The Notebook, Preseason 2026: Brodie Keeps Buying the Present
brodiedean8 added Julius Randle and Isaiah Collier from goochshot for Davion Mitchell, Moussa Diabaté, and his own 2029 first- and third-round picks. The league's best regular-season team from 2025 is still pushing assets forward, a swap that matters because Brodie has responded to last year's first-round exit by making his current roster harder to wait out.
The Brodie-Gooch Deal Has Two Different Clocks
The Randle deal is straightforward on Brodie's side. He already enters 2026 with Nikola Jokić, Cade Cunningham, Trae Young, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Amen Thompson and Stephon Castle. Randle gives that group another established starter instead of another asset scheduled to matter years later.
That distinction matters with Brodie.
He went 19-2 last season, the best regular-season record in league history, then Nighthawk2334 eliminated him in Round 1. As we wrote in Pressure Rankings, the postseason result changed the standard. Another excellent regular season does little for him now.
His recent transactions match that reality. Brodie sent Cameron Carr and his 2029 second to matticus808 for Yves Missi, then sent Davion Mitchell, Moussa Diabaté and his 2029 first and third to goochshot for Randle and Collier. Earlier in the offseason he also acquired Trae Young from 44Colt in the six-asset package centered on Jrue Holiday and Brandon Ingram going the other way.
The counter-read is obvious. Brodie keeps reducing the number of future assets available to repair this roster later. BigSuge holds his 2027 first. Natebarrett5 holds his 2028 first. Gooch now holds his 2029 first. That is a meaningful amount of control over Brodie's future sitting elsewhere.
It only becomes a problem if this roster stops winning before those picks convey.
For 2026, Brodie has chosen the easier problem to solve: make somebody beat the veteran core again.
Gooch took the opposite side. He moved Randle and Collier for Mitchell, Diabaté and two Brodie picks, including the 2029 first. He already holds Brodie's 2028 second and now controls Brodie's 2029 first and third as well. Gooch remains strong enough to enter the season with Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, Scottie Barnes, Paolo Banchero, Trey Murphy and Kon Knueppel, so the deal did not require him to abandon the present.
That makes the first the important piece. Gooch gave Brodie another usable 2026 player while betting that Brodie's roster will eventually age into a valuable 2029 selection.
Matticus Is Still Turning Players Into Options
matticus808 made two more moves after already becoming the league's clearest asset collector.
He sent Cason Wallace to goochshot for three second-round picks: Nighthawk2334's 2027 second, BigSuge's 2027 second and Brodie's 2028 second. He later sent Jared McCain and Natebarrett5's 2027 third to Natebarrett5 for Jaden McDaniels.
The McDaniels deal is the more interesting transaction because it goes against the easy description of Matticus as a GM who only wants youth and picks. McCain fits that timeline neatly. Matticus still moved him for a current NBA wing already established on an active roster.
That suggests his offseason has been less about collecting one type of asset than maintaining flexibility.
His roster already includes Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace before the trade, Ajay Mitchell, Darryn Peterson, Kingston Flemings, Dailyn Swain and Morez Johnson. His rookie draft added Peterson at No. 2, Flemings at No. 7, Johnson at No. 9, Swain at No. 11 and Labaron Philon at No. 16.
He can afford to move one young guard without changing the shape of the roster.
Matticus also still holds goochshot's 2027 first, alecb5's 2028 first and 44Colt's 2029 first. The asset board already established how unusual that position is. The development since then is that Matticus has started using the depth of that portfolio to make smaller roster corrections instead of simply adding more picks.
That is worth watching once the season starts. A manager with that many external picks does not need every young player to hit. He needs enough of them to hit that the surplus can keep buying solutions.
Nate Is Moving From Accumulation Toward Evaluation
Natebarrett5's latest deal sent Jared McCain and his own 2027 third to matticus808 for Jaden McDaniels.
It is a small move compared with the Ja Morant and Jalen Green trade that reshaped Coopa Troopas earlier in the offseason, but it points in a different direction.
Nate previously sent Morant and Green to BigSuge for the picks that became AJ Dybantsa and Yaxel Lendeborg, plus BigSuge's 2027 second. The roster now includes Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Brandon Miller, Donovan Clingan, Cedric Coward, Dybantsa, Darius Acuff, Mikel Brown and Lendeborg.
At some point, a rebuilding roster has enough prospects.
McDaniels gives Nate another player who can occupy a real roster slot while the younger group develops. The cost was McCain and a third, so this was not a major consolidation. It does signal that every move no longer has to push value farther into the future.
The risk is that Nate still has to learn which of these young players deserve permanent places. Accumulating prospects creates optionality. Setting a competitive lineup eventually forces choices.
That stage is getting closer.
One More Thing Before Tipoff
BigSuge's roster remains the one that can change the league fastest with another trade. He already added Ja Morant and Jalen Green from Natebarrett5, then acquired Kyrie Irving and Darius Garland from lilsweet96. Those moves put them alongside Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum and LaMelo Ball.
As we wrote in Hot Seat, the question is what BigSuge does with that concentration of high-end guards and veterans. Nothing in the transactions since has answered it.
The roster can absolutely enter the season intact. There is no rule requiring another move.
But the rest of the league has spent the offseason choosing directions. Brodie keeps buying immediate help. Gooch has mixed contention with external future picks. Matticus keeps building optionality. Nate has started converting some youth into usable roster balance.
BigSuge still has the cleanest chance to make the next transaction that changes everybody else's preseason math.
That is the line to watch now: not who makes another trade, but which contender decides its current roster still is not enough.