JULY 8, 8:27am: The trade is now official, according to press releases from all three teams. In addition to receiving Biyombo, the Hornets will also acquire 2019 and 2020 second-round picks from the Magic. Orlando holds multiple second-rounders in each year, so it’s not yet clear which selections are changing hands.
“There were some elements of (the trade) that we were discussing individually the last few weeks, but the deal actually came together just [on Saturday],” said Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman. “It was really kind of a quick-hitter.”
The Bulls intend to waive Stone, per Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link).
JULY 7, 8:20pm: The trade has been agreed to in principle, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
JULY 7, 7:51pm: Charlotte, Chicago and Orlando are close to a trade that would send Timofey Mozgov to the Magic, Bismack Biyombo to the Hornets and Julyan Stone to the Bulls, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Bulls guard Jerian Grant will also go to Orlando in the deal, Woj adds (Twitter link).
The Hornets will give up more than $17MM in the trade between Mozgov’s $16MM salary for next season and Stone’s non-guaranteed $1,656,092. This will be the second trade of the summer for Mozgov, who was shipped from the Nets to the Hornets in a deal that became official yesterday. He has two years left on his current contract, with a $16.72MM salary for 2019/20.
In Biyombo, Charlotte picks up a shot blocker to replace Dwight Howard, who went to Brooklyn in the Mozgov deal. Biyombo’s contract is nearly in line with Mozgov’s, paying him $17MM in 2018/19, with a player option for the same amount the following season. Orlando breaks up a logjam at center that had existed since drafting Mohamed Bamba, while Mozgov becomes the third-string center in Orlando and probably won’t see much more playing time than he did in Brooklyn.
Chicago plays a minor role in the trade, creating modest savings by sending out Grant’s $2,639,314 salary in exchange for Stone’s non-guaranteed figure. The Bulls could be looking to shed any salary they can before their expected matching of the Kings’ offer sheet for Zach LaVine.
Stone’s guarantee date is August 1, posts Bobby Marks on ESPN Now, and the Bulls can increase their cap room to $16MM by letting him go and getting rid of Noah Vonleh‘s cap hold. Taking on Biyombo’s contract pushes the Hornets up to $120.3MM in salary with 14 guaranteed deals, just $3.4MM under the luxury tax.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Zzzzzzz
What the heck
Ill second that
Lol, they just had to get Biyombo back into the fold?
this is nothing more than a dumb basketball salary cap exploitation trade
So the bulls traded a useful piece for a guy that spent three of the last four years out of the league because he simply isn’t good enough to play in the NBA.
Short of gaining a draft pick, this makes absolutely no sense for the Bulls. Net loss.
I must dissent. Stone is an upgrade for the Bulls. Grant had a shot, it was meh, Bulls move on.
This is a salary move by the Bulls. Nothing really newsworthy, Grant is not in their plans as they are enamored with Dunn and Payne at PG. Grant would just take developmental minutes away from one or both.
Too early to tell if the Bulls are being overly ambitious by giving the keys to Dunn, with Payne as the back up, BUT both did improve a lot last year, especially Dunn. We’ll see this year, a big year for both of them. Either way, Grant was serviceable at best.
The only way Grant is an upgrade is that his contract is non-guaranteed, so they can, and probably will, cut him at any time.
I meant Stone.
Bulls already said they will waive Stone. But they now have like 14 million in trade exceptions. Look for a sign and trade before the season. My money is on Marcus Smart.
Well, if they end up saving just enough money to make a higher bid on a player like Jabari Parker than Milwaukee likes, then I’m good with it. Cam Payne is awful and Grant was a much better player but if it is in anticipation of another move, good on the Bulls.
Don’t the Bulls have 48 hours (24 now) to match Sacramento’s $17MM-$18MM offer to Lavine?
I think Lavine would cap out the Bulls if they match Sacramento.
Bulls already matched the Kings
They have 16 left after the match. Sorry about the stutter
Thanks. That’s good. They want Rodney Hood. If they offer $13MM, the Cavs would be right at the luxury tax of $123MM. Basketball Reference doesn’t include Colin Sexton’s contract. Basketball Insiders does. If the Bulls offer that, I wonder if Dan Gilbert will match it. Bobby Portis, Lauri Markkenan, Wendell Carter, and Hood would make a nice young frontcourt to start with.
Jerian? Is that you?
how many C’s do Orlando need & why the Bulls trade Grant smh this trade might be the dumbest I’ve ever seen
The Magic needed a PG.
I thought Grant would be better coming out of college. Maybe he just needs to be thrown into the fire and see what he can do
They do, that’s why I was hoping they would draft Sexton and Mamba would fall to the Bulls at 7. It’s not so bad though, I’m pretty high on Carter, great compliment to Markannen in the front court.
Magic get a third string c that won’t demand playing time and a nice back up pg, hornets upgrade at center with a fan fave, Bulls clear up space for Lavines contract and possibly another offer.
Basically, Magic got a decent player in exchange for taking on Mosgov?
They did even better than just “taking on Mozgov.” They got rid of Biyombo who was due twice the money as Mozgov.
Biyombo is owed just $1.28MM more than Mozgov over the next two seasons combined, per Basketball Reference. So, very far from “twice the money as Mozgov.”
Oh, my bad. I thought Mozgov was an expiring deal in 2018-19. Either way, they still save some money.
Very far is an understatement.
Kemba Walker has met with Mitch Kupchak. Michael Kidd-Gilchrest and Marvin William’s contracts fall off after next season so they can re sign Walker. Walker told Kupchak that’s what he wants.
lols
Sources please
Charlotte newspaper.
“Mitch Kupchak: Kemba Walker focal point of Charlotte Hornets going forward.” NBA.com, June 22, 2018
Sad thing is Mozgov just missed being a good rotational player by about 8 years. The old NBA would’ve been a great fit for him. He’d be no Shaw, but he could be a valuable in that type of basketball. Nyet?
Shaq? Dang spell checker.
Yeah he’s a bit of a liability on switches but you’re correct in that he can be a solid big if given the chance. He reminds me of Zydrunas Ilgauskas. I think in the right system with a pass forst PG (like Rubio) he could be a solid 10-12 ppg/8-10 rebound center. He’ll also compete on defense in the paint and give you a block 1 night.
Wonder how many times Mozgov will get traded this year.
Big expiring contract…probably at least once more in a 3 way deal at the deadline.
His contract is not expiring.
I figured it out after I wrote it, but alas there is no edit button.
The Magic did great here. They got rid of Biyombo’s 2 year deal/ $34MM (he will undoubtedly accept his $17MM option) for Mozgov’s 1 year/$17 MM deal. Mozgov will not help them, but he won’t block Bamba either. Biyombo would probably have required enough minutes to hold up Bamba’s development. Plus they get Jerian Grant, who still has potential.
The Bulls got rid a guaranteed contract for a non-guaranteed deal that will probably get cut. They saved a little cap room, but mainly were a non-factor here.
I really don’t understand this from the Hornets’ perspective at all. The whole point of the Dwight Howard deal was to get back the smaller expiring Mozgov contract. Now they have swapped out the expiring deal for a 2 year deal. They have basically just told their fans that you might as well not bother for the next two years because we are doing nothing.
I think Mozgov has 2 years left on his contract.
You’re right, I thought he just had 1 year left. Still a strange deal from the Hornets perspective.
His contract for 19/20 is $16.7 million. Maybe they will cut and stretch or buy it out. Either way the 2016 free agency has been hell for the NBA.
Next year’s FA will be just as bad. When the salary caps go up next offseason many teams will be handing out these types of deals once again.
Hornets perspective, heard most of the lockerroom didnt like Howard. With Biyombo they have a known commodity.
Zack LaVine’s contract will end up nearly as bad as these two centers. Mark my words.
I have the same feeling. LaVine has done very little other than winning a dunk contest. He has been an average starting SG in the NBA. Not a $20MM a year starting SG.
We’d rather just ignore you Thanks!
ESPN states that this trade helps the Bulls get enough cap room to possibly take on Melo’s contract in a trade. If they can get two picks and maybe a good, young player out of a Melo trade because they dumped Jerami Grant’s contract, this could be gold for Chicago. Especially because they’re just tanking this year anyways. Not a bad move for the Hornets either. At least Biyombo is more useful than Mozgov. Magic might be the losers of the deal
Either way Mozgov is far better player than Biyombo, so Charlotte, looses out. Also Grant is not very good, probably Orlando will cut him or put him 3rd option PG, so Chicago did well getting rid of his salary, that save is better than his contribution.
The question is would the Nets have preferred Biyombo to just giving up Howard? Couldn’t they pretty much have just done that instead?
So basically the Hornets paid $1.28 million, the difference between Biyombo and Mozgov, for 2 second round picks and to get the devil they know instead of the devil they don’t. And the Magic paid $3+ million, the $1.28 + the $2 million Grant guarantee, and 2 second round picks to get rid of Biyombo and to get a back up PG. And the Bulls got $2 million off their cap just by showing up. Strange deal all around.
“Orlando breaks up a logjam at center that had existed since drafting Mohamed Bamba, while Mozgov becomes the third-string center in Orlando…”
They didn’t break any logjam – they got a center in return. Biyombo would’ve been the third center as well.