? The Mavs. Let’s say the Mavs get their lottery pick. And maybe it’s not even top. Let’s just say the Mavs get their lottery pick and are able to draft a young player, a good young player on Cooper’s timeline and they haven’t traded AD. like next season Cooper and a good young pick with if AD and Kyrie are still here like that could be a good team. They’re on completely different timelines, but couldn’t it theoretically be a good team? Are you extending Anthony Davis in that situation? He says you have just because he wants the extension. You have to extend them. He He has two more years left. What is he going to do? Not play or ask for a trade? Good. Good. Well, that’s good. Sorry. Sorry. That was Sorry. But that’s what say that throws that scenario out the window. Talking about going into next year with Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, a young draft pick. This is only year one of a three-year deal. When does that stop Anthony Davis from asking for a trade before he can ask for the trade? You don’t have to trade him. He has no leverage. You don’t You don’t If he asks for a trade, you just have to trade him for whatever. But he has no leverage to ask for a trade. If it’s extension or trade me, are you giving a player who’s He has no leverage. Yeah. He can’t He can’t trade me where, brother? Where? Please. Cuz wherever we trade you to, no one’s going to give you an extension cuz you’re 33 and missed a bunch of time. The Bulls. There’s always one team. There’s always one team. I don’t know who that team is. No one wants to extend them, dude. That that I I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. Look, I don’t think anyone wants to extend. We talked about the extension of like if it’s like we’re splitting the salary into three seasons, we’re like essentially if it goes 30 30. Let me reframe the question another way and you guys So are are you in the mode of like trade ad by February to the be for the best offer the Mavs can get? Yes. So if the offer is no good, you still want to do it. No, you don’t make a deal. You don’t make a bad deal for the sake of making a deal. If there’s a good offer that you get by February 5th, you take that deal. I can’t risk having him. I don’t think they’re going to get a quote asking no matter whatever is the best offer available. a good offer, two future first. Is it one future first in a player? Like, we have to even define what a good offer is. If the Pistons come to me with an expiring Tobias hair, it’s a Jay Navy. The Pistons I I think the Pistons interest in AD is vastly overstated because the Pistons I said this yesterday and I on a on serious I’m going to say it again here. The This is We’re still early. The trade deadline is still six plus weeks away. So maybe Detroit changes it stance. But at this juncture as December 15th approaches, the sentiments out of Detroit are conservative. They are they want to play it safe. They don’t want to make some splashy move last year for Anthony Davis. Not I mean Houston was more of a they they wanted to I I likened Houston last year more to OKC the year before. Remember the OKC team that lost to the Mavs in the second round. OKC wanted that group to get some playoff experience first before they made kind of a splashy trade. That was Houston’s rationale with that team and then the playoffs didn’t go well. Houston lost in the first round. Then the Rockets pivoted and did go after Kevin Durant in June and were able to trade for Kevin Durant at their price. Detroit. I just think it’s like more a conservative nature that Tjan Langden has running that team and they and the other thing too is fitwise. The reason you’ve always heard Lowry Markin as a potential Pistons target, he’s a floor spacing big. That’s really what Detroit needs, that’s really what the Pistons lack is a floor is a true floor spacer who improves their three-point shooting. And that isn’t what AD would give them. 80 would give them defensive anchor and all kinds of other stuff. But like at this juncture, again, things could change between now and February 5th, but as December 15th approaches, I don’t see the Pistons as this leading suitor for AD at this juncture. Toronto, I could see Toronto because the Raptors, it’s been years now since they’ve been good. You see, they won 13 out of 14. They lost RJ Barrett. They’ve hit a slide here recently. I do think the Raptors want to do something significant to make a move, solidify themselves, get back in the East Elite, but the Raptors have a lot of long-term contracts that you you you probably have to take back some money that you don’t love unless it’s a multi-team deal that moves moves some of those pieces around. So, like I said, trading an AD trade in season is going to be very very difficult, but I think that’s an important thing. What is what do we consider a good return for Anthony Davis? If I put the magic wand in your hand, what would you want to get back if you’re doing that deal between now and February? Time machine. Well, the flex capacitor and we’ll look at another team 1.21 gigawatt. Yeah. And we’ll look at another team too on the other side of the break because Atlanta’s another team that we discussed a little bit yesterday as well that could be a team that uh could be a possible fit for Brandon Davis. Um, plus I’m looking at Toronto, too. There’s a lot of long-term deals. You have to take either RJ, Quickly, Ingram. They’re not training Scotty Barnes, so that’s not even bring it up. Uh, and plus we’ll get to more of your super chats because they are flowing in right now. We appreciate all those coming in. Uh, as we’ll continue to diagnose with our National NBA insider, Mark Stein, the latest when it comes to not just Anthony Davis, but Klay Thompson. What’s the fit for him potentially somewhere? Daniel Gaffford as well. Uh, and we’ll get to all the super chats that continue to flow in. All that and more coming up next. But first, hey, hi. Hello. Uh, we don’t just do shows on YouTube every single day. And we do we do five shows a week. Uh, and we also got a Rangers show and we got a Cowboy show and we got a Star Show and we got a Dallas Wing show. Uh, we also have a whole website where you can get written coverage of your team, some of the deepest inside, analysis, rumors, breaking news. We have hats. And we have hats, too. But uh we got a whole website if you want to read the website though. Ron post a bunch of stuff on our website alldls.com. Some of it is free to read for everybody. Like there’s a Derek Lively uh you know newser up right now. But a lot of his stuff including player quotes, inside analysis, opinion, all that stuff. It’s behind a payw wall. The way to get behind the payw wall is to become a diehard. You scan the QR code right there. Uh it takes you to our website alldls.com where you can sign up and support what we’re doing here at DLS Sports. In addition to gaining access to the entire website and ad free experience on there as well, you get a free shirt of your choice right when you sign up. We got a ton of shirts to choose from. They are all incredible. You get a free one right off the rip. You also get a discount on any other merch shirts uh and so on. Uh as well as events. And we have hats. Like Mark Stein said, we have five hats now. So there’s four. And we got one extra one as well. Uh you get to join the Discord. you get uh physical diode card was right here. Tanner, we got one right here. It’s actually emanating uh light. It’s UV light. You can’t actually see it. It’s totally healthy to be around though. I promise. Uh like you totally healthy to be around. Yeah. Uh that actually in my presence is making me my sinuses feel uh better. I feel less pressure in my face. Poor Bobby has been balling all morning. It’s been I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it. But I learned to name my emotions recently, Mark. And that has been a big one. Um, so, uh, yeah, thank you to each and every one of you who has, uh, chosen to support us. And, uh, if you can, and if you’re able, then I’d love for you to scan the QR code and, uh, and give us even more. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us here on the DLLS Mavs podcast. Make sure you like, comment, and subscribe to DLLS Sports. And also, you can download our podcast wherever you get your podcast for free. Just search DLLS Mavs. Give it a fivestar rating and write a review for it while you’re there. Super chat, that would be much appreciated. We’re going to get to some more of these here uh in just a moment. I see you Don Juan. I see you Henry. I see you Sheldon. We’re going to get to those here. Uh and Classic Stain Lover as well. Uh who comes in with the $1.99 super chat and says uh yes, Luca, come back. Uh he’s going to be a little busy tonight as the NBA Cup quarterfinals continue. Oh, rub it in. Uh shout out to the Knicks and the Orlando Magic, uh who move on to the NBA Cup semifinals. Uh the Mavs were in the NBA Cup quarterfinals last year. Wait, what? What? Really? All day long wearing a mask of false bra [Music] up a smile that hides the tears. Yes. Classic stain lover uh in our member. Look at that skinny young man. Look at that picture of But as the sun goes down, I get that feeling again. Yeah. Oh, where did the years go, man? He’s going to be a little busy. Uh, he’s going to be playing a Victor Womeny Yamama San Antonio Spurs team tonight uh in Los Angeles as the Lakers and Spurs. Tanner, please send please send me that picture. Uh, and the Suns and the Thunder uh play in the West NBA Cup quarterfinals. Winner of those two games will meet in Vegas uh for a chance to play for the Emirates NBA Cup. It’s just the dumbest thing that’s ever happened. The NBA Cup? No, the NBA Cup the NBA Cup is cool with the trade. Oh, okay. That’s right. Okay, got it. It’s just the dumbest thing that’s ever happened. And it will Nothing will ever change that. Nothing. Nothing will ever change. Absolutely. Poor Mavs. Hopeful. Uh, let’s continue here. Um, again, we’ll get to super chats here in just a second because I want to start off with this because we talked a lot about Anthony Davis as far as what the rumors could look like for him. Another team that we did not mention in our last segment. Um, the Atlanta Hawks. The Atlanta Hawks have decisions to make. Trey Young, no contract extension for him. Uh he’s on the last year of his current deal. Atlanta House are playing really Somebody is lying in the chat. Stein has a horrendous singing voice and should know Charlie Saturday. Yeah, there you go. Of course you I can’t retype that small but um Christophorzingis on a final year of his contract as well. They got a lot of young talented players for Quinn Snider’s group in Atlanta. Um okay. So I’m ask So I’m I’m just going to I’m I’m going to ask you. The Hawks offer Porzingis and some low-level draft choices. That’s good enough. No, that’s good enough for you. Um, Reese has to be in the deal, right? No, I don’t think they’re putting Research Day in the deal, guys. Guys, no. Um, no. The the Hawks will I mean, the Mavs don’t have the leverage or like it’s in this right now. again could this change between it’s a you know February 5th is both close and far so in six weeks now look I mean the Hawks were you know everybody the Hawks are rolling without Trey Young the Hawks are not rolling without Trey Young so maybe their posture will change maybe they will say you know what we we want to do we want to do something significant but it’s like dang you’re you’re not just gonna get like the Hawks are not calling and saying here have Reset in two first for Anthony Davis Yeah, it’s not happening. And we we got yelled at. They thought that was too much of a light trade yesterday. Well, Reese was in it without him. Yeah. And plus the Pelicans I mean the Pelicans the Hawks are not going to unlock the vault that has the most one of the most coveted assets in the league right now. Oh, the Pelicans pick. So that’s not happening. No. Um so again, decisions, decisions, decisions. Uh other players that could be part of that uh decision making process. Uh let’s start here Markstein with Klay Thompson. Um who’s played better as of late over his last 10 games shooting over 40% uh from the three-point line. Uh has embraced the bench role for this team. Um what does the market or is there a a market for Klay Thompson and I’ll throw D’Angelo Russell in there as well. U who of course was signed here to this team earlier this summer. Clay has been a great vet and as you I mean he’s really been the vet leader of this group from a vocal perspective agree and the shot has come around but in the NBA more often than not you are judged on your contract above anything and the reality is that Klay has one more guaranteed season I believe is that is it a team option in year four um can someone take a look at that for whom I’m sorry for Clay I think it’s I think it’s a team option in year four. No, for Clay, he’s got a player option for next year. It is a Okay, so just just one he has one more year either way. And so that’s going to complicate your ability to trade him that like a team has to be willing to take on that extra money for next season. And I think that’s going to that would make it difficult. Oh, wait. It’s not even an option. It’s a three-year guarantee. I always thought it was a player option. Straight threeear guarant on the books for 17.4 mil. Yeah. Next season. Yeah. So, does he want to be in a contending situation or is this a situation where he still finds himself comfortable in? Does he want We’re still asking what Clay wants. I mean, I think it would depend where I mean, like I said, I I think Clay has from the from day one of camp has taken the approach of I am going to be the best vet I can for this team. And he he’s been that. like I don’t I don’t see him on a day-to-day basis like emanating this come get me stance. I don’t I don’t you know maybe privately has he said that to people not to me. So like I said I think I think Clay has been an exemplary vet for this team even though the season started off rough and obviously I’m sure he did not want to go to the bench but he’s embraced it. He shot the ball well. He’s constantly trying to mentor Cooper flag. So, you know, we’ll again, we’ll see. At this juncture, what is today? December 10th. That’s right. I mean, I think because of that added year on his contract beyond this season, it would be difficult to find a trade home for him. But again, we’ll see. is someone come late January, early February says we need a shooter and they’re willing to take on that money, I suppose it’s feasible. D’Angelo Russell I think it’s much more difficult even though the you know we he’s the player option next season is what like 6.2 million. I mean it’s not like some crazy amount of money but obviously the way this season has gone I think D’Angelo Russell would have to exercise that player option. I mean he’s not even in the rotation right now. So, he’s going to exercise that player option. And you see in today’s NBA, like that’s because of these aprons that we’ve been talking about all show, every single scent matters. When Jaylen, when Jaden Hardy signed his extension, I was like, that thing is so tradable. And like now it it’s not like even that what is it? Was that like a six million? Yeah. Like three years 18 million. 6 million is no joke in the because teams are counting every single penny. Which is why it’s good that again all the Mavs fourth stringers make a lot of money. Jaden Harden makes six, Dwight makes four, Kayla Martin makes $9.5 million. So whenever we’re talking about the Mavs not having enough money to give Ryan Nhard a real contract, it’s because they’re spending $25 million on their fourth stringers, which is not what you’re It’s not what you’re supposed to do. It’s just not what you’re supposed to do. That’s not the way that it should be. And you mentioned a little bit earlier, Daniel Gaffford, the interest from Indiana, from you and Jake Fischer, that seems real. What is the the idea of as we get closer, how robust could his market actually start to get, especially once he gets back on the floor and gets and gets healthy? It’s it’s too soon to say. I I mean, if you’re the Mavs, I would think you’re hoping, can we get a first for Daniel Gaffford if they’re actually willing to trade him, you know? If someone offers you a first, you take it and do not ask questions. You say yes and hang up the phone. I agree. I mean, it’s fire up the fax machine because Yeah, because my eyebrow raised when you say and again, I don’t want I don’t want to say that in a disrespectful way because Daniel Gaffford, he was a huge part of the team that went to the finals and he and Dive formed a good center partnership and you know, he obviously signed a contract extension in the belief that he was going to stay, but it is the reason I keep writing that he’s the Mav most likely to be traded between now and the February 5th deadline is he has the most tradable deal and size is back. Everybody needs centers now. You know, a couple years ago people were saying the center, the big man is dead and that’s totally not the case. And so there are going to be there are already suitors for Daniel Gaffford. There are unfirmed yet. Daniel G. The phone is gonna ring for Daniel Gaffford and it just depends on are the Mavs gonna get an offer that they decide they like. Let’s get to your super chats here on our program today. We start uh with Don Juan. Thank you so much for the 499 super chat. Done. Um, could Anthony Davis decline his player option early, extend at like cap friendly number, play in mid30s, Duncan roll with the Spurs, Kawawaii era, and front office tells going to go out on a limb and say that when you have a $63 million player option, you’re not declining. No discount. No discount. This is year one. Both AD and Giannis, I believe, are on pretty much the same deal. a three-year $175 million extension. And this is year one. The Lakers handled AD the way that uh the Mavs could have handled Luca, which is you give the guy an extension and then you trade him. Uh Mavs skipped that that first step. So now they’re paying a guy that’s worse than Luca more than what Luca would have made this year. Who’s now extension eligible again this summer. It’s the dumbest thing that’s ever happened. Henry Diesel with the 999 Super Henry in everything about you. Absolute must. Trey Whoa. They when Trey Kai Kai Clay many picks as possible. Won’t see a loaded draft like this for five, six years. You set the franchise back again just to get swept by OKC. Clean house. It’s the only choice. both got a lot of real charged up about a couple weeks ago when I said that all options should be on the table, including Kyrie. They were pissed off because they’re not trading Kyrie. They’re not going to trade Kyrie. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be an option on the table. No, they should not do it. That would be very silly. That’d be very, very bad. You’re trading a guy who’s out. He’s If you’re trying to lose, I’m not saying you trade him this year. Yeah, I know. If if you’re trying to lose, he’s already out. Yeah, he’s already out to do it this year, but by the time you get the summer, I believe, firmly believe it should be an option on the table. Uh Sheldon Fiddle with the 499 super chat. A good ad return would be one good young player expiring contracts in at least one. You need to do Fast Channel 59 alert. No, no, no. Uh shows you what I know. That’s cool. A good return. Shut up, Stein. would would be one good young player expiring contracts and at least one unprotected first round pick in the 2026 uh NBA draft. Is that a good return? Expiring contracts a pick and depends on the definition of good. Young, you know, what is good? What is young? Under 25 like they Yeah, maybe under 27. I don’t know. Dang young. First round pick also depends. is the pick in 2026 27 31 like if it’s really far away I’m not really interested in that you know I need to I need I want to pick now um because again you’re trying to be good now or well not now you’re trying to be good a year from now you know so you preferably you’d like the pick to be in the 2026 draft yeah as soon as possible but any team that’s in position to pick high in the 2026 draft is not going to want to trade for AD because doesn’t make any sense purpose yeah dang like y’all bring Bringing vibes down. Yo, we’re bringing you the Trust me, the vibes were bad before we got here. Yeah, like vibes were bad. What did I do? Yeah, Ron, it all changed whenever we hired you. Look, and here and look, I’ll say this and look, the expectations around winning basketball are built on an idea around a player in a situation that’s not here anymore. I don’t believe in my humble opinion been there’s been a proper reccalibration of expectations based on the roster that has been constructed here. You lucked the hell out by getting the number one overall pick and getting Cooper flag to accelerate some positivity as far as what a timeline could look like. But you’ve built a roster on a house of cards with a player that is six years older than the one you gave away who’s got a significant injury history and oh by the way continues to be injured. So you’ve got real decisions now about what that future looks like either with or without that player and the surrounding players that were supposed to be on a win now timeline built around a player who no longer plays here. So once that decisions or decisions gets made and the reccalibration of expectations starts to change, yeah, I understand. Look, I’m just as pissed off and as angry as everyone else is when it comes to this team and the direction that it’s gone over the last 10 months. Um, but this is where they are and these are what they’ve got to do to make a decision on what the franchise will look like in the image of either the co-s that will remain here or the GM who gets hired here at some point um, next year. But when the morning comes, I’m right back where I started again. Um, uh, the the reality also that the MS are facing against it’s a lot of this is financial. So this year’s team has a payroll right now of $26 million plus 31 million, $32 million in tax bill on top of that. So this year’s team costs a4 billion and they’re bad. next year’s team currently $218 million in allocations plus whatever they end up paying their draft pick. Um so they’re already and and their draft pick will almost certainly make enough money to push them into the second apron if they don’t change anything else which is very bad for freezing draft picks and there’s a lot of other restrictions. They can only sign guys with minimum no exceptions and everything. Um, next year’s team before their pick is projected to cost $243 million. Their pick will make it close to like 260 or 270 depending on how high they get plus tax penalties. Um, and you know, so despite all the basketball reasons and what we think about draft pick and future and timelines and all that stuff, Patrick Deont could also look at this and say, I don’t want to spend a4 billion dollars on a 35 win team. So, new GM that I’m going to hire in 6 months, your number one job is to get us below the tax threshold. So, all of those priorities we don’t know really much about right now, and those will come to light more, I would say, they’d be reflected in the Maverick’s actions more than any sort of forecasting. Like, if the Mavs trade AD for a bunch of expiring contracts, it stands to reason that the Mavs don’t want to be in the tax, they don’t want to be in the apron, they want to save some money and, you know, get a good pick. Um, and those are things that we just we can’t really predict. you know, we won’t really know about, but like those are very real uh considerations that will be, you know, made by ownership and by whoever the next general manager is. Uh before we end, Mark, what is your best sense on where we are as of today about what the next week, couple of weeks uh could start to look like as this team gets back on the floor on Friday, uh and resumes play and what they want to see over the next, you know, six weeks as we get closer to the NBA trade deadline. Well, look, I mean, the way the the way things work now, you know, they brought the rule. I don’t know that that this necessarily applies to the MABs, but the new CBA the rule that they put in was if you are traded if we if you are if you are traded by December 16th which is next Tuesday then you can be reagregated before the trade deadline even though the trade deadline is less than 60 days away. So because of that there I do think there will be some level of activity Monday and Tuesday. I don’t think it’s necessarily going to involve the Mavs. I think with the Mavs, it’s probably a play it out till the deadline scenario because in all these cases that we’re talking about, you you hope the value picture changes. It’s, you know, I mean, chat isn’t wrong. It’s I’m, you know, I’m not painting a very optimistic picture in terms of the trade value stuff right now. So, I don’t think the Mavs want to rush into anything because what would rushing into anything do for them? It hasn’t worked much in the past. Um, I think we’re going to have to wait it out. It’s going to be We’re going to be talking about the same stuff between now and Feb 5. I think quite a bit. Oh god, I hope not. Yeah, it feels like the tip of the iceberg. Well, there will be games. There will be games. I mean, that’s the thing with every home game. This week there’s only one game. So this is the stuff we’re talking about. I mean, you know, when we have games to when we have games to analyze and talk about, we’re going to talk about that. But this this week is a big picture week because there are no games except Friday. By the way, did you guys see Danny Wolf yesterday on NBA TV looking a lot like National Tim? Have not seen them in the same room. I was only watching you on NBA TV. Looking a lot like National Tim. Uh, that’ll do it for us here on the DLS mask. Led, do you think the map should tank or go for it? Exactly. Do you think the map should tank or go for it? LS, Led says he’s not talking to us. Wow. What did we do? Oh, wow. Say it. Everybody, there’s one person in this office I do not argue with. It’s Craig Ledwig. Well, why is that? Because I’m smart. There you go. Um, thank you so much for joining us here on our program today. He says we’re over our time, so we’re leaving. Show is over. Lud says our show is over. It’s over. [Music] Tanner, appreciate you making us look good and sound good as always. Thank you, sir. Tanner, end the show. That is our national NBA insider Mark Stein. Good to have you back in studio. That’s our DLS man. Uh what are you the analyst Bobby Krill and the apparently the uh author of Doom around here. Uh that is our DLS mask beat writer. Come see us at Wild Fork Foods on Saturday in Lewisville. Glass half full tomorrow. Join us then. The the optimistic thing is trivia Thursday. AD has to play center now. That is like that is something I actually feel really good about. There’s no choice. You got to play center. That’s like 80% full, dude. He is good at center. He’s all [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II will undergo season-ending surgery on his right foot, the team announced Wednesday. He’s expected to be ready to go for training camp next fall. The DLLS Mavs crew reacts to the news and discusses where the Mavs can go from here. Plus, Marc Stein joins to share the latest prospective trade intel regarding Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson, and more.

#cooperflagg #anthonydavis #dallasmavs #nba #dangelorussell #derecklively #pjwashington #danielgafford #klaythompson #najimarshall #jasonkidd #kyrieirving

01:27 Dereck Lively II out for the season
20:01 Who the Mavs can do from here
33:41 Anthony Davis’s future
50:40 More AD trade talk
52:14 Could Klay Thompson be traded?
56:13 Daniel Gafford trade market
57:46 Superchat time!
1:01:20 More discussion on the team’s immediate future

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