I guess it's that time of year already! I typically make this post after the NBA draft, but now that deals started pouring in over the weekend, I'm starting now and will just add draft day moves in here.
This will be constantly updated throughout the summer, so I'll be adding the latest news at the top to be readily available upon revisiting the page instead of always having to scroll down. Or in other words, it goes in chronological order from the bottom up.
As usual, players already under contract have their figures listed based on Keith Smith's work at Spotrac.com while salaries in bold italics are my own estimates based on reported numbers and the standard 5% or 8% raises that the teams could give. Salaries are also color coded if they are a player option, a team option, not fully guaranteed, or a "mutual option" (a player option that's not fully guaranteed) based on the reporting, with parentheses to credit whoever broke the news and when.
6/30 update: The NBA officially announced that the salary cap for this season is $164,961,000, which is slightly lower than the $165 million that was projected. The luxury tax line, First Apron, and Second Apron are subsequently $200,428,000, $209,015,000, and $221,686,000, respectively.
That means these are the maximum starting salaries and total possible contracts based on years of experience:
- 6 or fewer years (25% of the cap): $41,240,250 for up to 4 years, $177,333,075 with a new team or 5 years, $239,193,450 with their previous team.
- 7-9 years (30%): $49,488,300 for up to 4 years, $212,799,690 with a new team or 5 years, $287,032,140 with their previous team.
- 10+ years (35%): $57,736,350 for up to 4 years, $248,266,305 with a new team or 5 years, $334,870,830 with their previous team.
And the amount available for the various exceptions can go up to the following starting salaries and totals:
- Full Mid-Level Exception (MLE): $15,044,000 for up to 4 years, $64,689,200
- Taxpayer MLE: $6,064,000 for up to 2 years, $12,431,200
- Room Mid-Level Exception: $9,366,000 for up to 3 years, $29,502,900
- Bi-Annual Exception: $5,477,000 for up to 2 years, $11,227,850 (can only be used every other year)
- Minimum Exception: a $2,449,421 cap hit, aka the minimum for players with two years of experience, as long as it's a one year deal. The league subsidizes the cap hit and pays the difference between that and their actual salary that they earn based on years of experience.
Now back to the deals:
Diallo signs with the Nuggets: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/12)
Trent re-signs with the Bucks: 4 years, $64 million (Shams 7/11)
After Trent had to settle for a minimum to first go to Milwaukee in 2024 and then re-signed last year for the most allowable through Non-Bird Rights, $3.7 million, he gets a crazy huge raise here. A cynic might even call it suspiciously high to make up for those deals after the 27 year old's 8.1 points and 21.2 minutes per game last year were both his lowest since 2020. He is a career 38.7% three point shooter while getting up 6.1 attempts per game, though, so that does hold some value. With the Bucks' roster overhaul, they have a comfortable amount of room under the luxury tax for this deal and might even start it at a higher salary because of that.
Wembanyama extends with the Spurs: 5 years, $252 million (Fischer that it was close, Shams the final news 7/10)
Fischer first had word early today that there was buzz that Wembanyama would take less than even this 25% max contract, which would have been stunning, before editing that tweet to clarify that he's taking less than the potential 30% max. That is more reasonable because even with the youngest and first ever unanimous DPOY making $55,174,766 on his rookie contract, taking less than the 25% max in his first extension would be pretty unprecedented for a player of this status. Still, not including the escalators in this deal to bump it up to a 30% max when it kicks in a year from now is a lot to give up.
Minnesota, Charlotte, Brooklyn, and Chicago finally complete their deal (team announcements 7/10)
Timberwolves receive: $55,449,532 total in; $56,609,196 out
Hornets receive: $25,686,952 total in; $55,449,532 out
Nets receive: $33,333,334 in; $23,320,738 out
Bulls receive: $23,320,738 in; $2,411,090 out
After the fun of figuring out the mechanics of what ended up a six-team trade on Tuesday, I figured I'll provide this update on the Wolves trades that got combined since news has slowed down, especially since Gueye's destination changed. The Kawhi trade getting held up these past 24 hours have also shown that some of these deals that couldn't become official until after the moratorium aren't official until they are fully approved.
As I speculated on the night of the Ball news, Minnesota combining their two deals was necessary for them to aggregate enough salary to add the All-Star guard. You can see the slight difference in total contracts above, and whenever they likely use the Second Round Pick Exception to sign Evans, who was a steal in the 2nd round, there will be a little more savings compared to Jefferson's rookie scale contract. Despite sending out more than they're taking in, a Second Apron hard cap will be in effect due to aggregating salaries.
Instead of Minnesota, Gueye ended up in Charlotte so that they could also "touch" Chicago and not just be in contact with one team, as legally required in multi-team trades. He got his team option picked up for this deal, but since his salary did not need to be guaranteed to aggregate salaries, I'd expect him to be waived given the Hornets' pretty full roster. Since Gueye can be taken in through the Minimum Exception, their big Trade Exception worth Ball's $40.77 million shouldn't be affected.
Because Gueye signed his contract on April 9th, the trade couldn't become official until yesterday, July 9th, but I wonder if this extra day of wait was due to Brooklyn wanting a little more time to try to maximize their cap space before it went through. I mentioned below how they would need to use their cap space for this trade since Claxton's decreasing salary was just short of being a match for Randle's, but others have since pointed out that they could guarantee Malachi Smith's $2,150,917 contract to add to the deal. That wold have allowed them to use the roughly $8 million difference in salary as cap space and then finalize this move, but instead, they're down to about $11.75 million of available space before using the Room MLE to make Wagner's signing official.
Nothing changed on Chicago's end other than sending Gueye to Charlotte instead of Minnesota.
Bassey re-signs with the Warriors, 1 year, likely minimum contract (Shams 7/9)
This is almost assuredly a the vet minimum after Bassey bounced around on multiple 10-day contracts in recent years, and having 5 years of experience, the backup big man would make $2,845,883 with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year deal. Turning 26 in October, I've always thought that the former Western Kentucky star could be a solid rotation player as an elite rebounder who can block some shots and finish inside, and even with Golden State retaining Porzingis and Horford, they'll likely need another body inside to fill in for some games.
Bassey's never been able to earn heavy minutes but has a 26.7% career defensive rebounding rate, and on a per-36 minute level, he has career averages of 14.4 points, 13.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 2.8 blocks, albeit with 2.4 turnovers and 5.3 fouls. At the G League level last season, he even made 20 of 46 threes (43.5%) in 20 games between the Santa Cruz Warriors and Delaware Blue Coats, so perhaps he could bring some of that element to Golden State after their loss of Post.
Nance re-signs with the Bucks: 2 years, minimum contract (Fischer 7/9)
After Milwaukee waived Nance's non-guaranteed salary with their roster maneuverings, he's now in line to make slightly more than he was originally due. Since this is a two year deal, his cap hit counts for his full salary as a player with three years of experience.
Clarkson re-signs with the Knicks: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/9)
Bamba re-signs with the Jazz: 2 years, likely minimum contract (Shams 7/8)
Another deal with no financials reported by Shams, so I'm going with the minimum like Bamba has had to play on in recent times, including 10-days after being multiple times. Because the 28 year old is signing a multiyear deal instead of a one year minimum, his cap hit will count for his full salary. Utah has plenty of room under the tax line to absorb that difference, and I'm willing to bet that the second year is a team option and/or non-guaranteed and added purely for potential trades next year.
Nance signs with the Pacers: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/8)
Update: Tony East reports that Potter will indeed be the roster casualty. He doesn't have a ton of size but has always had a nice DReb% to go with being a 38.9% career three point shooter, mostly from last year as the largest sample of his career. The 28 year old could be a sneaky waiver claim on the minimum.
7/11 update: Sean Highkin reports that Potter was claimed by the Blazers...and included a funny little jab at Shams' constant praise of agents.
Dallas sign-and-trades Middleton to complete massive six-team trade (Shams 7/7)
Mavericks receive: $22,206,026 total in; projected $8,824,422 out
Pistons receive: projected $23,822,198 total in; $35,008,183 out
2029 2nd round pick (Best of Bucks/Knicks/Pistons) via Grizzlies
2031 Mavericks 2nd round pick via Grizzlies
2032 2nd round pick (their own, returned) via Grizzlies
Grizzlies receive: $24,206,370 total in; $17,007,043 out
2030 Warriors 1st round pick (protected 1-20 before converting to a 2030 2nd) via Mavs
Bucks receive: $14,809,200 in; $7,631,722 out
2027 2nd round pick (their own, returned) via Pistons
2027 2nd round pick (Worse of Nets/Mavs) via Pistons
Cash considerations via Clippers
Wizards receive: projected $5,587,302 in; $5,969,250 out
2033 Mavericks 2nd round pick via Mavs
Clippers receive: $0 in; projected $16,190,476 out
Trade Exception
2028 2nd round pick (protected 31-55) via Pistons
What started as simple (and surprising) news of Middleton going back to Washington ended up as a move that will tie together a handful of previously agreed to trades as one huge transaction, including the one right below this. I'll add more details once they come, but I believe that I have the primary pieces above. I'll go team by team in an attempt to figure out the cap mechanics of things getting combined here.
The Mavs combining these moves allows them to preserve their $20,830,154 Trade Exception (from when they dealt Anthony Davis to these Wizards) that I thought they'd be using on Aldama. Sign-and-trading Middleton with a starting salary above $5.2 million gives them enough to aggregate with Johnson's $3.2 million to match Aldama's $17 million. Sasser can go into either their MLE or BAE, and I would guess that the former is being used both for this and on the contract for Biberovic here, as discussed earlier today. Or if they still have plans to use the ~$12 million left of the MLE, they could use the BAE on Sasser now instead of having it available next year.
As previously mentioned, Pistons going the sign-and-trade route with Collins means that they don't have to make other moves to create the cap space for him, and combining that with the Stewart deal from Day 2 of the draft made for simple salary matching. I think that looping it into the LeVert move from just an hour earlier creates an ever so slightly larger Trade Exception for Stewart's salary instead of LeVert's. It could in theory also preserve the TPE from Schroder's sign-and-trade for another move, but that's expiring today anyway. They'll also create a smaller TPE worth Sasser's salary.
The Grizzlies combining their Stewart and Aldama trades here preserves both their huge $28,872,920 Jaren Jackson Jr. TPE and smaller $4,313,989 Ja Morant TPE. Aldama's outgoing $17 million is enough to take in all three players' combined $24.2 million here, and they pick up some extra 2nd round draft capital by adding Russell's expiring contract to that previously reported deal. As a reminder, the three 2nd round picks that they're sending to Detroit are the exact same picks that they received from the Pistons on Day 1 of the draft in order to move from pick #17 to #21.
Nothing really changes here for the Bucks except that they get some cash from the Clippers since each team needs to "touch" at least two teams in a multi-team deal like this. It hasn't been reported yet whether that will be just the minimum amount required or not. There is something funny about them being involved again in a deal that moves their former star, Middleton, to Washington once more.
The Wizards also combined with the Mavs for another trade so soon after they first got Russell from them a few months ago in the AD trade with Middleton going the other way. Now after DLo never ended up playing for them, they're using some of their extra draft capital to replace his salary with the veteran wing to be a bench option and a nice locker room presence for their young core. Depending on the exact starting salary for Middleton, he could fit into the remainder of their Kelly Olynyk Trade Exception (that expires tomorrow) after using it in the Ayton trade below. Doing so would create a new TPE worth Russell's salary similar to the $6 million TPE create for Hardy in that trade.
It's still pretty simple for the Clippers: they're getting a protected 2nd rounder (likely a "fake" pick that's top-55 protected) and sending out some cash in order to create a Trade Exception worth Collins' starting salary. They were going to lose him in free agency anyway, so they're helping out here to add a potentially useful piece for later.
Update: Josh Robbins reports that the second year of Middleton's deal is only partially guaranteed and the third year is non-guaranteed. It's a similar situation to Collins' since sign-and-trade deals are required to be for contracts of at least three years, but only the first year needs to be guaranteed. I also made a slight update on my projection for his salary based on the remainder of their Olynyk TPE.
Smith and Siegel provided clarifying details about which specific 2nd round picks are involved, and I did not originally have the fact that Washington is getting what seems like one of the 2nd rounders from Dallas that was originally going to Memphis. The Grizz were reportedly getting two 2nd rounders from the Mavs at first, but now it's one from Dallas with one and a swap from Washington. The Wizards getting one back helps balance things for a more reasonable outlay on the Russell for Middleton swap, and it is somewhat of an interesting bet that they're seemingly sending out their own 2033 2nd for the Mavericks'.
Detroit salary dumps LeVert (Shams 7/7)
Bucks receive:
Pistons receive: $7,631,722 total
Despite both Harris and Prince being on minimum contracts, counting for their full salary due to being on two-year pacts from last summer means that they combine for enough to be a trade match for LeVert. That preserves both their MLE and the large Trade Exception that they have from the Antetokounmpo trade while Detroit can use the remaining $8.7 million of their Schroder TPE that was set to expire today. That way, the Pistons can create a new TPE worth the entirety of LeVert's salary, and the Bucks will create two small ones worth the salaries of Harris and Prince.
Milwaukee was severely lacking in 2nd rounders before this and had more guaranteed salaries than available roster spots, so this is a pretty helpful deal for them. Detroit wasn't necessarily in danger of hitting the luxury tax whenever they reach a deal with Duren, but this does give them an extra $7.2 million to work with while making that new TPE. They had a handful of extra 2nd rounders to use here and in the Joe trade, so it's not a terrible price to pay.
Looney signs with the Lakers: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/7)
Biberovic to sign with the Mavericks: 2 years, $6 million (Stein 7/7)
Biberovic was only the 56th pick in 2023 as a 22 year old but has become one of the deadliest shooters in Europe ever since then to improve his stock to the point of earning this big of a first NBA contract. Still playing for Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce, the 6'7" forward has hit 44.82% of his 4.5 threes per game in only 21.9 minutes over these past three years. Now at age 25 he will be exercising the $2 million buyout in his contract there to come stateside and sign this deal once the trade between Dallas and Memphis becomes official.
The focus of that trade was understandably on Aldama, but Stein and Fischer previously noted how multiple teams were interested in trading for Biberovic's draft rights. With the Mavs getting him in that package, they can contribute $900K to his buyout (the most allowable) on top of this deal, and I am projecting a flat structure to give him more up front for that, as well. Having the second year as a team option puts the risk on the player's side, but if things work out, you could see Dallas declining that option in order to signer a new deal for longer team control with more guaranteed money. Going with just two years here also means that they could use the BAE for this deal in case they have other plans for the MLE; otherwise this will probably just come out of the latter in order to preserve the BAE for next year.
Mitchell extends with the Cavaliers: 4 years, $273 million (Shams 7/7)
Hachimura signs with the Clippers: 2 years, $28 million (Shams 7/6)
Post signs offer sheet with the Grizzlies: 3 years, "$30 million" (Shams 7/6)
After re-signing Melton triggered the Second Apron, the Warriors only have to worry about that as a hard-cap for now and are around $39 million below it. Their pursuit of LeBron James would likely require the full MLE that would limit them to the First Apron, though, and that would make things pretty tight, with a secondary move to shed salary lined up if needed, per Stein and Fischer. Draymond Green declined his $27,678,571 player option in order to give them some financial flexibility to potentially sign his friend, but he he still needs to be made whole in some way before filling out the roster with a few more signings.
With both Porzingis and Horford back, it seems unlikely that they will match this offer sheet, even though they'll probably need another reliable center given the availability concerns of those two. One has to wonder whether they could have declined the $1,955,377 team option that they held on him a year ago in order to sign him to a longer deal like we see so often across the league, but it's hard to say whether that was possible from the player side or with their Second Apron concerns during the Kuminga restricted free agency saga.
Update: Fischer reports that only the first season is guaranteed, and Memphis included incentives if Post makes an All-Defense Team. Since he didn't make one last season, those are considered unlikely and don't count against the cap, but all incentives count against the aprons, which makes this a sneaky detail in the deal to try to make it even more unlikely that Golden State matches the offer sheet.
7/7 update: As expected, the Warriors chose not to match the offer sheet, so Post is now a Grizzly. Slater also reports that while the deal is slightly front-loaded like I expected, it's only for $9 million guaranteed (the first year) with the other two years coming in at $8.5 million, which means that the original "$30 million" report was including the unlikely incentives. It's really more of a $26 million deal with $9 million gauranteed, so I updated the figures above.
Okogie signs with the Jazz: 2 years, $12 million (Shams 7/3)
Update: Scotto added that the second year is, in fact, a team option, so there's not a ton of risk with either of these Jazz signings. Depending on just how much Keyonte George and Brice Sensabaugh potentially get on their next contracts, there's a chance that they need to decline those options to work around the luxury tax.
Drummond signs with the Knicks: 1 year, minimum contract (Scotto 7/3)
Miller re-signs with the Clippers: 3 years, $15.3 million (Shams 7/3)
LA declined their $2,497,812 team option on Miller in order to sign him to this longer deal in restricted free agency, so it's basically like a 2 year, $12.8 million extension with more evenly spread out cap hits. The #48 pick in 2023 would have otherwise been an unrestricted free next summer if they simply picked up the option, so instead they secure a solid wing off the bench for two additional seasons. Depending on what other plans they have with cap space, they might even front-load the deal to take advantage of their current flexibility, but it wouldn't be a huge difference for a contract of this size.
Update: Murray reports that in similar fashion to LA's new deal with Sanders, the final two years aren't guaranteed. I'm guessing that the last year is a team option for more flexibility, so I updated the color coding above.
Lyles signs with the Timberwolves: 1 year, likely minimum contract (Krawczynski 7/3)
Having 10 years of experience, the versatile forward would make $3,876,529 with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year minimum if that is what this is given Minnesota's proximity to their Second Apron hard cap. Wolves president of basketball operations Tim Conelly was the Nuggets GM in 2017 when they famously moved back 11 spots in the draft in order to trade for Lyles and gave up the pick that became Donovan Mitchell as a result.
Now he reunites with Lyles in Minnesota after the latter spent this past season playing for Real Madrid, where he averaged 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds in only 20.8 minutes while shooting 49.6%/42.8%/78% with 3.4 three point attempts per game. It's a nice, out of the box shot at some needed depth with Lyles a capable stretch four who can even provide some minutes at center. Turning 31 early in the season, he's not a Reid replacement but could potentially bring some of those elements in their rotation.
Lakers move on from Ayton after a year (Shams 7/3)
Wizards receive:
Lakers receive:
That didn't take long after Los Angeles found Ayton's replacement, Kessler, on Wednesday. It's not nearly the same draft equity as what they gave up in that deal, but two 2nd rounders is not a bad return considering they only owned one 2nd before this. The small difference in salary here should make it simple to fit in their other signings, as well.
Depending on whether Alex Sarr is considering the starting center or power forward, for whatever that's worth, Washington now has the prospect of having former Lakers big man Anthony Davis being backed up by (and sometimes playing with) former Lakers big man Ayton. It's a decent move given the extra draft capital that they possess and the fact that they have more perimeter players than bigs among their group of young talent. Hardy came from Dallas as part of the Davis trade and can be a volume scorer off the bench, and we'll see if LA has actual plans for him after their other additions at guard this week. This will likely be their first transaction to open up a touch more cap space for those other moves, and because of that, Hardy could be aggregated with other players right away.
Houston salary dumps DFS to Charlotte (Shams 7/3)
Hornets receive:
Rockets receive:
TBD, likely old draft rights, a fake, top-55 protected 2nd, or the minimal cash considerations
Just a year after signing Finney-Smith to what seemed like a great deal with most of the MLE, Houston now has to attach three picks to get off of his salary after he missed the start of the season with an injury and was a shell of himself afterwards. The saving grace was that only the first two years of the deal were guaranteed or else it might've taken even more draft capital, and while they have 1st round assets for trades, they have almost no 2nd rounders.
This gets them around $3.7 million under the luxury tax before filling out at least two more spots on the roster, with 2nd round pick Bruce Thornton due to be one of them on the rookie minimum. It would've been nice to use what was essentially an expiring contract to add a similar salary that could actually help this playoff team, but they do create a Trade Exception worth the veteran wing's $13.3 million for this season. We'll see if they actually end up using it over this next calendar year or the remainder of the full MLE (after Smart's deal) now that Eason's contract is done to make the First Apron less of a concern. They finally paid the tax this past season but made moves in past years to duck it and also simply sold a 2nd round pick last week.
As mentioned before, Charlotte continues to make smart, big picture moves like this to stockpile draft picks like OKC did during their rebuild. They have a ton of financial flexibility to absorb these kind of salaries with just one guaranteed year, and after likely using the MLE as a Trade Exception here, they still have TPEs of $8.2 million, $7 million, and $40.77 million.
Green re-signs with the Pistons: 1 year, $3.9 million (Shams 7/3)
Based on the reported number, it looks like Detroit is using Non-Bird Rights to give Green 120% of his minimum salary. As a seven year veteran, the soon-to-be 33 year old would have made just under $3.3 otherwise, but he was a nice wing off the bench for the East's #1 seed. Playing in all 82 games, Green made a career-high 38.1% of his 3 threes per game while averaging 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in only 17.6 minutes.
Queta extends with the Celtics: 4 years, $56 million (Shams 7/3)
Notably, the Celtics could have declined his team option for this season to give him the same total amount of money would more spread out cap hits that start around $10.1 million. However, they are likely looking to avoid the luxury tax this season after paying it in '23-25 in order to reset the repeater penalty clock.
Eason re-signs with the Rockets: 5 years, $81.5 million (Shams 7/2)
This is a much lower average salary than I expected for Eason, but Houston has been pretty strict about the second contracts they've given their young guys. Going five years at least gives the 25 year old some security instead of trying to wait out the tough market of restricted free agency. Sam Amick adds that the last year is a player option, which is another way to make up for the lower salary since that could allow Eason to hit the market sooner if he outperforms this number.
Plowden re-signs with the Kings: 2 years, $5.1 million (Scotto 7/2)
Jones re-signs with the Nuggets: 1 year, likely minimum contract (Shams 7/2)
Williams re-signs with the Thunder: 1 year, $5 million (Haynes 7/2)
Anderson signs with the Raptors: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/2)
Simons signs with the 76ers: 2 years, $12.3 million (Shams 7/2)
It looks like Simons is getting the rest of Philadelphia's MLE after Wade, and Ariel Hukporti's deal would be with the BAE. So if they are really pursuing LeBron, who overlapped with new top executive Gansey in Cleveland, it would have to be for the minimum or with something pretty creative. Teammates in Chicago at the end of last season, Simons and Sexton have been consistently mentioned as similar potential fits with teams as small scoring guards from the 2018 draft. Now both have had to take big discounts from their last contracts on 1+1 deals to try to rebuild their value on a playoff team before potentially hitting the market again next summer.
Simons had to settle for even less than what Sexton got yesterday, and according to both Stein and Brett Siegel, his offers from the Warriors and Heat were even lower, likely the minimum. Now after the 76ers' big trade yesterday for Brown, they add his teammate from the start of last season as a key sixth man to backup Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe before rookie Labaron Philon is ready.
Bagley signs with the Nuggers: 1 year, likely minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
Dallas adds yet another front court player (Shams 7/1)
Mavericks receive:
Grizzlies receive:
I would guess that Dallas is using most of their $20.8 million Trade Exception from when they dealt Anthony Davis in order to take in Aldama's salary, and both Johnson and that 1st rounder were also from that trade. They have plenty of flexibility under the luxury tax to add salary, so it's a nice move to add the 25 year old who can do a little bit of everything as a stretch four.
I mentioned in the Morant trade section below that Memphis would create a small Trade Exception of about $4.3 million, and that will likely be put to use already here with Johnson's salary. That way, they create a bigger TPE worth all of Aldama's salary here to go with the $28.87 million one that they have from their Jackson trade in February. I previously thought that their trade for Stewart last week would involve the MLE, but it's more likely to be through this Aldama trade instead. John Hollinger pointed out that Stewart's unlikely bonuses mean that his salary won't actually fit into the MLE and thus would have required using a large chunk of the Jackson TPE.
Philly is Brown's shocking destination (Shams 7/1)
76ers receive:
2031 1st round pick
After dangling Brown in a trade offer for Giannis (and in past years for KD, AD, and a much younger PG13), it felt like things might have gone too far for Boston to bring him back into the fold, but after the talk was that they were seeking as many as four 1st round picks, this is a stunner. George has not lived up to his 35% max contract from two years ago, so the fact that Philadelphia was able to offload that and add an All-NBA player for just this package is incredible. Drafted with the #3 pick at this time 10 years ago, Brown is just two years removed from winning Finals MVP and Eastern Conference Finals MVP during Boston's championship run and is coming off of the best season of his career. For them to send him to a long-time division rival who just knocked them out of the playoffs when, by all accounts, he hasn't asked for a trade, is a already a tough pill for their fans to swallow even before considering this underwhelming return.
The details of the picks so far doesn't help things since both Shams and Fischer described the 2028 1st as "could convert to a swap that is more favorable to Boston" (word for word from probably the same source). The 76ers already owes a top-8 protected pick that year to the Nets from their trade for Harden but own the Clippers unprotected pick that year from when they dealt out Harden, so we'll see what exactly the language is written as here with any protections involved. The Celtics also owe a pick swap to the Spurs in that year, so the swap aspect here would likely come after that, if applicable. Update: Smith has the complicated details here. Basically, if the LA or Philly pick is in the top half of the draft, then Boston will swap up to that spot (after the San Antonio swap), but if both of those teams are in the bottom half of the draft, the Clippers' pick will go to the Celtics outright. Those are pretty favorable terms for the 76ers at first glance.
In any case, I'm still shocked that Boston pulled the trigger on such a light package, especially since George's contract is viewed has been viewed in such a negative light since he's started looking his age, which is now 36 aka 6.5 years older than Brown. I get wanting to get a player back that can help you try to still compete, but if you're getting so much less draft capital than what Leonard and Kessler just went for over the past day and a half, just swallow your pride and work things out with Brown.
Due to injuries and a 25 game suspension for "improper medication," George has only played in 89 total games (including the playoffs) over the past two years as a 76er, and his production dipped to levels from his early Pacer days when he first won Most Improved Player. Part of that was due to playing off of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, and the result was that almost half of his field goals were threes with only 2.7 free throw attempts per game. George made 37.5% of the 6.7 long balls per game over that span to average 16.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.8 steals against 2.2 turnovers while still making an impact on defense as usual. He did look refreshed after his suspension to average 21 points behind 41.5% three point shooting on 8.2 attempts over the final 10 games before making 49.3% of his 6.5 threes per game in the playoffs. Having no hesitation to launch that many attempts will fit right in with this Celtics team, but while he could provide better secondary playmaking than Brown, it just doesn't seem likely that George can still dial up the scoring punch that they'll need anymore.
Although Jayson Tatum made a wildly impressive return just 11 months after tearing his right Achilles, his health will still be a question mark after playing just 16 regular season games and 6 in the playoffs before missing the crucial Game 7 against these 76ers with left knee stiffness. Brown just averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists, albeit with 3.6 turnovers, (all career-highs) on 47.7%/34.7%/79.5% shooting to lead the Celtics to 56 wins and the #2 seed despite Tatum's absence and the losses of Holiday, Porzingis, and Horford. Yes, he is owed a ton of money and may want an extension for even more when eligible later this month, but he was a foundational part of winning a ton of games this past decade.
The 76ers will happily take that contract that goes one further year than the older George's. Pundits theorized that they would have to attach a 1st rounder just to get off of that salary, so in a way, they're only giving up one other 1st (which may end up a swap) and a couple of upside 2nd rounders to add Brown. Whether or not Embiid can stay healthy will always be a question, but now if he's out, they still have another All-NBA player in his prime to go with Maxey and rising star VJ Edgecombe. The top of the East is in flux with so many teams making moves, but you'd imagine that this new-look Philly team will be among the top contenders.
Harris to the Spurs: 2 years, $31 million (Shams 7/1)
Fischer and Stein reported that San Antonio only wanted to give a two year commitment to the power forwards that they were recruiting (due to Wembanyama's next deal and Stephon Castle the year after that), and going the fully MLE amount over that term ($30,840,200) was enough to lure Harris away from Detroit. This will hard-cap them at the First Apron, but with 13 players on the roster (and two 2nd round picks to potentially sign), I wouldn't expect them go past the luxury tax line that they're about $3.6 million away from to delay starting the repeater clock as long as possible with those other deals on the horizon.
Hayes signs with the Jazz: 2 years, $12 million (MacMahon 7/1)
Oubre signs with the Pacers: 2 years, "nearly $17 million" (Scotto 7/1)
I'm going with $16.9 million for now based on the reporting, and this will seemingly take Indiana into the luxury tax for I think the first time ever, barring other moves. Using part of the full MLE here results in them being hard-capped at the First Apron that they're around $2 million away from now, which likely means that they can't use the rest of the MLE. Somehow still only 30 years old, Oubre hit a career-high 36% of his 4.8 threes per game last season and could do well in their up-tempo offense, especially with Tyrese Haliburton coming back from his torn Achilles.
Isaac re-signs with the Magic: 1 year, minimum contract (Scotto 7/1)
Martin re-signs with the Raptors: 2 years, $4.8 million (Shams 7/1)
After being the #39 pick a year ago, Martin played on a Two-Way contract and now is being re-signed on a minimum. I'm guessing that the second year will be a team option so that Toronto can decline it next summer for a longer deal.
Melton re-signs with the Warriors: 2 years, $11 million (Shams 7/1)
I'm going with the full BAE amount, $11,227,850, for now, but it might end up being exactly $11 million with a starting salary of $5,365,854 as every last dollar could matter if they end up close to the First Apron that this now hard-caps them to. Because Golden State traded him during the '24-25 season and had to re-sign him in free agency last summer, they only had Non-Bird Rights to offer him 120% of the minimum that he played on this past season, so they have to use an exception to give him a fair raise. If they don't end up using the MLE on someone else, this could end up just being part of that to preserve the BAE to use next year (since it can only be used, get this, bi-annually), and they'll still need to shed salary in order to use the full MLE.
Sexton signs with the Lakers: 2 years, $19 million (Shams 7/1)
Grimes signs with the Lakers: 4 years, $60 million (Shams 7/1)
Mamukelashvili signs with the Lakers: 4 years, $52 million (Shams 7/1)
Utah sign-and-trades Kessler to the Lakers: 4 years, $130 million (Shams 7/1)
Lakers receive:
Jazz receive:
2031 and 2033 1st round picks
Right to swap 1st round picks in 2028 and 2030
LA really settled all family business this morning, so I can just write about all of the moves together as the news came back to back to back to back. The biggest domino was finally getting Utah to relent on giving up Kessler, who has been a rumored target ever since the Doncic trade a year and a half ago. Once the Lakers knew that they finally had their big man and at what price, they could lock in Mamukelashvili and Grimes, both of whom they've been heavily linked to since the weekend. That will involve renouncing all of their free agent cap holds besides Reaves and using up all of their space with those three signings before making Reaves' signing official to exceed the cap. Finally, they'll add Sexton with the Room MLE as the last transaction before any potential trades.
Both Marks and Smith reported that LA will be able to complete all of these moves without needing to make any trades to make the math work, so the reported numbers might not be the fully guaranteed amounts. Since my projections above, based on the current numbers we know, would take them around a million over the cap before the Reaves part, I'm guessing that there will be some unlikely bonuses involved that has the initial cap hits a touch lower.
Due to Utah having the ability to match an offer sheet with Kessler being a restricted free agent, they got an absolute haul of draft capital to let him go and likely create a Trade Exception worth his first year salary. The Lakers already traded their 2027 1st rounder (top-4 protected) to the Jazz in the Russell Westbrook for Jarred Vanderbilt/Malik Beasley/D'Angelo Russell three-teamer in 2023 and their 2029 1st to the Mavs in the Luka trade, so these were the only two 1st rounders that they could trade outright. "Only" including two swaps and not another one in 2032 is about the only thing that was held back.
Robinson signs with the Celtics: 3 years, $47.4 million (Shams 7/1)
Carter re-signs with the Magic: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
Mo Wagner signs with the Nets: 2 years, $19 million (Scotto 7/1)
It seems that Brooklyn really loves these type of deals that could be signed with either cap space or the Room MLE, and I guess this new, mutual option is going to be their thing after using it both here and with Ellis. Though reported as just $19 million, I'm projecting the $19.2 million of the Room MLE for now.
Conley signs with the Celtics: 1 year, likely minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
Vucevic (re-)signs with the Magic: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
Hukporti signs with the 76ers: 1 year, $3.4 million (Shams 7/1)
Powell signs with the Bulls: 2 years, $45 million (Shams 7/1)
Collins signs with the Pistons: 3 years, $51 million (Shams 7/1)
Omari Sankofa II reports that only the first year is fully guaranteed in a similar fashion to Robinson's three year deal from last summer, ironically enough. That was a sign-and-trade that requires at least three years but with only the first year guaranteed, so that could be a hint as to how Detroit will be operating here.
Smart signs with the Rockets: 2 years, "$13 million" (Shams 7/1)
Bogdanovic signs with the Rockets: 1 year deal (Shams 6/30)
As mentioned with others below, I'm just projecting a minimum contract when Shams reports these deals as one year deals since the agents are bragging about how much they got their guys. Having nine years of experience, the veteran guard will make just over $3.5 million with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year minimum, which is a far cry from the $16,020,000 team option that the Clippers understandably declined.
After being a dynamic offensive force as both a shooter and playmaker to garner Sixth Man of the Year consideration multiple times, the soon-to-be 34 year old has significantly slowed down to only play 87 total games the past two seasons with a very limited role in the back half of this past year, unfortunately. If this is for just the minimum, Bogdanovic is worth taking a chance on in case he just needs to be healthier or a change of scenery after the past year and a half in LA. Houston badly needed more offensive punch from their back court last season and has been acknowledging it with the additions of two rookie guards and now this.
Wade signs with the 76ers: 4 years, $39 million (Shams 6/30)
This will use up most the Philadelphia's MLE and hard-cap them at the First Apron, but they still have space below even the luxury tax. Their new President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey was previously the GM in Cleveland, so he clearly has a good relationship with Wade to help get this deal done. After getting some solid minutes from Dominick Barlow and Trendon Watford at power forward last season, Wade brings playoff experience and more defensive versatility.
With 12 players on the roster (three of them don't have fully guaranteed contracts), they are around $8 million below from the tax line and $16.6 away from the First Apron, with almost $6 million left of the MLE. They could use around $5 million of it and then sign one minimum contract and leave one roster spot open to stay out of the tax, or sign three players to just the minimum. Given how they've operated in recent years with moves to duck the tax (such as the Jared McCain trade), I'm not expecting to use all $6 million of it and the BAE.
Fischer also added that the fourth year of this deal only has a partial guarantee, but there aren't any further details yet.
7/6 update: Now that deals are becoming official with the moratorium over, Siegel reports that the final season has only about $2 million guaranteed until 6/28/29. Depending on the exact structure, that means that Wade is getting about $30.5 million guaranteed.
Collins extension with the Bulls: 2 years, $17 million (Shams 6/30)
This is a little under half of what Collins made on the (surprising) 2/$34 million extension with San Antonio that he just finished, but it still continues to show how strong the market is for backup big men. Like some of the deals with the other big cap space team, Brooklyn, this signing could end up fitting into the Room MLE after Chicago uses up all of their space, but the phrasing of it getting done as an extension before free agency makes me think that they won't be going that route.
Kennard signs with the Suns: 2 years, $13 million (Shams 6/30)
I'm going with the Taxpayer MLE amount of $12,431,200 despite the "$13 million" report since going higher than that would hard-cap Phoenix at the First Apron, which they are already over. Now Kennard can replace Allen, his college teammate, as their 3-point shooter from Duke off the bench. In fact, the salary difference in that trade that sent out Allen is almost exactly the amount involved here.
Nate Duncan once joked that if feels like all TP MLE deals are 1+1 deal like this since a player is usually taking something of a discount, and I'm surprised that Kennard has to settle once again. The 30 year old had to take an $11 million deal for just one year last summer and now is making even less for this season despite having some nice moments in the playoffs.
Ellis signs with the Nets: 2 years, $18 million (Shams 6/30)
Like Sharpe's deal, this could end up fitting into the Room MLE instead of using cap space, but that could only apply to one of them. Shams described the second year as a mutual option that either side could opt-into (but not opt out) with all $18 million guaranteed, so I'm curious to see the exact details on it.
Update: Fred Katz and Mike Vorkunov followed up that this contract does truly have both a player option and a team option, and that is not expressly prohibited in the CBA. Thus, if either side wants to continue this union next season, the other party is stuck with it. That's noticeably different than contracts like Porzingis' or Hartenstein's below or what James Harden, Buddy Hield, or Josh Hart have signed in the past (or with mutual options in baseball) where either side could choose to end the partnership. In those cases, either the player could decline his option or the team could waive the contract that's not fully guaranteed, so this is kind of fascinating.
Sanders re-signs with the Clippers: 4 years, $11.2 million (Shams 6/30)
Carlson signs with the Trail Blazers: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
Hardaway signs with the Heat: 1 year, $6.5 million (Haynes first, Shams the details 6/30)
After rebuilding his stock in a year where he finished third in Sixth Man of the Year voting, Hardaway is going home to where he grew up when his his dad played for Miami. For just just part of their MLE (at slightly more than the Taxpayer MLE amount), this is a pretty crucial pickup for them given their limited resources that I've discussed below.
Hyland re-signs with the Timberwolves: 1 year, minimum contract (Krawczynski 6/30)
Jordan re-signs with the Pelicans: likely a 1 year 2 years, minimum contract (Haynes 6/30)
Jordan is pretty much just in the locker room OG role now that he's about to turn 38 next month, but that's a valuable player to have for a young roster. He only played in 12 games last year but was surprisingly effective in his minutes to show the kids the importance of staying ready. Having over 10 years of experience, the backup center would make $3,876,529 with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year minimum if that is what this is.
7/12 update: Fischer reports that Jordan is astoundingly getting a two year deal that's fully guaranteed. Since it's not a one year deal, New Orleans will get charged for his full salary. If going for multiple years, you would have thought that the second year was a team option or non-guaranteed to potentially use for a trade, but him getting the full amount here is pretty surprising.
Dieng re-signs with the Bucks: 3 years, $17.5 million (Shams 6/30)
Milwaukee understandably declined to tender Dieng a $9.1 million qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent and now retain him at a much nicer number after he finished the season strong following his trade deadline arrival. Scotto adds that the third year is a team option, which takes the risk here even lower.
Achiuwa to re-sign with the Kings: 2 years, $11.5 million (Haynes 6/30)
The former Finals MVP returns to Toronto (Shams 6/30)
Raptors receive:
Clippers receive: $47,131,511 total
This has been rumored since Marks hinted at it at the end of draft, and now after haggling over how many and when the 1st round picks will convey, it's actually happening. Leonard may have to waive his trade bonus as part of this deal since Toronto is hard-capped at the First Apron due to taking in more money than they're sending out here. Haynes adds that the two sides are expected to work on a two year extension once this becomes official, which was to be expected after it's been reported that Toronto was one of the few places where the two-time Finals MVP and DPOY would extend.
Despite just turning 35 yesterday (what a birthday gift), Leonard is coming off of a season when he averaged a career-high 27.9 points and managed to play 65 games to make Second Team All-NBA. That helped LA to negotiate from a position of strength despite not wanting to give him an extension themselves, and Toronto ended up giving up more draft capital than expected. Besides the fact that the unprotected picks are as far out as possible to increase the upside, especially since Leonard will likely not be playing at age 40 and 42 by then, that 2027 swap is a huge addition. LA already owes a pick swap to OKC for this season, and with this swap presumably coming after that, the Clippers could move up from the Thunder's spot at the very end of the 1st round (most likely) to wherever the Raptors end up. That total outlay of unprotected draft capital is a pretty high price to pay even before getting to the players involved.
Landale to re-sign with the Hawks: 1 year, $14 million (Shams 6/30)
It looks like the high-end backup center market is taking shape around this price point. Because Landale had to settle for a minimum last summer after having his $8 million non-guaranteed contract waived, Atlanta only had Non-Bird Rights and will have to use the MLE here.
Williams extends with the Trail Blazers: 3 years, $44 million (Shams 6/30)
Fontecchio to re-sign with the Heat: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
Shams only reporting a one year deal with no financial details for a player of Fontecchio's ability is surprising after he made $8,307,692 last season. I wouldn't expect him to have to settle for a minimum, and Miami has his Bird Rights to give him as much as possible within their First Apron limits. The 30 year old provides much needed shooting after making 37.5% of his threes on 4.7 attempts in only 16.8 minutes to average 8.5 points in that limited time. Per-36 minutes that's 18.5 points and 10.1 three point attempts while also chipping in 6.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, which is mostly in line with some of his past production even when playing more minutes. If it does end up being for the minimum, he'd be in line to make a little over $2.6 million with a $2.45 million cap hit.
Update: Ace Miami reporter Barry Jackson says that it is, in fact, just a minimum contract, which is a steal in my eyes. The trend continues with how Shams reports these, though.
Barnes to re-sign with the Spurs: 1 year, $8 million (Shams 6/29)
Barnes lost his starting spot midway through the season, but he's still a nice veteran forward to have as depth and in the locker room. Being only a one year deal, this is a fair number for the 34 year old before they start facing tax concerns next season, as mentioned below with Champagnie.
Porzingis extends with the Warriors: 2 years, $40 million (Shams 6/29)
Barring another move that sends out other salary, bringing back Porzingis at this number means that Golden State is unlikely to be able to use the full MLE without going past the First Apron that it would trigger. A 1+1 deal like this always made sense given the soon-to-be 31 year old's unfortunate health history. This way, he gets a reasonable amount of guaranteed money with the potential to opt out next summer if he rebuilds his market value to get closer to the $30,731,707 he made this past season.
The long-time Warriors target was only to play in 34 games last season (counting the Play-In games), but 17 of them came with them after the trade, including 16 of the team's final 22 contests. Porzingis has talked about his comfort with how Dr. Rick Celebrini, their celebrated Director of Sports Medicine and Performance, manages his workload, so that was even more reason for him to take this deal. Although his outside shot was streaky during that stretch (31.1% on 4.9 attempts in just 23.7 minutes), he has a 36.4% career mark and his willingness to launch so many provides much needed spacing in a front court pairing with Draymond Green. Bigs who can do that while also protecting the rim are extremely valuable, and Porzingis' ability to also get to the free throw line (5 per game and a career-high 7.5 per-36 minutes last year) proved helpful for a Warriors team that ranked fourth-worst in free throw attempts.
6/30 update: Now that the deal is official with team announcing it, Keith Smith reported that the deal is structured as an extension with just 5% raises, Porzingis is immediately trade eligible instead of having to wait until at least December 15th like free agent signings. Since it would ruin relationships, teams don't typically extend players to immediately trade them unless that was a part of the transaction, but it's worth noting.
More importantly, Anthony Slater adds that the second year of this deal only has $3 million guaranteed in addition to being a player option to effectively make it a mutual option. That significantly reduces the risk here, and I updated the details above to account for both notes.
Huerter to re-sign with the Pistons: 3 years, $27 million (Shams 6/29)
Huerter was underwhelming as the "big" trade deadline acquisition for the East's #1 team, and his shooting declined even further after the move. He has a 36.8% career mark from three with good volume, but he's been at 33.8% and 30.8% the past two seasons, including 29.4% in 25 games with Detroit. That makes this kind of commitment a bit surprising, but the Pistons do have the larger sample size of his first six seasons on their side. Although this doesn't necessarily signal that they won't go the cap space route since this salary could fit into the Room MLE, that would still likely require waiving Robinson's partially guaranteed contract.
Amari Williams to re-sign with the Celtics (Scotto 6/29)
No details yet, but after Boston declined his $2,150,917 team option, I'd expected a multiyear deal at the minimum. That's what they did after converting Sam Hauser's Two-Way to minimum and then re-signing with Non-Bird Rights years ago, and it's become a general process across the league in these situations.
Update: Keith Smith reports that it is simply another Two-Way contract for last year's #46 pick, so perhaps they'll continue the conversion and team option decline dance next year.
Nurkic to re-sign with the Jazz: 2 years, $22 million (Shams 6/29)
After playing on a $19,375,000 salary last season, this is much more line for Nurkic as a backup center. Utah should still have around $35 million of space under the luxury tax before re-signing restricted free agent Walker Kessler.
Champagnie to re-sign with the Spurs: 3 years, $45 million (Shams 6/29)
San Antonio had a $3 million team option on Champagnie, so they leveraged that to basically give him a 2 year, $42 million extension while spreading out the cap hits in a more favorable way. I'm projecting that they'll start it as high as possible before declining when Wembanyama's next contract kicks in next season.
If it is a standard deal that has 8% raises instead, it would look more like $13,888,889/$15,000,000/$16,111,11. Either way, it's a very nice payday for the former undrafted player who worked his way from a Two-Way contract and even a waiver claim to becoming a sharpshooting starter on a Finals team.
7/2 update: Smith has the details of this new deal already, and it is front-loaded as expected. They made the declining structure a bit more flat than what I projected, but that could allow for a better number in the final year to extend off of. It also gives the Spurs slightly more operating room under the luxury tax for this season to maintain some flexibility if needed.
Shamet to re-sign with the Knicks: 4 years, $24 million (Shams 6/29)
Having been in New York for two years now, they have Early Bird Rights to give Shamet 8% raises after starting at the lowest possible salary as they continue to try to skirt the Second Apron. The 29 year old played a key role off the bench for the champs, including going 18 of 24 on threes in the second and third rounds of the playoffs, and now gets some nice security with a four year deal after playing on the minimum these past two seasons.
Memphis finally finds a team for Ja (Shams 6/29)
Trail Blazers receive: $39,521,902 total
Grizzlies receive:
Of all the potential teams to trade for Morant, Portland might have been at the very bottom considering how they already have Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday from last year's surprise playoff team with Damian Lillard expected back, as well. Jaylen Brown is the big name that they've been linked to, so perhaps we need to wait for the other shoe to drop to understand this stockpile of point guards.
Update: The teams have already announced the deal to make it official, which means that they're operating with this past league year's salaries. That means that Memphis will only create a Trade Exception worth the difference between Morant's $39,446,090 and the combined total of $35,132,101 coming back, so $4,313,989.
Fischer also added that the Grizzlies sent $1 million as part of the deal, presumably to help cover the difference in salaries. The jokes about how cheap the new Blazers owner, Tom Dundon, is just write themselves.
Sacramento beings it's tax crunch (Shams 6/29)
Hawks receive:
Kings receive:
Draft rights to Alpha Kaba (60th pick in 2017)
Carter was a lottery pick just two years ago that Sacramento seemed to sour on almost immediately, and now they have to use one of their few 2nd rounders (Fischer reports it's the furthest out possible, 2033) to get off of him as they work to get out of the luxury tax. Cutting DeMar DeRozan's partially guaranteed salary would now safely get them there after this deal, which creates a Trade Exception worth Carter's salary.
Atlanta has a $6,700,000 TPE from the Clint Capela sign-and-trade that is set to expire on July 6th, so that will almost surely be used here. They had some nice flexibility under the tax line to make this type of move, and now they get draft capital to take a look at a 24 year old guard who could provide some backup minutes for them while their rookie, Kingston Flemings, develops.
6/30 update: The Hawks have officially announced the deal now, and it was, in fact, old draft rights (Alpha Kaba) heading back the other way since they had to send back something.
Bryant to re-sign with the Cavaliers: one year deal (Shams 6/29)
Wiggins to re-sign extend with the Heat: 3 years, $64 million 2 years, $34 million (Shams 6/29)
This was kind of incredible since it came less than 10 minutes after Fischer reported that Wiggins would be picking up his $30,169,644 player option. Getting more guaranteed money at a lower number for this year to give Miami more operating room under their First Apron hard-cap was always the move that made sense, as I suggested below when the Giannis trade happened. If they go as low as possible at this reported figure with the 8% raises, that $10.4 million difference for this season is massive for what they can do, namely re-signing Powell at a market rate.
Well, forget everything I just wrote since further clarity came out afterwards that it's actually a 2 year, $34 million extension after opting in, so Fischer's report was correct. Shams phrasing it as "intends to sign a three-year, $64 million contract" makes no sense in my opinion, but that's the peril of making live updates here.
Unless Wiggins and his agent were insistent on this, which I wouldn't expect, I'm pretty surprised that the Heat wanted to structure it this way given their First Apron restriction this year. I guess that they valued having the lower cap number in the future years when Antetokounmpo's expected extension would kick in, but this basically guarantees that Jovic would have to be traded if they're to open up more flexibility than just minimum signings and part of the MLE. Maybe negotiations with Powell have gone poorly enough that they know that he's for sure leaving in free agency, but that's a huge perimeter scoring hole to fill with Herro already sent out.
Sharpe to re-sign with the Nets: 2 years, "roughly $20 million" (Scotto 6/29)
Minott to re-sign with the Nets: 2 years, $9 million (Shams 6/29)
I'm going to lump these two together since they had similar situations with Brooklyn and the news came at the same time. The Nets could have simply picked up the $6,250,000 and $2,584,539 team options for Sharpe and Minott, respectively, so they leveraged that possibility into getting these team friendly deals with an extra year of control in exchange for slight pay bumps as they turn 25 and 23 in November.
I'm projecting the Room MLE for Sharpe that's slightly less than $20 million here because re-signing him in that way instead of with Bird Rights would allow Brooklyn to renounce his cap hold in order to maximize all of their cap space first and then exceed the cap with that exception. It's a similar to how they handled the big man's restricted free agency last year before they finally made his signing official in September after agreeing to it months prior.
It was a little surprising that Minott had to settle for a minimum contract with a team option last year given how much of an advanced stats darling he is, and because of that he is on another "1 minus 1" type of deal. Still, it's at least an increase of about $2 million guaranteed after he earned more minutes on the (tanking) Nets following the salary dump from the (competing) Celtics. The 6'8" wing has the length to always rack up rebounds, steals, and blocks, and the key thing for him will be maintaining his career 39.6% 3-point shooting even as he increases the volume from 2.3 per-36 minutes to 4 to 5.6 to 6.6 last season, including 8.9 in 16 games with Brooklyn. Because they only had Non-Bird Rights on him and the reported salary exceeds the 120% raise that they could give him, this deal will likely have to eat slightly into their cap space.
Charlotte continues to retool (Shams 6/28)
Suns receive:
2029 1st round pick (Worst of the Cavaliers/Hornets/Jazz/Timberwolves)
2027 2nd round pick (Worse of Celtics/Magic)
Hornets receive: $29,000,000 total
I mentioned in the Ball trade below that Bridges has been in trade rumors going into the last year of his contract, and I should've known that Phoenix would be his destination since they've been long interested in him due to the Michigan State connection with owner Mat Ishbia. Charlotte got a 2033 1st in that prior trade, as well, so they must really be excited about this 6th grade class.
In all seriousness, going as far out as possible with these trades continue to be a logical bet on upside given the uncertainty of how good or bad your trade partner will be by then. The inclusion of the 2029 1st seems excessive at first glance until you realize the conditions on it, and the funny thing is that the Hornets originally received that pick from the Suns in the Mark Williams trade as these teams make their fourth trade together over the past year and a half. Phoenix didn't own a 1st rounder in that year and only had one 2nd rounder over the next seven years before this, so even adding these "lesser of" picks are helpful, even if they don't fully offset the much more valuable unprotected pick.
This move also reduces the Suns' luxury tax bill, adds more breathing room under the Second Apron, and creates a Trade Exception worth O'Neale's salary. On the court, it gives them more heft at a starting forward spot since O'Neale often lined up next to Dillon Brooks with one of them being undersized against power forwards. While Bridges is only around 6'6" himself (6'5.25" without shoes back at the 2018 combine), he's used to playing that spot at 225 pounds with a 6'9.5" wingspan. His production went down this past season as the Hornets' younger players took on bigger roles, though, and the raw scoring is a trade off for the spacing that O'Neale's shooting provides. Allen's own 3-point prowess could be missed, but the emergence and re-signing of their other guards (at the bottom of this post) still leaves them with solid depth.
Off the court, Bridges comes with a history of horrendous domestic violence charges that he pleaded no contest to. He didn't play at all in 2022-23 or the start of the 2023-24 season as a result, and now the Suns are knowingly trading for someone with that kind of history. You could argue that the 28 year old served his time and has undergone counseling in the years since then, but he's still not someone I'd be comfortable adding to my team, even before factoring in the cost it took.
Update: In the full story describing the trade, Shams noted that Charlotte added their own 1st rounder among the picks that might convey in 2029, which adds even more downside for Phoenix. Even if the Hornets don't end up good that season, I must emphasize again how volatile the new lottery system will be due to all of the top-16 picks being drawn for instead of just the top-4. Adding another layer of which pick might be the worst one is a savvy move by the Hornets as this front office continues to take a big picture approach with a treasure trove of extra picks.
Harper to re-sign with the Celtics: 3 years, $9 million (Shams 6/27)
Clark to re-sign with the Timberwolves: 3 years, $10 million (Krawczynski first, Hine the details 6/26)
This is around $500K more than what Clark's minimum salary projects to be, and while every dollar matters when dealing with the Second Apron like Minnesota is, it could be well worth it to lock him in for three years at this cheap price. He's a tenacious perimeter defender and nice cutter who has shown some ability to knock down outside shots. His 3P% dropped from 43.1% to 32.7% last season with slightly more volume, so consistency there will likely determine whether the former 2nd round pick can be a postseason contributor or just regular season depth.
Hartenstein to re-sign with the Thunder: 3 years, $75 million (Shams 6/26)
Oklahoma City is declining Hartenstein’s $28,500,000 team option to sign him to this new deal, and Gozlan notes that the small difference in salary projects to save them $21 million in luxury tax payments given how far past the line they are. It’ll be interesting to see the details of the “mutual” option in the third year that sounds like a player option that is only partially guaranteed if he picks it up.
This projection is at a flat rate since they still have other ways to get under the Second Apron this season but will have more of a challenge to do so in future years with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's extension kicking in then. If they were to do the standard 8% raises, which wouldn't surprise me for more savings now, it would look more like $23,148,148/$25,000,000/$26,851,852.
Either way, it's a nice deal to both help their cap sheet now and ensure at least one more season with Hartenstein after this one. The 28 year old big man proved to be a really nice signing two years ago when it seemed like his huge, front-loaded contract was a bit of an overpay. His rebounding, passing, tough interior defense, and timely scoring helped them to win a title in his first season and get to Game 7 of the Western Finals last month as he proved a nuisance for Victor Wembanyama. That's of course who all postseason contenders have to plan for now in their front court, so OKC made sure to secure their center.
Alvarado to re-sign with the Knicks: 3 years, $14+ million (Shams 6/26)
OKC sheds more depth (Shams 6/26)
Pistons receive:
Thunder receive:
2030 Timberwolves 2nd round pick
2031 Pistons 2nd round pick
This is just like Oklahoma City's Wiggins trade to reduce their luxury tax bill and try to avoid the Second Apron to not have a future 1st round pick frozen. Joe is an absolutely elite shooter (41.5% on 5.5 threes in only 20.1 minutes, or 9.8 per-36 minutes, the past four years with OKC) but tends to not be trusted come playoff time due to defensive concerns. The writing was on the wall for him after the arrival of Jared McCain at the trade deadline and his success in the playoffs, but the veteran still has value across the league, especially on this contract, to net the Thunder two more picks here. Per Gozlan, they project to save $76 million in tax payments with this move.
Detroit always needs more shooting around Cade Cunningham, and Joe can step into the Malik Beasley/Duncan Robinson role for them. As mentioned with the Stewart trade below, their cap situation is pretty fluid at the moment. They could stay over the cap and take Joe into the Trade Exception from that deal or the MLE, or he could fit into cap space if they renounce their free agents besides Duren. OKC should create a TPE of their own worth the $11.32 million here (along with one worth Wiggins' salary), but it's unlikely that they use it given the goal of cutting salary.
7/7 update: Now that the deal became official yesterday, I updated the details of which picks were involved.
Williams to re-sign with the Suns: 3 years, $38 million (Shams 6/25)
Health is always a question mark with Williams, so this feels like a fair deal at an amount lower than the MLE but short enough for him to potentially hit free agency again when he's 27. The big man was able to play 60 games in his first season in Phoenix and saw a slight dip in production to average 11.7 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 0.9 steals, and 0.9 blocks in 23.6 minutes. With Khaman Maluach looking as raw as expected as a rookie, keeping Williams in tow was important for the Suns after their surprising run to the playoffs under rookie coach Jordan Ott.
With their three free agents re-signed and Koa Peat drafted in the 1st round, they now have a full roster of 15 players (pending the contracts of Haywood Highsmith and Jamaree Bouyea that aren't fully guaranteed) and are well into the luxury tax. In fact, they now project to definitely be a First Apron team and could be getting close to the Second Apron, but I'm sure they won't go into it again barring anything crazy.
White to re-sign with the Hornets: 3 years, $74 million (Shams 6/25)
This feels about market value for White, so I guess his agents didn't press the issue in the wake of Charlotte's big hole at lead guard after this morning's news. Or perhaps they had this deal basically finalized to make the team comfortable enough to agree to the trade. The 26 year old had his minutes drop after being traded and moving to a sixth man role, but his efficiency went up as a result. He averaged 15.6 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in just 19.3 minutes (29.1, 5.5, and 5.7 per-36 minutes) with 46.1%/39.1%/83.9% shooting on 5.2 three point attempts and 4.1 free throws (a massive 9.8 and 7.7 per-36, respectively) in 21 games.
Looking at a larger sample size of the last three seasons, White has averaged 19.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 0.7 steals against 2.3 turnovers in 32.4 minutes with 44.9%/37%/85.6% shooting on 7.2 threes and 4 free throws. With his willingness to play both on and off the ball, he can combine well with Kneuppel and Miller for an explosive offense. In a tiny sample of 45 minutes over 17 games together, that three player lineup averaged 125.5 points per 100 possessions for a +29.8 net rating.
It's funny that White now is in line to take over a starting spot in Charlotte thanks to Ball heading to Minnesota, where White's old teammate Dosunmu will likely get bumped back to to bench role. The two former Chicago guards ended up getting comparable contracts after getting dealt at the trade deadline, with Dosunmu getting more total guaranteed money ($112 million versus $74 million) but White averaging more per year ($24,666,667 versus $22,400,000) based on current reporting.
Charlotte sends Ball to Minnesota (Shams 6/25)
Timberwolves receive: $55,449,532 total
Well that escalated quickly. After Shams first reported after last night's draft that Ball could be on the move and Stein added that the Wolves and Raptors have interest, this came together less than 12 hours later. My immediate reaction was that this could be looped into the Randle trade below so that he could contribute towards the matching salary (instead of creating a Trade Exception), and based on the reported details so far, this likely will be the case to end up as a four-team trade. Since Green makes enough to be traded straight up for Reid, Charlotte stands to create a massive TPE of their own worth Ball's $40,770,520 with this structure.
It's quite the bold move from each side, and what the Hornets do with that new flexibility could determine if they're the "winner" of the trade. After starting the season 9-20, they went 35-18 the rest of the way with a league-leading +10.1 net rating during that stretch before losing in the second Play-In game, which makes this shakeup a surprise. Switching to what became their regular starting lineup of Ball, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, and Moussa Diabate is what started that run, and LaMelo finally being available for most of the season was a huge part of their success.
Ball played in 72 games (while managing his minutes to a career-low 28 per contest) after only appearing in 47, 22, and 36 over the previous three seasons, so the Hornets might feel that they are selling at a high point while he's healthy and before his contract fully rises. He was also not drafted by the current regime, and they selected a point guard, Christian Anderson, with the #18 pick on Tuesday in addition to making trade deadline move for Coby White, who now has some nice leverage in free agency.
The 2033 1st is the only one that Minnesota could outright trade and holds upside by being as far down the line possible. Anthony Edwards and Ball, the 1st and 3rd picks in the 2020 draft, will both be turning 32 that summer and are both under contract until 2029, so who knows how good the team will be by then. Getting three pick swaps in the deal could be where things really get interesting now that there are new lottery rules in place with increased randomness. If the Timberwolves are in the lottery by the time these years come up, it doesn't really matter how good or bad they might be given the flattened odds, and the Hornets don't even need to be better than them for the swaps to come into play. With the odds for the #1 pick being either 8.11%, 5.41%, or 2.70% (for just the #8 seed in the playoffs) and there being a drawing for every pick now, a pick swap to give a team potentially two bites at the apple is more valuable than ever. Marks did point out that the 2030 pick might come after the Spurs' right to swap first and the 2029 pick is already owed to either the Jazz or these Hornets (funnily enough) with just top-5 protection, so we'll see what the official language is on those.
Reid's inclusion here is interesting given how Charlotte just invested the #14 pick in a big man, Hannes Steinbach, and how Minnesota is already sending out Randle. Bridges has been in some trade rumors, so Reid could end up the starting power forward if that happens or remain an overqualified sixth man. Maybe he starts at center before shifting down a spot with bench units, but without a ton of size on the wing, that combination probably wouldn't hold up defensively.
The Wolves' once robust front court is now down to Rudy Gobert as the only known commodity, so they may need last year's draft picks, Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky, to step up. Jaden McDaniels could also play a little more small-ball power forward with the addition of Green, who is a decent 3+D wing but saw a large drop in minutes last season. Barring another trade (which definitely can't be ruled out after this week), they will likely only have the veteran minimum to add another front court option since the Taxpayer MLE would take them perilously close to the Second Apron that they're not hard-capped by due to salary aggregation here. I think they'll also create a Trade Exception worth the difference in salary between Reid and Green but likely won't have the flexibility to use it.
It's a big swing to pair Ball with Edwards, and it'll be fascinating to see how their dynamic works out. While both are certainly willing passers, whether each of them will end up with the ball in their hands enough for their liking is the question, particularly in crunch time. I can understand the idea since Ant-Man had to run the offense even more than before with Mike Conley's decline leading to DiVincenzo stepping into the starting lineup. Now 'Melo can take some pressure off of him along with the re-signed Dosunmu, but with the investment involved, it's a little too risky for my liking.
Horford to re-sign with the Warriors: 2 years, $14 million (Shams 6/25)
So that answers the question about whether Horford is declining his $5,969,250 player option or not. Having turned 40 this month, I did not expect this big of a new deal, but he's getting the maximum possible 20% raise on last year's $5,685,000 through Non-Bird Rights. There might have been an understanding that this could be coming when he took a discount to join the team on just the Taxpayer MLE, and while he was limited to just 45 games and 21.5 minutes, he was effective in them.
In his 19th season, Horford made 36.1% of his threes while taking 7.6 per-36 minutes and also blocking 1.9 shots per-36, both of which were actually career-highs. His 20.5% defensive rebounding rate was still strong, and the 4.3 assists per-36 minutes and switchable defense fit right in with Golden State.
7/6 update: Now that deals are becoming official with the moratorium over, Siegel reports that the second year is a player option, and Horford also has a 15% trade bonus if moved.
Detroit surprisingly salary dumps Isaiah Stewart (Shams 6/24)
Grizzlies receive:
Pistons receive:
2029 2nd (Best of Bucks/Knicks/Pistons)
2031 Mavericks 2nd
2032 2nd (their own, returned)
Stewart was great off the bench for the East's #1 seed last season, and while his name has been in trade talks for a bigger deal, a straight salary dump like this is a stunner. I'd expect there to be a follow up move, but in any case, it's a great pick up for Memphis, especially given Zach Edey's injury issues last year. Assuming that they stay an over the cap team, this salary could potentially fit into the full MLE (depending on how large it ends up being) so that they could preserve their $28,872,920 Trade Exception from the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade.
Fischer reports that the three picks involved here are the exact ones that Detroit sent to Memphis last night when they moved up from #21 to #17 for Ebuka Okorie, so this could be viewed as one, big deal. While the optics of that might look a little better for Detroit, the key thing is what they do next since there's a lot of fluidity with their cap flexibility. After this move, they could potentially become a cap space team while retaining Jalen Duren's cap hold in restricted free agency; they could create a TPE with this move to absorb another salary, or perhaps more likely, this could potentially expand into a three-way trade using Stewart's salary for matching purposes.
Reaves to re-sign with the Lakers: 4 years, $185 million (Shams 6/24)
The most other teams could offer Austin Reaves projected to be a 4 years for $177.38 million on a 25% max contract due to him having five years of service time. This $184.8 million is the most the Lakers could offer on a four year deal, but it's notable that he went for a 3+1 structure here instead of a full five year deal for $239.25 million. With the player option at the end, this could potentially set him up to opt out with eight years of experience to sign a 30% max at that point.
The other cap minutia here is that LA will likely wait to finalize this signing until after making use of their potentially large amount of cap space (depending on the free agency of LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, among others). They can keep Reaves' relatively small $20.9 million cap hold on the books, add other salaries up to the salary cap, and then officially sign this deal to go past the cap in order to maximize their additions.
Declining his $14,898,786 player option for this season was always a mere formality since there was this kind of max out there for him, and it's still surprising that no team signed him to an offer sheet three years ago to at least make the Lakers match it, which continues to help them now with his deflated cap hold. Reaves has improved each year since then to average 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals (with 3 turnovers) this past season on 49%/36%/87.1% shooting while taking 6.4 threes and 7.3 free throws. Having turned 28 last month, he's proven a strong complement to Luka Doncic in the back court with his combination of drives, shot making, and passing, and now that partnership will continue.
Draft Results (6/23)
I normally have this in a separate post, but I might as well just add it here as a light summary of what every team did in the draft. For now I'm listing all of the players each team ended up with tonight and the draft picks that they hold tomorrow, and then I'll update it after the 2nd round.
Wizards
#1 AJ Dybantsa
Traded #51 and #60 for #46 Felix Okpara
Jazz
#2 Darryn Peterson
Grizzlies
#3 Cameron Boozer
Traded #16 for #17, a 2030 2nd (Best of Heat/Nuggets/Rockets), and a 2033 Thunder 2nd
Traded #17 for #21 Karim Lopez and a 2029 2nd (Best of Bucks/Knicks/Pistons), a 2031 Mavs 2nd, and a 2032 Pistons 2nd
#32 Richie Saunders
Bulls
#4 Caleb Wilson
#15 Dailyn Swain
Traded #38 for Kam Jones, two 2nd round swaps, and cash considerations
Traded #56 for cash considerations (their favorite draft day tradition)
Clippers
#5 Keaton Wagler
#36 Baba Miller
Traded #52 for #57 Narcisse Ngoy and cash considerations
Traded cash considerations for #55 Nick Martinelli
Nets
#6 Mikel Brown Jr.
#28 Joshua Jefferson
#43 Tyler Bilodeau
Kings
#7 Darius Acuff Jr.
Traded #34 and their 2032 2nd for #29 Alex Karaban
#45 Emanuel Sharp
Hawks
#8 Kingston Flemings
#23 Zuby Ejiofor
Traded #57 and cash considerations for #52 Henri Veesaar
Mavericks
#9 Morez Johnson Jr.
Traded #30, a 2030 76ers 2nd, their 2032 2nd, and the draft rights to Melvin Ajinca (51st pick in 2024) for #25 Sergio De Larrea
#48 Tobi Lawal
Traded cash considerations for #56 Vsevolod Ishchenko
Bucks
#10 Brayden Burries
#13 Nate Ament
Traded cash considerations for #60 Malique Lewis
Warriors
#11 Yaxel Lendeborg
#54 Lajae Jones
Thunder
#12 Aday Mara
Traded #17, a 2030 2nd (Best of Heat/Nuggets/Rockets), and their 2033 2nd for #16 Bennett Stirtz
Traded #37 for #41 Otega Oweh and cash considerations
Hornets
#14 Hannes Steinbach
#18 Christian Anderson Jr.
Raptors
#19 Allen Graves
#50 Jaden Bradley
Spurs
#20 Jayden Quaintance
Traded #35, a 2028 Timberwolves 2nd, and a 2031 Kings 2nd for #26 Tarris Reed Jr.
#42 Ja'Kobi Gillespie
#44 Maliq Brown
Pistons
Traded #21, a 2029 2nd (Best of Bucks/Knicks/Pistons), a 2031 Mavs 2nd, and their 2032 2nd for #17 Ebuka Okorie
Traded cash considerations for #53 Ugonna Onyenso
76ers
#22 Labaron Philon Jr.
Knicks
Traded #24 for #25, cash considerations, and the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie (57th pick in 2014) and Chinemelu Elonu (59th pick in 2009)
Traded #25 for #30, a 2030 76ers 2nd, a 2032 Mavs 2nd, and the draft rights to Melvin Ajinca (51st pick in 2024)
Traded #30 for #47 Tyler Nickel, the 2029 Suns and 2033 2nd round picks, and cash considerations
Traded #31 and #55 for #39 Jack Kayil, #53, a 2029 Kings 2nd, and the draft rights to Mojave King (47th pick in 2023)
Traded #53 for cash considerations
Lakers
Traded #25, cash considerations, and the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie (57th pick in 2014) and Chinemelu Elonu (59th pick in 2009) for #24 Cameron Carr
Traded cash considerations for #56
Traded #56 for cash considerations
Nuggets
Traded #26 for #35 Trevon Brazile, a 2028 Timberwolves 2nd, and a 2031 Kings 2nd
#49 Bryce Hopkins
Celtics
#27 Chris Cenac Jr.
#40 Dillon Mitchell
Cavaliers
Traded #29 for #34 Maleek Thomas and a 2032 Kings 2nd
Suns
Traded #47, their 2029 and 2033 2nd round picks, and cash considerations for #30 Koa Peat
Timberwolves
#33 Isaiah Evans
#59 Trey Kaufman-Renn
Rockets
Traded #39, #53, a 2029 Kings 2nd, and the draft rights to Mojave King (47th pick in 2023) for #31 Bruce Thornton and #55
Traded #55 for cash considerations
Heat
Traded #41 and cash considerations for #37 Ryan Conwell
Pacers
Traded Kam Jones, two 2nd round swaps, and cash considerations for #38 Braden Smith
Magic
Traded #46 for #51 Izaiyah Nelson and #60
Traded #60 for cash considerations
Pelicans
#58 Jaron Pierre Jr.
The Giannis saga is FINALLY over (Shams 6/22)
Heat receive: $72,977,980 total
Bucks receive: $47,435,741 total
Miami lands its white whale at long last. They've been linked to a potential move for the Greak Freak going back to 2020, in part due to Bam Adebayo sharing the same agent as Antetokounmpo. I remember back then they were saving potential cap space and didn't finalize his rookie extension until it was clear that Giannis was also extending with Milwaukee. Now after constantly being linked to other stars on the trade block before being unwilling to give up too much, the Heat go all out to land the former Finals MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, and two-time MVP.
The deal ended up mostly being what was the expected structure with the four outgoing salaries combining for $47.44 million, which is just over the $46.57 million needed to match Antetokounmpo's $58.46 million, and then Portis fitting into the $16.8 million Duncan Robinson Trade Exception as somewhat of a surprise. That will hard-cap Miami at the First Apron as they try to fill out the roster by re-signing Norman Powell, who has some nice leverage now, and/or using the MLE and BAE. Depending on whether Andrew Wiggins picks up his $30,169,644 player option or declines it to sign for more years at a lower salary, things could get a little tight.
They will lack depth after sending out their 1st round selections from each of the past three years along with their second-leading scorer, but this will make them even more of a free agent destination for veterans on the minimum. If Wiggins and Powell are back with the team, a lineup of them, Antetokounmpo, Adebayo, and either Davion Mitchell or Pelle Larsson has two-way upside but could use more shooting. Nikola Jovic and Dru Smith returning to form in that area would be huge along with potentially bringing back Simone Fontecchio if possible under the First Apron, but replenishing the back court will clearly be the priority after what was sent out here. Although Portis could be considered a salary dump in the deal now that he's 31, he shot an impressive 45.6% on 4.4 threes last year to be the type of stretch big that Miami always likes to have to pair with Adebayo and now Antetokounmpo, and he was a long-time fan favorite in Milwaukee.
The Bucks drawing this out for so ridiculously long took away some of their leverage since Giannis could dictate which teams he's willing to extend with now that he's going into the last guaranteed year of his contract, and that's where the shared agent with Bam likely helped. Still, they did pretty well here after pitting the Heat and Celtics into a bidding war. It seemed like Herro might end up on a third team to add more assets for a rebuild, but the latest reporting indicated that ownership might have been getting involved and preferred to try to stay competitive, which is what could make Boston package featuring Jaylen Brown more appealing. Remember, Milwaukee doesn't have control of their own 1st round picks until 2031 due to the Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard trades, so an all-out tank isn't really an option.
Herro is a flawed player, but the former All-Star's scoring, passing, and spacing can pair well with Ryan Rollins in their back court to help them perhaps try to make a Play-In push (even if it is somewhat foolhardy), and the fact that he's a Milwaukee native could help them re-sign him at a reasonable number. Since this deal won't become official until the new league year due to Miami's current proximity to the First Apron, there is still the potential that it could expand with him heading elsewhere by July 6th, of course. Jaquez was a close runner up for the Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging 15.4 points, 5 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 28.3 minutes off the bench, and now he could have a chance to become a regular starter as he heads into the last year of his rookie contract.
Ware is an exciting 22 year old who has shown an ability to shoot from the outside in addition to being a big interior presence, which is the type of valuable big man that they thought they were getting in the ill-fated Myles Turner signing. In only 22.1 minutes last year, he averaged 11.1 points, 9 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, and 0.8 steals while shooting 39.5% on 3 threes, and the rebounding in particular stands out with a 29.2% defensive rebound rate and 13.1% overall rebound rate. Jakucionis didn't have a consistent role as a rookie but acquitted himself pretty well in the minutes he did get with 42.3% three point shooting and 5.2 assists per-36 minutes against just 1.9 turnovers, and he only turned 20 last month. Fischer adds that the Heat not wanting to include the young guard was part of what took so long for the deal to get done.
The Bucks are getting a locked in lottery pick in tomorrow's deep class and then pushed out the other picks until Antetokounmpo's age 35, 36, and 38 seasons to try to have the upside of more shots at lottery picks. The first of those years is only a swap, but with the extremely flattened odds of the new lottery system (if it's still in place by then since it was only ratified through 2029) those kind of swap rights have even more value than before since the drawings will be so volatile. If the Celtics really were offering two 1st round picks in addition to Brown, as Shams reported after this trade, it could certainly be argued that they should have taken that deal, but one of those might have just been the #27 pick tomorrow. Miami's quantity of picks, including one right in the range of players that Milwaukee's been scouting for their #10 pick, and players 26 and under does have its own appeal compared to the 30 year old (in October) Brown on a 35% max salary for a non-contender. There was some thought that they could re-route Brown to Portland to get some of their picks back, and I'm assuming that they did their due diligence to canvas the league about what they could potentially flip him for compared to this Miami package. They also stand to create a large Trade Exception equal to the difference between Antetokounmpo and Herro, $25,456,566, to add more to this return.
Dosunmu to re-sign with the Timberwolves: 5 years, $112 million (Shams 6/22)
Bringing Dosunmu back was already a huge priority, especially with DiVincenzo unfortunately expected to miss at least the majority of the season with a torn Achilles, and the Timberwolves gave him a fifth year player option to secure the signature. The deal may be a bit rich, but the 26 year old should be able to maintain his value given how consistent he's been the last few years.
Minnesota, Brooklyn, and Chicago combine for three-team stunner (Shams 6/22)
Bulls receive:
Nets receive:
Timberwolves receive:
#33 pick
The day before the draft has brought about a lot of action, and this biggest move yet seemingly came out of nowhere. Randle was rumored to be available given his poor playoff showing and Minnesota's salary crunch, but I had not seen anything linking him to Brooklyn before this, nor Claxton to Chicago. I can see the appeal to varying degrees from all three sides, though. It won't be able to become official until the new league year since both the Nets and especially the Bulls will need to use their large amounts of cap space to facilitate this.
It's unclear what exactly Chicago is sending out since they have to give up something (likely cash, old draft rights, or a fake 2nd that's top-55 protected), but the main thing here is that they're seemingly adding Claxton for free. Given their need at center, his skill, and his solid contract, that is a great use of their cap room, and they still project to have over $30 million of it left after this.
Claxton for Randle would have been cap legal during this league year, but the combination of Claxton's salary declining from $25,541,760 and Randle's increasing from $30,864,198 means that Brooklyn will need to use space to add this much salary unless they end up sending out additional money. If Michael Porter Jr. doesn't end up traded, I guess this means that he'll be playing small forward pretty exclusively with Randle's arrival and Day'Ron Sharpe presumably moving into the starting center role after having his team option picked up. They also have Noah Clowney and Danny Wolf in the front court, so there are a few ways that this rotation could shake out. I guess they wanted more of an offensive force, but I'm a bit surprised that they swapped out lefties to get 4.5 years older and more expensive while only moving up five spots late in the 1st round.
Finally, this feels like Minnesota might have another move coming after this. Perhaps they're just opening up a starting spot for Naz Reid and clearing salary so that they can more easily re-sign Ayo Dosunmu (whom they got in another deal with Chicago, funnily enough) without having to worry about the luxury tax. However, this creates a huge Trade Exception worth Randle's $33,333,334, so they have some nice flexibility now. It would have been nice to get something in return for a three-time All-Star, but not having to pay more than this trivial draft swap to get off of that much money is something of a win.
Update: Jake Fischer reports that the Bulls are sending Mo Gueye to the Wolves to complete the deal, which means that his team option is being picked up to simply be non-guaranteed instead. Minnesota can just take him in via the Minimum Exception, so this shouldn't eat into the TPE they're creating.
Diawara to re-sign with the Knicks: "multiyear" deal, $10+ million (Shams 6/22)
Not having the total amount of years here really limits the initial analysis. It could be a four year deal at the minimum using Non-Bird Rights since New York only signed him to a one year deal after drafting him with the 51st pick last year, or (less likely in my opinion), it could be for two years using the Taxpayer MLE, which would hard-cap them at the Second Apron. The latter would be a questionable use of resources given their other free agents, but the former would be a good deal that's mostly standard for restricted free agents with such little service time, especially if there are non-guarantees and/or team options involved.
The 21 year old had a surprisingly good rookie season for being such a late pick, seeing action in 69 regular season games and 6 more in the playoffs. He had pretty limited minutes, but his per-36 minute averages of 14 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal with 1.7 turnovers are not too shabby. Diawara even made 36.9% of his threes on 7.4 attempts per-36, so he could be a rotation level forward on a cheap deal going forward (assuming it's the Non-Bird Rights option).
Young to re-sign with the Wizards: 4 years, $212 million (Shams 6/22)
After declining his $48,967,380 player option for this season, Young did not end up needing to take much of a haircut at all to add more guaranteed years based on this reported number. The Wizards could have offered him up to 5 years and a projected $287.1 million (or $221.76 million over the first 4 years), but this is just about equivalent to the 30% max contract (4 years, $212.85 million) that other teams could have offered.
It didn't seem like there would be that much of a market for Young with so few cap space teams (likely only the Bulls, Lakers, and Nets) and not much of a demand for him this past season considering he was traded for just McCollum and Corey Kispert with no picks involved. I wouldn't imagine that his stock rose much after playing just five games with Washington after the trade as he dealt with nagging injuries and they tanked for the worst record, but I guess the team really does hold him in high esteem and wasn't just buying low as a value play. The usually reliable Marc Stein reported earlier this month that a deal of around 3 years, $120 million was expected, which I thought made sense, so I'm pretty surprised that it ended up being this big.
Update: As more reports have come in, it does sound like this deal was meant to match what other teams could offer, so I'll lay out that structure with a higher starting salary and smaller raises, which could be beneficial for Washington since they don't have to worry about the luxury tax in the short term.
JP Finlay reports that Young's market improved with the new lottery reform and more teams looking to compete, so he did potentially have suitors for a max contract. I should also note that Travis Schlenk, who ran the Hawks at the start of Young's career, now has a role in the Wizards front office, which likely contributed to their trade. And if any executive was to really view him as a max player still, it would be him after they had that surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, which remains the only time Young's made it out of the First Round.
7/9 update: I've looking through Smith's updates on Spotrac for deals that now have confirmed details, and while I'm not going to fill this post with updates on them, Young's structure caught my eye. I projected the 30% max for the starting salary (when the salary cap was expected to be slightly higher) with raises that were 5% of that to simply match what other teams could offer in free agency. However, Washington went with only a 2% raise in the second year before the full 8% raises through Bird Rights afterwards for the same total. It's a pretty unique set up that moves a touch of '27-28 money into the '30-31 season when the salary cap will be higher.
Atlanta adds wing depth (Shams 6/21)
Hawks receive:
Thunder receive:
2030 Hawks 2nd round pick
2032 2nd round pick (Worse of Hawks or Lakers)
Atlanta has an $11 million trade exception from sending out Luke Kennard at the trade deadline, so that can easily be used here to pick up a useful wing on a good contract. Using that TPE will hard-cap them at the First Apron, but that shouldn't be an issue since they don't tend to even go across the luxury tax line. This further indicates that they'll operate as an over the cap team, as mentioned below.
Yossi Gozlan and and Bobby Marks noted that this projects to save around $61-64 million off of Oklahoma City's tax bill depending on what else they do this summer. That is certainly not a small sum for a team that is going to be very expensive over the next handful of years as contenders with three max contracts, so that alone makes this an understandable move for them even before adding two more 2nd rounders. Wiggins himself was the 55th pick back in 2021 and became a tremendous developmental story from a Two-Way contract to rotation regular and fill-in starter. His role fluctuated a bit in different playoff rounds, but he is a career 38% three point shooter on solid volume with nice passing and defensive chops. While that kind of player will be missed, especially after helping to build OKC's culture, they have plenty of perimeter depth to backfill his minutes.
McCollum extends with the Hawks: 1 year, $21 million (Shams 6/21)
One more guard off the board. After basically replacing Trae Young on the Hawks, McCollum averaged 18.7 points, 4.1 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 1 steal against 1.9 turnovers with 45.6%/35.7%/74.8% shooting on 6.5 threes and 3.3 free throws in 28.8 minutes. His splits between starting and coming off the bench were pretty even, but as Shams noted in his report (as part of the agent feeding him this news), Atlanta went 19-4 down the stretch after he became a regular starter.
McCollum proved to be a playoff hero in their two wins over the eventual champion Knicks and is an important part of their team as a veteran guard to help run the offense next to Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Dyson Daniels. After earning $30,666,666 this past season, coming down to $21 million is fair with him turning 35 before the season starts, and only needing to commit one year to him at this age is a win for Atlanta. Armed with the #8 pick in the draft thanks to the Pelicans, in addition to their own #23 pick, there is a chance that they take one of the elite guards in this class who can be McCollum's understudy for a season before taking over next year.
There was a the possibility of the Hawks being a big cap space player this summer if they declined Jonathan Kuminga's team option and waived Buddy Hield's partially guaranteed contract, but this signing likely means that they will stay as an over the cap team instead and just use various exceptions to add to the roster.
Goodwin to re-sign with the Suns: 3 years, $19 million (Shams 6/21)
Another guard that thrived with the Suns last season, Goodwin was actually acquired as part of the Bradley Beal trade after he had intriguing minutes for the Wizards, but he wasn't trusted enough due to poor outside shooting (29.8% there after 31.9% in Washington). After being dealt in the Royce O'Neale trade, he finished the season on the Grizzlies before spending the next year with the Lakers, where his defensive tenacity actually got him a few playoff minutes.
Goodwin's non-guaranteed contract ended up waived last summer with Phoenix claiming him, which gave them Early Bird Rights this year to potentially give him this slightly smaller starting salary with 8% raises instead of a $6,031,746/$6,333,333/$6,634,921 structure. That could be helpful if they end up back in the luxury tax (or even dealing with the First Apron) after re-signing their remaining notable free agent, Mark Williams. Either way, it's a fair deal at around the price of the Taxpayer MLE for the 27 year old. He even improved to 37.1% on 6.9 threes per-36 minutes after making 38.2% on 4.5 per-36 with LA, and if that kind of shooting holds up, this could end up a bargain for a real 3-and-D guard.
Gillespie to re-sign with the Suns: 4 years, $48 million (Shams 6/20)
I don't think many people would have expected Gillespie to be the first move off the board this summer, but with this being a good deal all around, it makes sense. After only being on Two-Way contracts his first couple of years, he made a little over $2 million on the minimum this past season, so locking in this much guaranteed money days before turning 27 is a no-brainer.
Perhaps Gillespie could have made more, even up to the MLE, if he waited to test the open market, but this way he gets to stay where he's comfortable and with the coach that trusted him with the opportunity for a breakout. His per-minute numbers weren't actually that much different than the flashes shown in previous years, but rookie coach Jordan Ott played him in 86 of their 88 total games with 61 starts and let him spread his wings to the tune of 28.5 minutes per game to average 12.7 points, 4.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals against only 1.6 turnovers while nailing 40.1% of 7.2 threes per game. That is a valuable player that the Suns were able to lock down at a nice price.
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