👋 Good morning! The NBA has the wildest offseason in all of sports… but is that a good thing? One week after playing Game 7 of the Finals, the Indiana Pacers let Myles Turner walk for nothing. To sign him, the Milwaukee Bucks signed up to pay superstar Damian Lillard more than $22 million per year for five years not to play there. The Celtics have already blown up the core of their title team from one year ago. Everyone is still waiting for LeBron to demand out of LA.

It hurts my basketball romantic soul to see the Pacers and Celtics voluntarily getting worse to avoid tax issues because each team’s star player will miss most or all of the upcoming season. The fans deserve better! Take it from a Mavs fan who watched his team blow up a title team: The grass ain’t always greener. It’s just a reminder to enjoy the good times while they last, because you never know when they’ll come to an end.

Our insider Marc Stein kept promising a zany offseason, and it turns out that guy knows what he’s talking about. — Bobby Karalla

Here is where today’s newsletter is completely hijacked by my personal agenda. You’ve been warned.

If the Pacers really are gonna retool, are they gonna keep Andrew Nembhard around? Nembhard, 25, is due $59 million over the next three seasons. He was a critical piece of their Finals run, providing excellent point of attack defense and some extra playmaking punch to complement Tyrese Haliburton.

I’d be pretty surprised if they actually considered dealing him, even if he’s only averaged 10 points per game for his career and show below 30 percent from 3 last season. He’s a fan favorite and is on a very reasonable contract. The Mavs, though, could absolutely use a player exactly like Nembhard. He could fit perfectly alongside Kyrie, D’Angelo Russell, or Brandon Williams, and he’d provide exactly the type of defensive presence the Mavs’ formidable roster is still lacking.

In the wake of Myles Turner’s departure and a few other players’ contracts expiring, the Pacers don’t have any centers on their roster. Is there a possible match there? Stein said no on yesterday’s show, but I won’t take no for an answer! The Mavs even signed Andrew’s brother Ryan to a two-way contract! This is something that can (and SHOULD) happen! So go ahead and do it already!!

On yesterday’s DLLS Mavs show, Kevin Gray and I intentionally took as optimistic an approach as possible to determine the best-case scenario for the current Mavs roster. Our efforts concluded with agreeing that the Mavs have a great interior defense, possibly the best in the NBA. They also have an incredibly deep roster, almost to a fault if/when completely healthy. If nothing else, though, we do believe they could use a consolidation trade — or at least a smaller move to add some more playmaking.

Even if it doesn’t end up involving Andrew Nembhard, that’s one agenda on which we will not relent.

NHL free agency kicked off yesterday, and the Stars made a couple small moves early in the day that could pay big dividends later in the season. First, they re-signed Colin Blackwell to a 2-year contract at the league minimum. Then they signed Radek Faksa, who will make his return to Dallas on a 3-year contract worth $2 million per.

Neither guy is a top-6 forward, obviously, but the Stars have prided themselves on having an elite penalty kill for years now. Blackwell was a key part of that during this year’s Conference Final run and we know Faksa will further add to that. More importantly, Faksa will add size. Lots of size. Stars fans agree this year’s team needed some more size and physicality, and they’ve already made a couple moves to ensure that will be the case for next season.

Sam Nestler’s got more on that, as well as the hires of Glen Gulutzan and Neil Graham, here.

The Rangers are about to welcome back a few key pieces to the lineup. Could they use that as an opportunity to… option Josh Jung to Triple A? Jung hit just .158 in June and struck out 27 times.

Jeff Wilson breaks down the situation and explains the Rangers’ thought process here.

The Dallas Wings made a bit of a surprise trade, sending forward NaLyssa Smith to the Las Vegas Aces for a 2027 1st round pick. Smith is averaging a career-low 6.7 points in a career-low 19.1 minutes per game as the Wings have continued adding forwards and tinkering with rotations during their 5-13 start to the season.

Based on their other moves, it appears the Wings might be looking for more shooting from their power forward and center spots to create more space for Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale. It’s certainly an abrupt ending to Smith’s short tenure in Dallas. But the move could potentially pay huge dividends for the Wings in the near future. The Aces have one (1) player under contract after this season. There’s no guarantee they’ll be good in the 2026-27 season, despite having been one of the premier franchises in the league for the last half-decade.

Smith herself is on an expiring contract, too. Getting a first-rounder for her is good business, even if it’s a little out of nowhere.

Cooper Flagg is already getting to work in the community. You love to see it.

Be sure to subscribe to our shows wherever you listen to your podcasts. Traffic can be the worst, and one of the best ways I get through it is by listening to the audio versions of our DLLS shows. You should, too!

Bobby Karalla
DLLS Sports Head of Content​
[email protected]