Eric Pincus B/R NBA Insider on Mavericks Trade Rumors On Andrew Wiggins, PJ Washington, Kuzma & More

Eric Pincus B/R NBA Insider on Mavericks Trade Rumors On Andrew Wiggins, PJ Washington, Kuzma & More

Welcome to another episode of inside the Mavs the official Maverick podcast of 971 the freak the Dallas Mavericks radio network my name is Kevin gray Mavericks pre and post game host appreciate you joining me here on our latest episode as we get you caught up on all things

Mavericks basketball you can find me on Twitter at kevinr Sports and be sure to download And subscribe to the inside the mass podcast wherever you get your podcast for free on iHeart radio Apple podcast Spotify and make sure you give it a festar rating and write a review

For it while you’re there and you can also check this video out on my YouTube channel at Kevin gra Sports we are getting closer and closer to the February 8th NBA trade deadline lots of news rumors all kinds of stuff to talk about when it comes to this Maverick

Basketball team and happy to be joined by my guest today he’s a salary cap strategist capologist writer and instructor for sports business classroom and writer for Bleach report joining me on the show today Eric pinkis joining me here on inside the Mavs Eric how’s it going H it’s going well I’m uh looking

Forward to it um let’s let’s talk some hoops let’s talk some Mavericks yeah yeah we definitely will and uh for you as we get closer to the NBA trade deadline what’s this time of the year like for you as you continue to put together salary cap information for

These teams as they get ready to potentially make some moves in the process that goes into some of that uh well a lot of it is uh projecting not just where we are at this deadline but where we’re going as uh a collective so uh we have new

Rules that came in in starting in July this past July with the new collective bargaining agreement that have very restrictive penalties for teams that overspend and of course that’s a subjective term over spend but there’s a line or multiple lines and so as I have always done which is sort of go through

Where I think teams are now it’s become ever more important for me to study and try to project where they go so you make that move now what does that mean for your budget next year does that mean that you are strictly the team that you

Build now is that who you are next year because you won’t have that flexibility unless you further trade out of it but then what’s the point of trading into it if you just have to trade out of it in a few months uh is it worth the playoff

Run are you going to win a championship uh is this a team that you can build around or does it hamstring You by making this move so that next year you’re strictly minimums or very small amount of uh change so uh really interesting new wrinkles I will say it’s

Easier to make trades than it’s probably ever been at least since I’ve been covering uh and I’ve been doing this for a couple decades so it’s a lot easier to make trades now uh they’ve loosened the the rules uh in terms of how to get a trade done unless you’re at that those

Upper limits of spending so that’s kind of where I’m at uh still going I I live in LA so I go to a lot of Lakers and Clippers games so I see a lot of the league coming through uh what used to be stable Center uh was it crypto.com Arena

Now I still call it Staples so uh and uh other than that just uh I guess I have to make my arrangements to go to Allstar shortly I’m going to go to Allstar in Indiana so looking forward to that very nice well let’s look at through the lens

Then of the Mavericks because this is a team that’s dealt with a lot of injury uh a lot of player games missed so far this season a ton of starting different lineups but at the same time still with Luca doners and Kyrie Irving Kyrie Irving gonna be missing his four

Straight game on Monday uh with the spraying right thumb that he has so injuries continuing to take a toll on this team and when we look at it through the lens of the Mavericks from a tax and an apron threshold where do the Mavericks sit and how does that in

Inform us about what potential moves that they can make given their salary cap situation sure sure well so just some background I’m not sure how well the listeners know the rules but basically there are new lines in the sand H there were some old lines but

There or even newer lines and the first one is the tax and that has always sort of been a subjective thing does the owner or the front office do they think this team is worth investing in above this tax line where there’s extra Financial penalty but the penalty is

Just money and you know fans tend not to care about the owner’s money they care about winning right so that shouldn’t necessarily matter from a fan point of view I get you know why it might matter for the team uh but there are new lines or at least one is new uh at

10 uh let’s see the the first apron is at 172 million the second apron is at 180 we’ll call 183 million and so when the Mavericks signed Seth Curry and Dante exom they use their one of the triggers of that first apron so they’re a team

That has a first apron hard cap at uh 172 million so their payroll is not bad it’s about 162 so they aren’t necessar necessarily in danger of that so they have the flexibility to make a trade that adds money there are other teams that have done the same but are right at

That line they have a little bit of of flexibility I see them as because of incentives they have about eight and a half million uh of flexibility to add so if they were to make a trade they can add where you start to get a little um

You know dangerous in this is you have to look at next year where if they brought back exactly the same team they have right now that’s going to be about 180 million and and these hard caps and and whatnot they reset every July so they wouldn’t be in that same situation

The second apron this extra punitive one the one that involves Frozen draft picks and all you have left are minimum contracts that projects to be about 191 next year so the Mavericks if they add they have to subtract uh or at least be mindful of how they would subtract next year so

That they would probably uh aspire to stay below that number so I do think there’s some flexibility it just needs to be mindful so when we look at it for them with the 8 and a half million that they’re belowing as far as the first aprons concerned can exceed that

Particular threshold and we start to look at some of the contracts that they have available to them some of the names and players that a lot of Mavericks fans have considered when it comes to possibly making moves have been guys like a Josh Green a Jaden Hardy a ran

Holmes potentially who has a player option going into this upcoming summer and maybe even a Tim Hardway Jr who has a a descending contract when you look at some of those names as far as their contracts are concerned how would you approach it if you’re the Mavericks

Maybe looking at a Kyle kosma or a PJ Washington some of these names that have been discussed as far as potential trade targets here well there you know the the overarching goal of course uh Beyond winning uh which is the default right in theory all teams should be striving for

That is to make sure that Luca donic wants to be here and be in Dallas and they have time uh because his contract runs through 2027 he has an option after 26 and while that seems like far away it it’s it’s rapidly approaching and the most likely outcome is that he’ll take a

Giant extension but the Mavericks need to incentivize him just to be he wants to be happy and probably wants to win and I can’t uh get in Luca Don’s mind and tell you you what makes him happy but they’re you know we can at least assume that if the Mavericks are not a

Good team for two three years in a row maybe he doesn’t want to be there I don’t know so the goal is is to uh work within these Financial constraints but to also uh compete at the highest level and then give Luca a a real desire to

Want to stay somewhere where he’s being successful so with that in mind you look at someone like uh you know Kyle kosma for instance and CZ is at currently about 26 and his money does descend as well so next year down to about 24 and he has three additional years uh really nice

Offensive player when he was with the Lakers he defended well um I’d say when he first came in he was not a good Defender but um watching him closely uh he became a very solid serviceable role player in a uh in a rotation especially defensively all the way through to a a

Championship and so in Washington I don’t think he’s played any defense but I don’t think the team has either so um you’re not necessarily getting if you’re the Mavericks somebody who’s gon to change who they are defensively I don’t think the Mavs are built off of being a

Great defensive team but you’re adding in another really talented offensive player uh a high volume scorer maybe not the most efficient but I don’t know if efficiency is um the endall Beall I think winning Trump’s efficiency and and if you’re winning more if you’re scoring more uh at least you have that potential

Uh PJ Washington is uh a different kind of player he’s uh much cheaper relative to kzo he’s about 15 and a half next year about 17 this year and then he has one additional year beyond that uh and it’s like I said descending so these are flexible contracts they are probably the

Kind of contracts Dallas should go after uh we could debate on PJ Washington I would say at least he’s less proven he’s been on a crappy Charlotte team so maybe there’s more there to unlock that we haven’t seen uh certainly a good player but um you know it’s kind of like maybe

He’s someone who pushes Dallas over the top at least we know with kozma he’s been at the highest level he contributed to a championship team he played as part of Championship level defense so at least you have that knowledge uh it’s a little bit less certain with um PJ but

Uh ran is a really flexible contract but a team has to know that if they’re acquiring him he’s probably going to opt in and take 13 million next year and he may or may not be um desired for that you know what he does at that price so

Now you’re paying someone to take that uh Hardaway has been really good this year uh providing that scoring punch and then shooting punch uh but he does provide a good amount of salary he does have another year next year as well at 16 so again you’re you’re looking for

Team that is willing to take on salary uh Josh Green is one of the younger pieces on this team uh his contract’s a little complex but not terribly so uh because he’s been extended and hasn’t started yet so the trade is a little funky but I think in the rules as such

As they are it wouldn’t be uh necessarily prohibitive certainly you can do Seth Curry um the assets so to speak uh what other teams would desire uh Beyond The Players might draft compensation and uh the Mavericks have that 2027 first available they already owe their 24

Which uh May convey in 25 that blocks 26 and they owe in 29 which blocks 2030 so the only first they can really send outright is 20 27 but as you look at Luca and you say well he could leave after 26 worst case scenario he leaves 26

Team’s probably awful in 26 27 in theory that could be a top pick so you would definitely if your Dallas want to try to protect it but that would be difficult as well because they of their other obligations um so um how they would protect that would have to be creative

And then you’re diminishing the value of it if you put too much protection on it um but that’s kind of the scenario as I see it you have um you know obviously Jaden Hardy uh Olivier maxens Prosper a couple young players that might uh appeal if the Mavericks were willing to

Shop Derek Lively they would uh get uh have a great return I just don’t think that’s uh on the table for them I think they need uh what he does I think he fits what they do uh very uh seamlessly uh when you find a young guy who fits

And is outperforming their draft status outperforming their salary uh you probably want to hold on to players like that so if they wanted Pascal cakam probably could have had him uh costing Derek Lively I feel like that decision was made on some level I mean I can’t promise you that that conversation

Happened but at least the Intel suggests that was what was in the conversation and that was not a a place Dallas was willing to go so I wouldn’t expect uh if you’re listening and you’re a Washington fan and you’re oh yeah we’re gonna get Derek Lively for kozma or uh Charlotte

Uh for PJ Washington or anyone else that uh Dallas might go for I don’t think Lively would be part of that conversation I think that’s kind of setting the table you’ve got some contracts that are not great in terms of expiring but aren’t necessarily bad I I

Don’t know if I would move Hard Away uh based on what he brings um the goal is to add not subtract uh but maybe Josh green and OMP and uh a first round pick it’s just it’s it’s a dangerous first because if it doesn’t work uh could really set the franchise back

Uh if if Luca leaves but then if you don’t make a move to succeed then maybe you’re fostering Luca leaving when he may be very happy to stay his entire career as long as the team is competitive so what do you do uh that that’s up to the Mavs

Front office but not entirely because they can’t make a trade without the participation of another team so it’s up to the Mavs for an office and the willingness of others to work with them yeah it’s a a difficult needle to thread when you’re working with timeline picks

And also with the new rules that we’re looking at you were talking about some of the draft compensation that you know the Mavericks are looking at they’re already of course sending out an unprotected first round pick in 2029 as part of the the Kyrie Irving trade so

There’s we talked about some of the you know draft conversation that’s already you know out there and what could be leaving as far as that’s concerned so and you mentioned Josh green because I want people to be able to understand you know he has this what’s called a poison

Pill restriction for those that don’t know what does that mean and how it could affect a potential trade when it comes to someone like Josh Green from this team well it it’s it’s not it’s not terrible is the is the good news but it’s ultimately a an imbalance of what a

Player salary is going out versus what it is going in so the Maverick sending him out would basically be credited with trading away 4.8 million in salary but the team acquiring him would have to account for the average salary over his entire extension which is about

114 now if this was a larger like a Tyrese halberton type situation where halberton is going from uh where is he going from about six to 35ish million so his average is about 35 so yeah so his outgoing for Indiana is 5’8 uh but his incoming would be almost 36 so you can

See how there’s a major imbalance in in how salary is moving it’s less of a problem with Josh Green it’s uh five million out and about 11 11 and a half in for whoever takes him in and in the in the new CBA they’ve loosened the trade rules uh

They’ve they’ve also made them tougher for the teams above those first and second aprons so for the first and second apron teams this could be uh a more of an issue um but Charlotte Washington the teams that we’ve been discussing aren’t necessarily in those aprons and the teams that are tend to be

Teams that are trying to compete for a championship in theory may not be looking to uh make this kind of move with Dallas uh so I don’t think it’s necessarily uh a problem it could just make things a little more difficult but um if it’s a team that’s not really

Worried about the aprons it it shouldn’t be a problem for for Dallas the most they could bring back uh if they were sending out 5 million and and and that was the only salary uh then it would be they could take in about double that

Plus 250 so call it a a little bit over 10 million let’s call it just 10 million flat uh but another team would have to account for 11 million coming in but again if they’re not in the aprons they can send out in the neighborhood of six

So it looking at it I don’t think the Josh Green contract will be um an obstacle let’s put it that way it it’s it is uh just a math mathematical issue to account for but with the locen trade rules and the size of his extension which is a around the midlevel which is

You know around average player salary it’s not an egregious jump that would make in my opinion a Dallas move too complicated to to happen obviously if you picked a team that was in one of those aprons it might become more of an issue so it depends who you’re going

After but I I don’t think it’s going to be in issue I think it’s more of an accounting uh hiccup more than anything else another name that we’ve heard in potential you know discussion when it comes to the Mavericks we’ve talked about guys like Kyle kozma PJ Washington

Another name that continues to float about is a name like Andrew Wiggins from golden states and golden states got decisions to make when it comes to you know Klay Thompson this upcoming summer what they do with Chris Paul Draymond Green as well but for Andrew Wiggins

What does his salary look like and what that looks like for a potential move for a Maverick team that may be looking for you know for a guy who may need a fresh start in going from Golden State to somewhere like Dallas well I mean with Wiggins he’s ascending as opposed to

Descending uh he’s at about 24 up to 26 28 and then about 30 so there’s some length there he was an All-Star starter a couple years ago and his game has not lived up to that since some of that um he had some personal issues missed some

Of the previous season with I think some family stuff um it’s a risk when uh you know you want to in theory get somebody who’s on the rise and you worry is his dip a a trend or an exception to the rule and is it just playing in a new

Home new place going to reinvigorate him and um that would be a risk that would be something that that Golden State would have or rather uh Dallas would have to calculate uh on the Golden State Side uh you can argue that maybe they’d be open to some of the contracts that

Are multi-year like a rashan Holmes uh because maybe they’re thinking about getting money off in a couple of years uh Draymond has not Draymond uh Andrew has four total years and if you’re bringing back ran who has an extra year you could debate okay they’re they’re chopping down some of that

Massive payroll piece by piece and maybe can’t get it all done at once uh so maybe that would be why they would go with Holmes and uh maybe they would want a Josh Green as a younger piece you could certainly argue it um you know it concerns me a little

Bit from the Dallas side where you as we mentioned now you’re you’re upping your payroll as a team uh for Wiggins amount and it’s growing so 26 verse PJ Washington who is uh what what did we say 15 or 16 you know that’s a big difference when it comes to next

Year’s numbers and when you start to look at those aprons for the next year and while kozma is expensive he’s at 23 and a half it is descending so next year it’d be 23 and a half it’s less than Wiggins and you get to a point where

Every dollar matters and and if you’re doing a a you know PJ Washington maybe you’re not getting someone who’s proven but you’re also not paying that same price so that’s where it’s a player evaluation it’s a budget evaluation and then what are you getting off of in

Salary if you’re getting off of ran and let’s say Josh Green you’re pulling off about 25 million off your books next year so if you’re just replacing that with A Wiggins which is maybe a little more expensive but in the ballpark or azma that puts you in the neighborhood

Of about 178 or so so there’s we said it was about 190 something so there is some flexibility under that second apron again there there’s the tax line which is just a penalty the team has to pay I don’t think fans should necessarily concern themselves with that uh if a

Team is trying to win that line is one that you’re going to cross the first apron has some restrictions but it’s not completely punitive it does limit what you can do but it’s that second apron that I think teams are going to treat as a hard cap and I think that’s where some

Of those moves where you know now you’re like well maybe Hardaway is the guy you send out because of you his 16 million next year as opposed to uh uh Josh green or whatever who’s a 13 million but then there’s the question of value and and

Who’s doing what and why are they doing it and if Josh Green is the youthful consideration versus Hardaway who’s a good player but maybe not the reason why a team moves off of a good player so uh obviously there’s a lot to consider um again because it’s not like Dallas has a

Menu to choose from um you might end up in a situation where you have one two or three possible moves that you can make but uh a lot of times it’s zero to one and it’s just you know or or yes you have moves that you can make but they’re

Unfavorable to the team so sure Dallas could probably make three or four trades today none of which that they would be comfortable making so it’s about getting something that this is not unique to Dallas it’s for any team something that you can live with something that you feel moves the needle forward for

Whatever your goals are and in Dallas’s goal it would be trying to win now trying to win over the next few years and trying to make sure that Luke is Happy uh presum because he’s in a winning environment and how much do you risk what happens if it doesn’t work and

So I think the answer there is in giving up what they gave up to get Kyrie who is a player who is super talented but has had some moments of unreliability in terms of just showing up uh whether it was personal stuff or um you know suspension related it was a risk that

Dallas was willing to take on believing that their culture their infrastructure would provide a good a good place for Kyrie to be successful and they were willing to risk what they you mentioned unprotected first down the road these are the kind of risks they were willing

To make I would assume they’re still on that track but that player coming back has to be someone who fits with Kyrie fits with Luca presumably fits with Derek Lively and whoever else you feel has to be in the rotation whether it’s you know a maxi or a Grant Williams or

Dwight Powell you know I mean whoever it is that they deem to be foundational to what they’re trying to accomplish maybe that’s Hardway maybe that’s not you know I would argue just based on who they are they kind of need Hardway I mean in in how he’s grown last year or a year

Before maybe I would have said differently but I think that he’s become uh a really in integral part of what they’re trying to accomplish offensively and so if you lose him that’s fine if you’ve improved upon him but if the goal is to just improve on

One player a little bit does that move the needle or does keeping hard away and getting one more piece really move the needle uh and push them forward into something uh you know that can really compete at the highest level yeah the Mavericks have shot the three ball

Extremely well and Tim Hardway has been a big part of that him and Luka donic helping this team shoot a bunch of Threes And make a bunch of Threes so far this year so he’s been a terrific player and a potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate for the Maverick so it would

Be difficult at this point to see Tim Hardway be parted away from but at the same time if that can help you maybe improve your team maybe that’s something they have to consider and along those lines from your understanding and what you’ve been able to gather around this

Team as well what is your your understanding about how this team is viewed around the league when it comes to potentially making something happen at the trade deadline based off of what they have available and some of the restrictions that may not allow them or maybe allow them to make some moves that

May help improve this team right well you I talked to a lot of Executives with other teams and um agents and other people in the industry and I can get a sense of what people are talking about um I can talk to some people with the Mavericks who I

You I have some friends in the organization but truthfully when I talk to an organization I rarely talk about their organization it’s more gossiping about others um I don’t want put people in a position where they’re um talking to someone in the media who is saying things they shouldn’t and and while I’m

Very trustworthy if you tell me something in confidence uh I haven’t put any I don’t put usually put that kind of pressure on anyone I know in an organization so uh I in other words I can share the gossip but I can’t share like oh I talked to Mark about this and

I talked to the GM and they this is not coming from the Mavs this is coming from other organizations or agents Andor agents and the buzz has been that Mavericks are more of a buyer and are looking to do something that firmly gives them uh a foothold to compete

Every year at least second third fourth round you know get to the finals however it’s not a team that’s um you know just kind of messing around to just make the playoffs there are some teams where I could argue they’ve made mov moves that cement them as playoff teams but limit

Them as upside teams you have someone like Luca who’s arguably uh a top talent in the league I mean we could debate if he’s number one or if he’s number five I think you would have a hard time getting to five you know like who’s are there

Four guys better than Luca we could debate Giannis or something or joic or embiid you know we can have those conversations but you have a singular Talent uh what looks to be a generational Talent and how do you number one as we talked about make him happy uh I the the vibe

On Luca is that he’s not somebody who needs to go to some quote bigger franchise in terms of maybe City or Market Dallas is a a a great Market it’s a it’s a great NBA franchise is it um the you know is it in San Francisco or Los Angeles or New York

Though is that a good thing or a bad thing for Luca I I don’t know but I don’t the buzz is is that those are it’s not like some bigger city is a draw is what I is what the buzz is now again who knows what luuka actually wants but um

The the the vibe is is that the right move or two could make him a Maverick for life just like Dirk was and so um I think that’s what people expect the Mavericks to be doing that they’re willing to sacrifice uh some of their youth but not Derek

Lively that um Hardway in theory could be moved but he’s pretty valuable to them so maybe they’re working around uh the edges and that that first has real value because of just that possibility that he does leave and you could be getting if you get 20 27 unprotected you could be getting you

Know the next victor wanyama or whatever at the Maverick’s expense and so if you’re Dallas and you’re like okay if we do these moves we’ll compete for a title Luca will stick around longer we don’t that pick will probably be at worst 20 right if we’re a playoff team should be

In the neighborhood of 20 maybe it’s 25 maybe it’s 28 you know maybe the Mavericks are barely getting in through the playin down the road but that’s not what they would be thinking they’d be thinking they if you’re giving up the 20th pick then you’re fine it’s just

That you have the risk and uh there’s risk of doing nothing and that would be maybe not um competing eventually souring the relationship with Luca who wants in theory a reason to stay so uh you want to give him that reason to stay uh and so that you know that’s the kind

Of buzz around the league as far as who the Mavericks are uh every team is sort of working Within These constraints now of the hard cap uh which is you know an optional hard cap that second apron but teams are treating it like it’s a hard

Cap and not all Phoenix the Clippers um still Golden State it’s too hard for them to get down too quickly uh but in terms of the moves that the Mavs make just look one year ahead and make sure that it doesn’t do something that um is

You gonna put them into the 200 range or something like that which is not really tenable for a team and it’s it’s less about ownership being cheap and more about if you don’t have the tools to build it’s really hard to build if you can’t make trades or you can but you

Can’t add salary via trade you can’t aggregate combine players together to to bring in other players you only have the minimums that’s fine if you have a team that is like the best team in the league you don’t really need to do much you know if you have in the prime you know

Steph and clay and Draymond and KD then yeah you can afford to just sign minimum guys each year and just sort of mind the the numbers at that point but um for Dallas’s case just you know look at the numbers ahead I do think there’s some flexibility I do think kozma is

Certainly available I don’t think the Wizards are rushing to trade him because they don’t have to trade him at this deadline uh it’s a little different for like a tyus Jones who’s expiring where if they don’t trade tus Jones then he leaves and they don’t get any value for

Having him kuzma they worked a nice extension it’s descending it’s not very long it’s it’s what I would consider an attractive contract uh for a player who maybe isn’t top 10 in the league or top 15 but is certainly a a good starter and a champion and somebody who can help

Uh PJ Washington is cheaper and maybe that’s the reason why you go in that direction Wiggins is the most expensive and is in a you know potential descent from his Peak that concerns me so I would I would worry about that one in particular I would probably stay away from that uh but

Maybe he’s the cheapest to get because of those concerns and maybe the the numbers work for Dallas where the the aprons in the future aren’t uh a problem and if that’s the case it’s it’s certainly a move Kyrie was certainly a move it wasn’t it wasn’t a low-risk move

That was a risk move but Kyrie’s you know incredibly talented and wigan’s also very talented plays defense um can score just sometimes it seems like um over the course of his career sometimes it it doesn’t feel or it hasn’t felt like he’s always brought everything all at once except for that

One year where he brought everything that he has at his disposal and was absolutely tremendous and you know probably why they won that Championship that year obviously Steph and all that um not the main reason but they probably aren’t the same team year without Wiggins being what he was last thing

Before we let you go here today when you look at this trade market and this deadline in particular what has the information told you about what kind of Market this is relative to some of the guys that have been reportedly available and how that could inform what we may

See as far as some moves and what that may affect the Mavericks as far as what they potentially do as well well it’s it’s uh an interesting Market because we have new rules and so we’re in a c certain level of just uncertainty of of how things are uh last year there was

Um sort of an an an an adjustment to the market because of the playing tournament and that’s been growing over the course of years where the plane was an unofficial thing and it started in the pandemic and then started to play with it it became this is how it is now and

So in the past if you were if it was eight teams per conference maybe 10 were still competitive up to the deadline and so 10 in each so that would be 20 teams you’d have 10 teams that were probably selling in some form maybe one of those

Teams was trying to jump up but maybe one of those TW top 20 teams was trying to move down anyway and knew that they weren’t you know so but generally speaking there would be maybe 10 sellers thinking about the future now we have what you have 10 that make it but then

There’s probably 12 that are in the range of making it so now that’s 24 teams so now you only maybe only have six Sellers and so it that’s only four different but there’s only 30 teams so it’s a big percentage right uh and so I think last year the trade market was

Really bottlenecked and then at some point you know teams were looking at Chicago and Toronto last year and wondering where they going to sell where are they going to sell were they going to sell the answer was no they weren’t going to sell so they didn’t sell and but there was a

Almost like a like a delug at the A Rush of Trades at the deadline and we had a very busy trade season it just um all happened at the at the end what’s been different with this is that number one in the new CBA the trade rules have been loosened so it’s easier

To make trades in terms of salary matching again except for those teams that are above those certain levels although even this year it is still looser now than it will be after this summer uh after this season for those second apron teams and even for the first apron teams it becomes harder to

Make trades even more so than it is now uh but it still is it’s you still have the plane to consider you have these loosen rules and going into the year it’s been okay what is it going to be like and at first it looked like it

Would be similar to last year where we weren’t sure who was going to sell uh would there be a bottleneck but then we’ve had like a SE yakum trade and we’ve had just Detroit make a trade and we’ve had trades semic consistently so I feel like

We’ve seen an uptick so I think that uh the overall Market has been a little bit more fluid which is I think the goal of the NBA and I think uh the mvpa The Players Association and partnership I think that was part of what went into

This new CBA was an an intention to loosen trade rules uh that’s from conversations I’ve had with people and then also if you just look at some of the rule changes they’re pretty clear that that’s where where they’re going and um but because of that maybe we’ve had more trades

Already there’s not going to be we we had OG traded and SE yakum traded so like yeah does Toronto continue do they you know first of all like yes they could still make trades but their two most desirable pieces uh players have been moved but they can move Bruce Brown

They can move Gary Trent they can move Dennis shuder Etc so are other moves that could happen so but that their top guys were moved already what does that mean for Toronto at the deadline they’re no longer like the focus they’re just sort of like yeah maybe they make

Another move so I I wonder how much of like we’ve already seen a lot of them and so we have an average deadline where it’s not outrageous or maybe there’s more saved up and we’ll see a whole bunch a flurry so uh I don’t know the

Answer and that’s you know what it’d be pretty boring if if every game you watched you knew the outcome ahead of time right or trade deadline so it it it does make it um you know that’s some of the joy of it I I feel like I’m

Reasonably good at setting the table of what uh the discussions are and obviously I get you know I didn’t see the Bagley to Detroit coming uh I mean I knew Detroit was selling and I knew Washington was flexible but you know the there’s no way to predict everything uh

But I feel like I do a decent job of at least understanding what the decisions are and for Dallas it’s not a sell it’s a buy and um for the reasons we described and they do have some pieces uh when I say pieces I mean you know the

Pcks uh and that well at least the pick individual and then some players um I don’t like to refer to them as like you know non-human terms but uh from a chessboard perspective of making moves if you want to call them pieces that’s what I refer to these are obviously you

Know real people who whose families need to uproot and it’s it’s not a a small thing uh when a person gets traded but from the chessboard point of view the Mavericks have some pieces and are willing buyers but probably within the constraints of making sure that next year’s payroll doesn’t balloon out of

Control too much so keep an eye on that if you’re doing uh some Dallas Mavericks fake trades just run the budget for next year to make sure it doesn’t get out of control everyone loves firing up the trade machine to see what they could do to try to match salary and get players

To get to where they want them to go and that kind of thing it’s always an interesting time of the year uh Eric can you tell the folks the work that you’re doing where they can find you to be able to get more of what you’re doing these

Days well you can find me uh on I guess what’s called X now or Twitter but it’s kind of like stable Center you know it’s I’m still gonna call it Twitter uh Eric Pinkus Erp NC us uh I of course publish for Bleach report uh pretty regularly uh

Lots of fake trades uh my editors have I don’t want to say fallen in love with that um but they know that I’m capable of constructing some crazy combinations so if you’re interested in that sort of thing I I I I like like it as you know sort of an educational exercise uh

Because through Sports business classroom which is where I teach uh a lot of what I do is teaching people about the industry trying to help them get jobs uh help them make find entry points on how can you get in and be with the team or with a on the agent side or

With a shoe company or a broadcast com company all the different arms and legs of of this industry uh but mostly my focus obviously is is the salary cap and the collective bargaining agreement all the rules and and whatnot uh so you can go to sports businessclass.com or just follow us on Sports

BS on Twitter SLX and uh we have some great content there uh some from our alumni and I are students who I work with and make sure they can uh you know get a chance to Showcase what they’re working on and what they’ve learned and what they can

Exercise and uh others just tracking all of this nonsense uh to help uh the fans figure out you know wait why can’t my team do this or how does my team get better uh which I think is really how I started on this journey long time ago

Which is trying to figure out oh wait there’s a road map here there’s a set of rules on how a team plays the game outside the 48 minutes that are uh in an NBA basketball game so that to me is where I get uh I enjoyed the most

Although sometimes when you watch Luca do what he just did the other day uh you know that that beats all of it trumps everything when you see somebody do some crazy I was watching a I was actually out at a not a sports bar but like a a

Restaurant that had TVs everywhere uh while the Lakers and the warriors were going toe totoe LeBron and Steph so when you see see that and Luca doing what he did or Booker on the same day doing what he was doing got to love the game so

Good fun and uh whatever I can do to help just reach out yeah the the game is uh tremendous right now with the amount of offensive talent that we see it’s just the tal overall in the league is at an all-time high and this weekend was a tremendous past week was a tremendous

Example of some of that so Eric thank you so much for the time really appreciate you hanging out with me here on the inside the mass podcast terrific stuff here and hopefully a little bit more of an education for those who are looking to do some of the similar things

To uh be able to have a better idea of what the Mavs could be doing so really appreciate you hanging out with us here today hi Kevin any time and appreciate it and good luck to the Mavs at the deadline I am fascinated to see what they do because I think there’s some

Potential there I’m just uh curious to see now that we’ve like I said like we’ve set the table I’m curious to see what they order on that menu so looking forward to it that’ll do it for this episode of inside the Mavs again thank you to Eric Pinkus for joining me here

On today’s episode you can download and subscribe to the inside the mass podcast wherever you get Podcast for free give it a festar rating and write a review for it while you’re there and make sure that you can check out this video on my YouTube channel at Kevin gray Sports and

Don’t forget you can download the inside the mass podcast the official maver podcast of 971 the freak for the Dallas Mavericks radio network again I’ll talk to you on Wednesday here on another episode of inside the Mavs we’ll talk to you later peace

#dallasmavericks #lukadoncic #kyrieirving #kylekuzma

On this episode of ‘Inside The Mavs’ I am joined by Bleacher Report NBA Insider & Capologist Eric Pincus. With the NBA trade deadline approaching on February 8th I discuss with Eric these various trade rumors and scenarios involving the Dallas Mavericks as they have been linked to several players including Kyle Kuzma, PJ Washington, Andrew Wiggins and others. We discuss the various contracts the Mavericks could use, the salary cap numbers and draft picks available to possibly make moves for the team to improve. Plus we examine the lens in which the team is looking through as it considers it moves in light of Luka Doncic’s contract now and beyond. Plus he dives into what the trade market looks like and if the Mavericks are buyers at the NBA trade deadline and so much more!

Be sure to like and comment on the video and follow me on Twitter @KevinGraySports

You can follow Eric on Twitter @EricPincus follow of his work for Bleacher Report!

Download and subscribe to the ‘Inside The Mavs’ Podcast, the official Mavericks podcast of 97.1 The Freak wherever you get podcasts free, give it a five-star rating and write a review for the podcast!

Inside The Mavs Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-the-mavs/id1687581495?i=1000643435360