FEBRUARY 7, 12:43am: The trade is now official, according to a press release from the Mavericks. The club confirmed it has released Mejri, who will become a free agent if he clears waivers.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), assuming Dallas uses its recently-created Wesley Matthews traded player exception to absorb Randolph’s salary, the team should generate a new TPE worth $21,299,378. It would be the largest trade exception in NBA history.
FEBRUARY 7, 12:13am: Because they’re acquiring two players in exchange for one, the Mavericks will need to waive a player to finalize the trade. That player will be Salah Mejri, according to Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com (Twitter link). Mejri was informed of the decision during Wednesday’s game vs. Charlotte, per JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link).
FEBRUARY 6, 9:18pm: The Mavericks are finalizing a trade that will send Harrison Barnes to Sacramento, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph will be heading to Dallas, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). There are no picks involved in the deal, confirms Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter link).
The Kings are hoping for a long-term arrangement with Barnes, who has a $25.1MM player option for next season, Woj adds (Twitter link). He has been a consistent scorer during his two and a half years in Dallas, peaking at 19.2 PPG in 2016/17. He is averaging 17.8 points and 4.3 rebounds in 48 games this season.
Sacramento, which is the only team with remaining cap space, will use $10.5MM to complete the trade, posts Bobby Marks on ESPN Now. Barnes has an 8% trade bonus that comes to $686,443 if the deal is finalized tomorrow. The Kings will have $21MM in cap room this summer if Barnes opts in or $45.2MM if he doesn’t. Today’s trades will leave Sacramento with an open roster spot.
The Kings appear serious about making a run at a playoff spot, which seems more available after the Clippers traded Tobias Harris early this morning. Sacramento started the day in ninth place at 28-25, just one game behind L.A.
The trade leaves Dallas close to being able to offer a maximum contract in free agency this summer, tweets ESPN’s Zach Lowe. Jackson will make $3.28MM next season and Randolph has an $11.7MM expiring contract. Lowe states that the position of the Mavericks’ 2019 first-round pick could determine whether they can reach a full max deal. Dallas won’t have that pick – or the associated cap hold – unless it lands in the top five.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I love F5 Season
Please tell me it’s for the expiring contracts. We’ve given enough picks away. They need to build the team. They’ll finally have the 3 they need to start as well as a good third option. But I’m wary of what they gave up if it’s more than ZBo and Koufos
Expiring contracts, Kings help themselves by finally getting a legit SF and help the Mavericks free up a ton of cap space. Win-win for both teams.
Little pissed about letting Jackson go. A growing bench 3. Not great but I guess he was the piece to get Barnes. Happy they’re pushing for the playoffs while other teams are selling.
l like Jackson too, but this move makes the Kings a legit playoff contender now and if Jackson is the only real piece you have to give up to get Barnes then it’s a win.
A contender to make the playoffs sure. Not exactly a contender within the playoffs
Thanks capt obvious
Go kings
hahahaha supersinker, did you really feel that needed to be pointed out? kings i believe havent made the playoffs since vlade divac was playing for them so when kings fans say “contend” they obviously mean for a playoff spot. even if they are the 8th seed and get swept 4-0 by warriors that will be considered a great season. i could easily see them winning 1 game in playoffs though against warriors who they always seem to play tough (im a warriors fan)
Which Jackson are you pissed about? The Jackson with the flat, no-arc brick shots? Or the Jackson who occasionally shows up to play D?
Too bad they didn’t trade him to the Wizards. We’d all be drowning in puns!
Sheesh – Looks like he just found out. His face was that of an unpleasant fellow there on the bench.
This is the Mavs regaining some of the cap space lost by the Porzingis trade. The Kings made good use of their $11 million in cap space as well by getting a very good player. Win-win for both teams.
no player from this week’s chaotic trade mill were included in the AD to laker obsession blogs – just sayn
Because the lakers haven’t traded anyone away…?
Interesting move from the Mavs side. Max contract room for next year?
Yep, the Mavs will essentially have enough cap space to offer a max contract. Rumored to be interested in Nikola Vucevic. Cuban also is pretty fond of Cousins. This is going to be one dynamic off season. Game of musical chairs is taking place.
KD going to Dallas instead of NYC would be REALLY funny.
Kings are coming. If They keep their core they’re gonna be a problem
Also, definitely watch out for Harry Giles. He’s finally getting truly healthy, and he’s an absolute stud. If he can stay healthy, and keep getting more and more playing time, Giles will likely pit himself square in the running for most improved player.
The Kings knew from the beginning that they were going to have to play it slow with Giles, and they’ve done an excellent job easing him in, while getting him back fully healthy.
It won’t be very long before Giles truly rewards the Kings for their patience. He’s averaging only 13mpg on the year, but he’s up to 17mpg in his last four games. The more he’s playing, the better he’s performing, and the more comfortable Giles is becoming. It’s truly only a matter of time before he breaks out in a big way. The Kings are positioning Giles to really hit the 2nd half running, and if he can get up to 24-26mpg, fans should definitely expect some big things from Big Harry!!
Good for both teams. Barnes isn’t worth that contract, but he is combo 3 (in demand), and Kings need one for this year, and possibly next. Contract term fits (either way) even if the annual price ain’t great.
Mavs recoup most of the cap space they lost in the KP deal. The latter will launch them into contention by the time the Knicks get a pick from them.
Saw this one coming for a while, just made too much sense for the Mavs once we heard news the Kings had interest in Barnes. They will bring someone in, wouldn’t be shocked if it was Boogie.
The sad part of this one is Barnes was on the floor playing when he found out.
I like this for SACTO.
Barnes will never be an all star but I think he’ll have fun in that faster system. And he’s an asset, perhaps an overpaid one, but it’s a good small victory for the Kings.
They’ve clearly surpassed bottom feeding incompetent teams like WAS and PHX and CHI. Couldn’t have said that 12 months ago.
We’re proud of ya Vlade
Dallas waived Mejri. I thought they would have waived/bought out Z-Bo instead.
They had to waive someone before the deal could be completed. In other words, you can’t buyout someone that isn’t on your roster yet.
That is why those 7 for 2 Lakers/Pelicans trades are unlikely to occur. The Pelicans would have to waive over a third of their roster in order to even complete a trade of that number.
Ok well explain Wayne Ellington to suns then. The suns can’t have him on their roster but are still able to buyout/waive/trade him…
The Suns had a couple extra roster spots available when they made that 2-for-1 deal. The Mavs had no openings.
Gotcha.
Solid deal for both, but I’d liked Otto on Sac more than Barnes and it’s a better deal than what Wash got from the Bulls.
More money, but more de and has shown he can produce without volume shots.
Hopefully this deal keeps LeBron out of the playoffs this year and maybe even the following season, since Sac and Dallas will both be better next year due to this deal.
Pretty all this was put together because they didn’t offer enough for Otto Porter JR.
Barnes was a good plan 1B, really like this for the Kings.
Barnes to me is a winner. Porter has not won a thing. Burks in the other trade helps too.
That $21m traded player exception for the Mavs will be nice. There’s a lot of options available for them with that. Since they’re trying to compete the obvious route is to use it to grab a useful rotation player. However, if that doesn’t work I could see them using that TPE to take on a bad contract and recoup a pick or two.
I wonder if they’ll try to move Hardaway jr this summer