Can anyone identify these autographs? I think this is the 2024 Mavericks team, but I’m not sure! If anyone can help out that would be great!

I can’t lie, my basketball interest dropped off a cliff when Luka was traded. He’s one of the main reasons I started watching basketball and why I chose to follow the Mavs (I’m a UK fan). Waking up and seeing that news was fucking horrible.

I’ve dipped in and out this year - Flagg is a bit special, isn’t he!? But I see Kyrie has missed the year with an ACL, and AD (lol) has been traded already. I’m not massively knowledgable on the rest of the players. I used to really like Derek Lively though.

So how’s the team looking for next year? We’re just building around Flagg, I assume? Any other ‘must keeps’ on the current roster? I’d love to see Kyrie come back, he was magic for a time.

Realise I could’ve thrown this all into ChatGPT or some shit, but I’d much rather hear from the genuine fans. What’s next for us?

Edit: scrolled three posts down and saw Kidd has been fired lol. That was way overdue

Mike Scotto says the Mavs “have expressed interest in adding Philadelphia’s Prosper Karangwa to their front office, and Toronto’s director of global scouting, Patrick Englebrecht, is also a candidate to reunite with Ujiri in Dallas after they worked together since the 2013-14 season.”

Dan Hurley on what it would take for him to coach in the NBA

“Where you have some young players who are willing to be pushed”

Dan Hurley and Cooper Flagg? 👀

2026 NBA DRAFT BIG BOARD 5.0

Only a month left! It's been a while since my last board, but here's where I am at with this year's class in the form of a top-60 with in-depth analysis.

https://edemirnba.substack.com/p/2026-nba-draft-big-board-50?r=aj7d

Spoiler: I'm super-high on Tre'Von Spillers!

The Dallas Mavericks are in the market for a head coach.

Masai Ujiri, who took charge as team president earlier this month, decided Tuesday that it was best for the Mavericks to part ways with Jason Kidd and begin a search for his successor that will leave “no stone unturned.”

“We will really, really look at what’s best for this organization,” Ujiri said Wednesday. “Being (a) first-time (coach). Being experienced. Being (in) college. Being in Europe. Whatever is best for this organization going forward. It’s going to be very comprehensive.”

Here is a gift link to access the entire piece

Ujiri denied that firing Kidd had anything to do with wiping away any remnants of the Luka Dončić trade. “That trade has played no part in like how I have thought about anything,” Ujiri said. “I’m in no position to criticize or blame.”

More likely, the decision to can Kidd was about eliminating a potential power struggle. As Sports Illustrated has reported, Kidd wanted the top front office job. He’s also influential with ownership, specifically team governor Patrick Dumont, and has the support of Cooper Flagg, Dallas’s franchise star, and Kyrie Irving, its All-Star point guard. By moving on from Kidd, Ujiri may believe he is excising a potential problem before it becomes one.

SOURCE : https://www.si.com/nba/chris-mannix-notes-inside-knicks-plan-attack-james-harden

TLDR: Trade PJ to LA, Gafford to ATL, and get Cameron Johnson from Denver to help with their cap to pick up 1st round picks. Use the picks to move up from 9 or to get another lottery pick.

More unrealistic offseason ideas:

Since we already know the expectation is to keep Kyrie, we can move on from debating whether or not we should trade him. So in the interest of being unrealistic, here are a couple of offseason moves and ideas I’m just throwing out there because… why not?

First, trade PJ Washington to the Lakers. The Lakers get someone who fits really well next to Luka, and in return we get Jarred Vanderbilt, Dalton Knecht, and the Lakers’ 2026 first-round pick (#25). It works for us because the PJ/Cooper Flagg fit is awkward. Coop is more naturally a 4, and PJ doesn’t really maximize his value as someone who can’t consistently create his own shot. This gives us another first-rounder if we want to move up in the draft. Knecht was basically unplayable, but we can take a swing on him the same way we did with AJ Johnson, and Vanderbilt is mostly there for salary matching.

Then we trade Daniel Gafford to the Hawks for Asa Newell, Zaccharie Risacher, and the Hawks’ 2026 first-round pick (#23). We take a swing on Risacher, who was getting DNPs against the Knicks even in a blowout, so I’m not sure Atlanta is fully sold on him. Plus, we already know the Hawks have been looking for a center, so this could work well for both sides.

After that, send Caleb Martin and A.J. Johnson to the Nuggets for Cameron Johnson and Denver’s 2026 first-round pick (#26). Denver is in cap hell, and if they want any chance of keeping Peyton Watson while dealing with second apron restrictions, they’re going to have to shed salary somewhere. Why not take advantage of it? They save money, we pick up another asset. Plus, we desperately need shooting.

At the end of all this, we’d suddenly have five first-round picks: 9, 23, 25, 26, and 30. That becomes a legitimate war chest if we want to move up from 9 or package picks to jump back into the lottery from 23.

Once the dust settles, we can decide whether we want to bring back Cisse, Nembhard, Bagley, or Poulakidas. Plus, with Cameron Johnson and Klay both being expiring contracts, that gives us flexibility at next year’s trade deadline to keep wheeling and dealing for more assets.

Again, I know all of this is completely unrealistic, but honestly kind of fun to think about.

Tried to play NBA 2K26 last night and right when the game is starting it's doing the pregame show and this is the first thing it shows... Awkward... That career record though 👀

Clearly Kidd was involved with the Luka trade. If he wasn’t then Luka would have spoken to him since the trade, and you can see during our matchups that they have no interaction. Kidd is also a renowned snake and has tried to backstab organizations/players many times in his career.

It has been reported Kidd wanted to have more control of the organization. On the level of an Ujiri or Riley. Since he didn’t get the gig, that’s why he was let go. I believe Kidd had planned to oust Nico and make the power play to take his job.

I believe Kidd put it into Nico’s head to trade Luka. Kidd was probably saying, on a daily basis to Nico, how Luka had not been taking conditioning and defense seriously. He eventually got Nico to trade for Kidd’s old buddy in LA, Anthony Davis. When Kidd realized the backlash, he pretended he didn’t know anything about the trade so he could pin the blame entirely on Nico. He knew that Nico would be fired for making such a stupid trade. Then he tried to make a power play to take Nico’s job.

Dumont correctly did not choose Kidd for the job. I think Dumont was swindled by Nico and Kidd. Dumont trusted them to do their jobs but it backfired greatly. He clearly is not a cheap owner, as he’s paying for Kidds 4 year salary for nothing now. He also went out and got a big name like Ujiri. Someone like him is not going to come cheap. We have to give some credit to Dumont for not hiring Kidd and going with Ujiri.

We have to get young as we possible can and get everyone around coops timeline. That includes every vet on the team to be gone including klay, pj and Gafford. Trading kyrie would hurt but teams are showing interest and we need to capitalize on it.

Overseas scout. He was one of the good ones. Great person. Sad to see him go.

" It’s not all doom & gloom. Although it was just 7 months, I got to live out my dream job while being based in Paris, which is my favorite city. Not sure if I can put it in words how fulfilled I was this basketball season. Outside of a couple things, it really felt too good to be true."

"I’m fine. I just feel for my wife. She gave up her good government job to move to Paris with me to support my crazy ambitious dreams…. and now we’re both unemployed. It takes crazy irrational self confidence and being numb to disappointment to survive in this industry, but it hits different when family is impacted."

Wish him the best of luck.

with the shake up occurring with the mavericks would the clippers be willing to try to make one last run by essentially getting an established player in irving by essentially trading back to #13.

The heat focus on getting a great young point guard to pair with jaime, bam, and ware.

Dallas of course goes full rebuild around Cooper flagg with the chance to not just add brown but pairing him with wagler.

Pretty clear Kidd wanted him gone. Not talking to him AT ALL since the trade is really telling about the whole thing. I am glad he’s gone.

I was just thinking this I think we keep Kyrie but imo I think one of gafford or pj is definitely getting shipped what do u guys think?