Trade the big eyebrow? Buy out Thompson? How should the Mavericks lineup operate?

As we all know, the Mavericks this season are very chaotic.

After Harrison was fired, there was a lot of discussion about the future of the Mavericks: Should they continue to compete for an unrealistic championship with a lineup that is full of injuries and does not seem to match well? Or trade away valuable players on the team and completely rebuild around Flagg?

At present, it seems that this question already has an answer. In ESPN's latest program, Shams, the famous reporter, talked about the next step for the Mavericks after firing Harrison. He said: "This team will stay away from the 3-4 year championship window that Harrison previously said, and instead seek more lasting success. The Mavericks will next build a team around Flagg and other young people. Sources told me that the Mavericks We will listen to other teams' trade offers for Nongmei and explore his trade value. For this reason, Nongmei's health has become the most important factor. Other teams want to see how he can play when Nongmei comes back and how this team can play."

At the same time, Dallas local sports media. Hoops Journal also reported that sources revealed that Klay and Big Eyebrow are now aware that the team is likely to trade them. After Harrison's dismissal, it was widely predicted that the Mavericks would trade away these two players.

Let’s talk about the situation of the Mavericks first. It is indeed very difficult: 1. Currently 4 wins and 11 losses, third from the bottom in the Western Conference. 2. Flagg is training hard, and his performance as a forward has improved in the past two weeks. 3. Thick eyebrows, Lively have only played 5 games so far, and Irving has not returned. 4 , Thompson, and Russell performed very poorly this season. 5. The team has the first round in 2026, but they do not have the first round in 2027-30.

Regarding the Mavericks' first round in 2027-30, the specifics are:

-202 In 7 years, P.J. Washington was traded and sent to the Hornets

- In 2028, in order to obtain Gafford, the swap rights were with the Thunder

-- In 2029, Irving was traded and sent to the Nets

-- In 2030, in order to obtain Gerwig, the swap rights were with the Spurs

One thing to say, although the first round has not been in my hands in the past four years, the above four transactions, except for the unexpected failure of the Gerwig transaction, the other three were all good transactions. They helped the Mavericks reach the finals in 2024. Unexpectedly, they actually traded Doncic away later. It was really magic.

Back to the present, let’s take a look at the performance of Thick Eyebrow and Thompson.

Nongmei has only played 5 games so far, averaging 20.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 52%.

The healthy thick eyebrow is still the league's top insider, but the problem is that he is too unhealthy. He has only played 14 games in total since joining the Mavericks. In the five complete seasons of the Lakers period, except for the first and last two years (62 games, 76 games), the attendance rate in the middle three years was also very poor (36 games, 40 games, 56 games).

And to be honest, even when healthy, his current thick eyebrows are no better than his peak. His three-point shooting has been completely lost. Since 2020, there has not been a season where his three-point shooting rate has exceeded 30% (it reached 38.3% in the park).

Considering that Nongmei will be 33 years old in March next year, there are still 3 years and 175.4 million in the remaining contract, and the current struggling situation of the Mavericks, his transaction value will definitely not be too high - it is not that there is no value. On the contrary, Nongmei is still a positive asset now, and joining any team will be a reinforcement. However, it can be said that it is impossible to exchange for assets of the same value as Doncic's transaction.

Looking at Thompson, it's a bit hard to say.

Thompson has had the worst performance of his career this season. He has played in 14 games, averaging 21.3 minutes per game, scoring 9.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists. He shot 33.8% from the field, 31.1% from three-point range, and his true shooting percentage was only 46.6%.

Thompson has a habit of slowing down, but his performance this season cannot be explained by slowing down. It cannot even be blamed on the Mavericks' poor space. One statistic is that Thompson currently only makes 9 of 38 wide-open three-pointers (the nearest defender is 6+ feet), with a shooting percentage of 23.7%.

Thompson is now 35 years old. He signed a three-year 50 million contract with the Mavericks in 2024. The remaining two years of salary are 16.67 million and 17.46 million respectively.

In addition to these two, the rest of the Mavericks are actually very dangerous. If it is for the first-round pick/rebuilding assets, Gafford, PJ Washington, Marshall and even Irving may become the targets of trade. Russell, Caleb Martin and Thompson, even if they are sent away, they will not get much positive returns now. The only ones who can definitely stay on the team are probably Flagg, Lively, and Christie.

Yes, the Mavericks Supermarket has officially opened. A year ago, they were still the top team in the Western Conference that had just returned from the Finals and was considered to have a bright future. Everything started with Harrison's trade for Doncic - how will people recall and evaluate this deal five or ten years from now? It’s really exciting.