The buzz around this year's NBA offseason is that the action could happen earlier than usual, so I'm just going to start my annual tracker now. This way I can list any players under contract that get traded during the draft here instead of having those in my separate post about every team's picks.
The Rockets got things started already with the first extension reached right in the middle of the Finals, so I may as well get started now! 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 teams could give. Salaries are also color coded if they are a player option, a team option, or not fully guaranteed. Since this post will be constantly updated throughout the summer, I'll be adding the latest news at the top to be readily available upon revisiting this page.
Indy and New Orleans swap picks (Shams 6/17)
Pelicans receive:
#23 pick
Draft rights to Mojave King (47th pick in 2023)
Pacers receive:
Their 2026 1st round pick back
There were some rumblings of Indiana trading their pick this year in order to help reduce salary since the expected re-signing of Myles Turner will likely take them into the luxury tax, and getting their 1st back is a nice solution. Previously dealt in the Pascal Siakam trade, it was only top-4 protected through 2027 before converting to two 2nd rounders, so the current Eastern Conference champions were assuredly not going to have it next year. Now they have all of their future 1st rounders under control to open up trade possibilities, and those two 2nd rounders that this pick was unlikely to convert to are also unlocked again.
The draft rights to a 2nd rounder from two years ago being involved here probably won't amount to anything as King hasn't show much improvement in the G League or back in the Australian NBL. He's only turning 24 next month, but I'm guessing the Pels just wanted something else to throw into future trades when they're required to send anything out like a fake 2nd or cash. Moving the pick forward is a solid deal for them since there's a good chance that the Pacers finish with an even better record next year for a worse pick. It also gives New Orleans more tangible draft capital now as they reportedly are looking to move up from their #7 slot for Ace Bailey, per Kevin O'Connor and Brett Siegel.
Bane surprisingly lands in Orlando (Shams 6/15)
Magic receive:
Grizzlies receive:
Okay Houston extending one of their own guys is one thing, but a blockbuster like this going down with the NBA Finals sitting at 2-2 is pretty crazy. So much for the Anfernee Simons and Jordan Poole rumors for Orlando now that they've used most of their draft capital here, so I guess they're confident in the playmaking of Jalen Suggs with Bane in the back court to make things easier on Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. They still have the #25 pick in this month's draft along with two 2nd rounders, but now the only future 1st rounder they could trade will be in 2032.
Bane brings much-needed shooting (career 41% on 6.3 per game, 7.7 per 36 minutes) to a team that was last in both made 3's and 3P%, and he has also averaged over 5 assists in each of the last two seasons. Providing pretty stout defense along with averaging 21.1 points over the past three seasons since his breakout year, he's become a complete guard who should compliment the strengths of Suggs and Anthony Black well. About to turn 27 on the day of the draft, the 4 years and $163 million left on his deal that was slightly below the 25% max when he signed should be a good value as the cap continues to rise. He'll be a tough loss for Memphis, but a package this large is hard to turn down as they continue to make changes after firing Taylor Jenkins late in the season.
They didn't have a 1st rounder in this draft after using it to salary dump Marcus Smart, and now this trade also has a side benefit of opening up about $2 million more in cap space to use in a renegotiation-and-extension with Jaren Jackson Jr. (though the #16 pick's salary would negate that if kept). Getting off of a little more salary, with John Konchar's name often brought up, could still be needed to get JJJ's extension number comparable to his max offer from other teams next summer.
The funny thing about the 2026 1st is that the Grizzlies already had some access to the Suns' pick. After Phoenix "horcruxed" their 1st rounder that year by giving secondary swap rights to Orlando after Washington had that option, they then gave Memphis further swap rights after those two. I guess now the Grizz will be able to swap either their own pick or the Magic's for the lesser of the Suns' or Wizards', and Jason Beede reports that the 2029 swap only has top-2 protection. With the ages of Orlando's core players, this total package could end up being two rotation caliber guards (with this pressing reset on last year's KCP contract), the #16 pick, a likely lottery pick from either the Suns or Wizards, two picks in the 20's, and maybe a swap for another pick in the 20's...but you never know with those two unprotected picks 3+ years down the line.
6/16: Michael Scotto adds today that Orlando declined the team options of Gary Harris ($7,500,000) and Cory Joseph ($3,468,960) in conjunction with the trade, and both teams announced the deal already yesterday. This is always a tricky time before the official league year ends on June 30th, and this straightforward pretty much had to occur before the flip because Caldwell-Pope's $22,757,000 and Anthony's $12,900,000 "current" salaries combine for more than Bane's $34,005,250 right now. That's not the case come July 1st, and the Magic need to be sending out more than they're taking in so that they aren't hard-capped by the First Apron, which the Grizzlies now will be instead. Orlando will instead be hard-capped at the Second Apron due to aggregating salaries, and as Marks pointed out, that's why they had to decline the Harris and Joseph options since the new Second Apron line hasn't been officially set yet. They still have Bird Rights on Harris to re-sign him if they want, and since Joseph was just on a minimum, he'll actually make slightly more with a new minimum that's projected to be $3,634,148 for a 10+ year vet due to the rising cap.
Rockets extend Adams: 3 years, $39 million (Shams 6/14)
Update: I almost didn't include that second estimate of a front loaded deal and only did so since it starts so similarly to the MLE, but I'm glad I did because Smith reports that it's exactly that. The $31.7 million figure that VanVleet would need to take for them to take did seem a little low, so this structure for Adams could be an indicator that they're willing to pay the tax this season with the small costs if you're only slightly into the threshold. They'll still have a good amount of flexibility under the First Apron, so that might be the focus.
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