In easily the most jam-packed week of the offseason thus far, here are the most newsworthy stories:
The Bulls traded Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves. The trade also included the No. 16 pick in Thursday’s draft going to Minnesota in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and the No. 7 pick. The Bulls drafted Lauri Markannen with the seventh pick, while the Timberwolves selected Justin Patton with the sixteenth. The deal reunites Butler with his long-time former head coach in Chicago, Tom Thibodeau.
Dwight Howard was traded to the Hornets. In the trade, Charlotte received Howard and the No. 31 pick for Miles Plumlee, Marco Belinelli, and the No. 41 pick. The Hornets will be Howard’s fifth team in seven years. The move was Hawks‘ general manager Travis Schlenk‘s first large-scale move in his new capacity.
The Lakers and Nets teamed up for a blockbuster trade. Brook Lopez and the No. 27 pick in Thursday’s draft went to Los Angeles in exchange for D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov. The Lakers managed to cut long-term costs by dealing Mozgov’s large contract and received Lopez, who has one year remaining on his contract. Meanwhile, the Nets finally get rid of Lopez and acquire a promising point guard in Russell.
Blake Griffin has formally opted out of his contract with the Clippers. Griffin would have earned $21.4MM in 2017/18. The Celtics are Rockets are said to be targeting the athletic power forward. In addition to Griffin, Chris Paul is expected to opt out of his Clippers contract, but he has yet to formally tell the team or file with the league.
Markelle Fultz was selected first overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. In addition to the 76ers‘ top pick, here are the entire draft results. The trade that brought the No. 1 pick to the Sixers via the Celtics was finalized on Monday. In exchange for No. 1, Boston received Thursday’s No. 3 pick, along with the Lakers’ 2018 first-round pick if it falls between No. 2 and No. 5. If it does not, Boston receives the more favorable of the Kings’ or 76ers’ 2019 first-round pick (unless that pick is No. 1 overall, in which case the Celtics would receive the less favorable selection).
Ten More Stories
- Dwyane Wade will pick up his player option and remain with the Bulls.
- David Griffin‘s contract as GM of the Cavaliers was not renewed. Chauncey Billups has been offered the team’s president of basketball operations position.
- Paul George has told the Pacers he plans to leave the team and the Lakers are his top choice.
- Kevin Durant will decline his player option with the Warriors, but plans to re-sign with the team in July.
- Pau Gasol too will decline his player option, while planning to resign with the Spurs.
- Mason Plumlee and JaMychal Green have received qualifying offers from the Nuggets and Grizzlies, respectively. Jonathon Simmons was tendered a qualifying offer by the Spurs.
- Greg Monroe is opting in with the Bucks, while Nick Young is opting out of his Lakers‘ contract.
- Rockets GM Daryl Morey signed a four-year extension, The team also plans to offer star player James Harden an extension this offseason.
- The Wizards traded the No. 52 pick in this year’s draft to the Pelicans for Tim Frazier.
- The Kings released Arron Afflalo and the Timberwolves waived Nikola Pekovic.
I like the Frazier deal, well worth a second round pick for the Wizards.
Who do y’all think the wolves could/should get at center/of to play with towns
Drummond, Aldridge, Milsap, griffin, jordan
And who would we have to give up. 1st round pick next year and Shabbaz Muhammad, dieng. Be enough?
Aldridge and Griffin are the only 2 that would play well with Towns. But Aldridge is a ball dominant 4 that doesn’t space the floor as well as Griffin. So Griffin would be best fit. Milsap, Jordan, and Drummond (Drummond being the worst out of those 3) are traditional centers meaning less space on the court. With all that said if Minnesota wants Griffin they could try and sign him outright and wouldn’t affect Minnesota’s young assets or draft picks.
I don’t think u could get either… they only have 20 Mill on the books to sign another starter and their aiming 4 Lowery