The Dallas Mavericks spent last week reshaping the margins of their roster, and the next move is aimed at the veterans. A day after the front office added former No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher for a modest price, Marc Stein reported that Dallas is open to trading Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford — and that it has told teams Kyrie Irving is not part of those conversations.
Thompson is the name drawing the most calls, and the reason is the contract. At 36, he is entering the final season of his deal at a reported $17.5 million, an expiring number that matches salary cleanly in almost any framework a contender might build. Washington and Gafford are the sturdier rotation pieces — a forward who can guard across positions and a rim-running big — and on Gafford, reporting indicates Dallas is holding out for a first-round pick rather than moving him for filler.
None of this contradicts what the front office has said its plan is. Dallas has framed this era around Cooper Flagg, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Irving, and putting the older, higher-priced wings on the market is the logical continuation of a roster that just spent a second-round pick to add a 21-year-old wing in Risacher. The receipts worth keeping: the same group has also called Gafford a valued piece, so a trade that returns anything less than real value would sit oddly against that.
For now these are market-gauging talks, not a deal in progress, and Stein’s framing that Irving stays put is the clearest signal of where the line is drawn. The lever to watch is Thompson’s expiring salary, the easiest of the three to move if Dallas wants to convert veteran money into a younger asset or a pick before the season.
The fantasy read is cleanest on Gafford. In Dallas his minutes are capped behind the frontcourt rotation, but a trade to a team that starts him at center would restore a top-40 floor on rebounds and blocks, making him the most valuable of the three to track. Thompson’s redraft stock is already thin as a spot-up shooter; a move to a contender could stabilize his three-point volume or bury it further, so hold in deeper leagues only. Washington remains a cross-category streamer whose value barely moves with the jersey.
