2018 NBA Draft Week Review

Draft day is here! Like last year, I'm going to recap all of the wheeling and dealing going on this week. I'll start with the trades that have already happened, and then go team by team with a summary of what they did tonight. As usual, all salary data is from BasketballInsiders.com. 

The Howard-Mozgov salary swap

Nets receive:

Dwight Howard

$23,819,725

Hornets receive:

Timofey Mozgov

$16,000,000

$16,720,000

#45 pick
Nets' 2021 2nd round pick
Undisclosed cash considerations 


Like many others, my first thought when I saw the news was that Howard is finally a Net after the "Dwightmare" six years ago, but alas, the union won't last long. As Tim Bontemps speculated yesterday, Brooklyn will likely buyout the last year of the enigmatic big man's deal to put the exclamation point on this salary dump. With Mozgov's money off the books, the Nets are now in position to have enough cap room for two max contracts a year from now and still keep the cap holds of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Spencer Dinwiddie. They also still have the 40th pick tonight, lessening the blow of sacrificing the second rounders. Because the difference in salary is more than the amount of cap space they have right now, this deal can't become official until the new league year starts on July 6th. They'll have to renounce the cap holds of some of their free agents, but they can still keep Joe Harris' rights and have around $5.8 million in room left.

TSFJ Posts: June Round Up

Since I've been contributing to The Sports Fan Journal more frequently, I will occasionally be posting links to my works here for easy access. My latest from this month:

Here Are The 6 Teams That Could Offer DeMarcus Cousins The Max This Summer

I take a look around the NBA to see who actually has significant cap space.

The Financials Are Clear: Kyler Murray Is Right To Choose Baseball

An examination of the financial choice the A's first round pick and Oklahoma quarterback faced.

See How A Cavs Rebuild Could Be Less Painful Than 2010's

A breakdown of where the Cavaliers roster would stand in a post-LeBron world from a cap perspective.

5 Rookie Receivers That Can Make An Instant Impact

I make the case for which rookie wide receivers might help their teams right away based on a specific set of criteria.

Kawhi Leonard's 3 Main Options for His Next Contract

By now you probably know the details about the rift between Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs. If not, Kevin O’Connor sums up the situation well, but basically neither side has a ton of trust right now after Leonard sat out essentially the whole season with a quad injury that San Antonio thought he could play through. With the San Antonio Express-News breaking the news that a trade request was made and Yahoo! and ESPN simultaneously reporting the same, a divorce seems imminent. As a Southern California native, the Lakers are apparently his preferred destination, but with the Clippers, 76ers, and Celtics also in the running, the Spurs have no obligation to send him anywhere than the franchise that provides the best trade package. In any case, any team he plays for this season will have an eye towards his next contract since he is all but guaranteed to decline his undervalued $21,329,752 player option next summer, so let’s take a look at what his options are for a new deal as his 27th birthday approaches this month.

#1: Stay with San Antonio for the most money

This seems like the least likely choice given all of the new developments, but Leonard has reportedly yet to have his expected meeting coach Gregg Popovich. There’s still a chance that relationships could be repaired, and the two-time Defensive Player of the Year is convinced to stay like LaMarcus Aldridge was last year. If everything is smoothed over, the Spurs can offer him the Designated Veteran Extension since he was named All-NBA in both 2016 and 2017. Commonly referred to as the “supermax,” this simply allows Leonard to tack on five years to his contract with a starting salary at 35% of the salary cap as opposed to the 30% he’d normally be eligible for based on his seven years of experience. With a projected salary cap of $108 million next year, he’s looking at a five year, $219,240,000 extension on top of this season’s $20,099,189 for a six year total of $239,339,189.