2019 NBA Offseason Day 1 Recap

The NBA season is never really over, is it? Talk about a wild opening weekend, and I have all of it covered! Instead of updating a massive post in real time with links to individual tweets like in previous years, I'm going to wait until the end of each day and just round up all of the reported deals. With the 1st day always being the most busy, I'm just getting the list out initially with my salary estimates, sorted by 2019 salary, and will add my thoughts to my minor notes afterwards.

(Estimates/player option/team option/not fully guaranteed)

Kevin Durant agrees to a sign-and-trade with the Nets: 4 years, $164.3 million

$38,199,000

$40,108,950

$42,018,900

$43,928,850

The guaranteed number could end up being slightly less depending on the final structure if Brooklyn pulls the "Miami maneuver" and ties a portion of the salary to incentives in a salary cap loophole to fit in DeAndre Jordan. It will end up being a double sign-and-trade with D'Angelo Russell to allow Golden State to get something back, with Brooklyn receiving a protected 1st and the flexibility to sign DeAndre Jordan.

KD delivered on the ultimate goal twice in his brief stay in the Bay.

Klay Thompson re-signs with the Warriors: 5 years, $189.9 million

$32,742,000

$35,361,360

$37,980,720

$40,600,080

$43,219,440

This one was never really in doubt, even in the wake of his tragic ACL tear. The only real question was whether the last year would be a player option or even if a no-trade clause would be added, but Anthony Slater reports that it's just a straight five year pact for the 29 year old. The original Warriors core will remain in tact for at least another season, with the two offensive center pieces locked in through 2022 now.

Kemba Walker signs with the Celtics: 4 years, $140.8 million

$32,742,000

$34,379,100

$36,016,200

$37,653,300

It remains to be seen whether the double sign-and-trade with Charlotte will end up being a three way deal with Brooklyn to allow Boston to operate as an over the cap team with full access to the MLE, but even if not, this is a solid rebound move in the wake of their free agent losses. With some similarities with Kyrie Irving, Walker can provide a lot of the same offense with his versatile shooting, as he hit a career high 260 3's last season. There's a chance that his style of leadership could better help Boston's young players develop, which will be important as they get ready for new contract extensions. While the back end of this deal may look bad for a small guard that's currently 29, especially on the defensive end, this is probably the best move they could've made in their situation.

Jimmy Butler agrees to a sign-and-trade with the Heat: 4 years, $140.8 million
Heat receive:

Jimmy Butler

$32,742,000

$34,379,100

$36,016,200

$37,653,300

76ers receive:

Josh Richardson

$10,116,576

$10,865,952

$11,615,328

After initially involving Dallas, it ended up involving the Clippers and Trail Blazers.

Kyrie Irving signs with the Nets: 4 years, $140.8 million

$32,742,000

$34,379,100

$36,016,200

$37,653,300

Like Durant, the guaranteed number could end up being slightly less depending on the final structure if Brooklyn pulls the "Miami maneuver" and ties a portion of the salary to incentives in a salary cap loophole to fit in DeAndre Jordan.

Tobias Harris re-signs with the 76ers: 5 years, $180 million

$31,034,483

$33,517,241

$36,000,000

$38,482,759

$40,965,517

Full five years with no options, per Woj.

Khris Middleton re-signs with the Bucks: 5 years, $178 million

$30,689,655

$33,144,828

$35,600,000

$38,055,172

$40,510,345

Damian Lillard signs an extension with the Trail Blazers: 4 years, $196 million

$29,802,321

$31,626,953

$43,750,000

$47,250,000

$50,750,000

$54,250,000

Kristaps Porzingis re-signs with the Mavericks: 5 years, $158.3 million

$27,285,000

$29,467,800

$31,650,600

$33,833,400

$36,016,200

D'Angelo Russell agrees to a sign-and-trade with the Warriors: 4 years, $117.3 million
Warriors receive:

D'Angelo Russell

$27,285,000

$28,649,250

$30,013,500

$31,377,750

Shabazz Napier	$1,845,301
Treveon Graham	$1,645,357

Nets receive:
A future protected 1st 
Between Napier and Graham, $3,194,200 of their salaries will have to become guaranteed in order to match Durant's salary. Establishes a hard cap and leaves them only around $6.4 million below it, pending a trade of Shaun Livingston's partially guaranteed contract.

2019 NBA Draft Week!

This is among my favorite times of the year, so with the draft already here tomorrow, I'll be writing my annual thoughts about all the moves occurring around it in this post with constant updates. So check back whenever a deal is made and enjoy the chaos!

(Player option/Team option/Partial or non-guaranteed)

Grizzlies receive:

Mike Conley

$32,511,624

$34,502,132

Jazz receive:

Jae Crowder	$7,815,533
Kyle Korver	$7,500,000

Grayson Allen

$2,429,400

$2,545,320

$4,054,695

#23 pick

2020 1st round pick (protected 1-7 & 15-30 through '21, 1-6 in '22, 1-3 in '23, and 1 in '24, then becomes two 2nd round picks in '25)

The long awaited trade between Memphis and Utah finally happened, and with the Jazz willing to give up this much, it's a surprise that this didn't get completed at the trade deadline. Ricky Rubio's expiring contract could've been used to match salaries rather than use up all of their cap space now, but they must not have wanted to sacrifice their depth midseason. Including a future pick in addition to last year's 1st rounder in Allen and the #23 pick tomorrow is a high price to pay to get a bigger scoring threat than Rubio at that position. While Conley does provide more spacing for Donovan Mitchell, I'm just not sure I'd trade away that much for a soon to be 32 year old with such a large contract. Once this deal is completed on July 6th, they'll be right at the cap with Derrick Favors' non-guaranteed contract looking to be picked up after he wasn't included in the trade, so they'll only have the Room MLE and minimum contracts to fill out the rotation since the cap holds of Rubio, Thabo Sefolosha, and Ekpe Udoh will have to be renounced. If they did decide to waive Favors along with their other non-guaranteed salaries, they could get to around $20 million in cap space add to the bench, but I'd expect them to rely on their strong starting five of Conley, Mitchell, Joe Ingles, Favors, and Rudy Gobert with Dante Exum, Royce O'Neale, and maybe Georges Niang providing support.

The Anthony Davis Trade: Surprisingly a Win-Win?

Lakers receive:

Anthony Davis

$27,093,018

$28,751,774

Pelicans receive:

Lonzo Ball

$8,719,320

$11,003,782

Brandon Ingram

$7,265,485

Josh Hart

$1,934,160

$3,491,159

#4 pick in 2019 

2021 1st round pick (protected 9-30, then unprotected in 2022)
Right to swap 2023 1st round picks (unprotected)
2024 1st round pick (unprotected, can be deferred to 2025)

(Player option/Team option)

It finally happened: New Orleans relented and traded their franchise player to his preferred destination of Los Angeles. While you never want to give up a perennial All-NBA performer, this is a serious haul that new shot-caller David Griffin negotiated in return to make this deal about as big of a win as you could hope for. There are still some moving parts, but now that there are more details about the exact picks; Julius Randle's player option; and perhaps most importantly, the timing of the trade, we can get a better look at the deal from both sides.

Look at the years of those picks again. Stretching out how far down the line they are increases the upside of them, especially since they are unprotected after the 2021 pick that could only be good thanks to the reverse protections. Including a pick swap on top of three 1st rounders is reminiscent of the infamous Celtics-Nets trade that ended up as volatile as possible. At just 26, Davis is just entering his prime compared to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry, of course, but LeBron James turns 35 this year and could leave in the summer of 2021 to boot. It may not be likely, but there's a real chance that The Brow doesn't end up enjoying his season there and leaves after one year like Dwight Howard, leaving the Lakers in a disastrous situation resulting in multiple lottery picks on top of the #4 pick already guaranteed in this month's draft. 

The Lakers are betting on this pair lasting the long haul.

Nets and Hawks kick off the 2019 offseason!

Hawks receive:

Allen Crabbe

$18,500,000

#17 pick
2020 1st, protected #1-14 through 2022, then becomes two 2nds

Nets receive:

Taurean Prince

$3,481,986

2021 2nd

Well, I didn't expect a big trade to be agreed to in the middle of the Finals before the offseason even begins, but this will be quite the haul for Atlanta once it can become official in July. Travis Schlenk continues to stockpile assets as they now have three selections in the top 17 picks this month, which could put them in a more comfortable position to make a splash. That speculative move up for R.J. Barrett would make even more sense now that Prince is out of the picture, and this would be one of the best situations for the athletic wing to reach his franchise player potential with a young core of actual shooters around him compared to what he saw at Duke. Although Prince is a nice player at just 25 years old, he is about to enter the last year of his rookie contract, so flipping him for two 1st round picks makes total sense. Crabbe is only two years older and a solid rotation player to provide shooting, anyway, and they had plenty of cap flexibility to take on his large expiring contract. Even with this difference of $15 million in contracts, the Hawks are looking at over $35 million in cap space before accounting for their 1st round picks, and now they'll have over $50 million coming off the books for next year between Crabbe, Kent Bazemore, and Miles Plumlee.

I get that the $15 million matters more to a team trying to clear space for two max contracts like the Nets, but this is still a high price to pay to do so. It was going to be tight and dependent on whether the salary cap lands higher or lower than the projected $109 million, but even before this trade they could've held onto D'Angelo Russell's $21 million cap hold and still had the $32.7 million of room needed for a free agent with 7-9 years of experience like Kyrie Irving. Now, they have about $46 million in space that could become close to $69 million if they renounce Russell and waive the non-guaranteed contracts of Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham, so it's more feasible to add another star in addition to Irving. They'd still need another small deal for more room if that second free agent has 10+ years of experience like Kevin Durant, but this does put them in that conversation to help woo the first star. Sean Marks has done a great job the last few years to clean up the books and put Brooklyn in this kind of position, so he could have some inside information that a big signing is a possibility. Otherwise, this would be a tough overpay for a young role player and some flexibility.