Over the weekend, we passed along comments from ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who said during a podcast with colleagues Bobby Marks and Jonathan Givony that the Timberwolves have legit interest in D’Angelo Russell. Besides outlining Minnesota’s apparent plan for making a run at Russell, Lowe – and Marks – also shared a few more interesting tidbits on free agency, so let’s dive in and round up the highlights…
- Hawks center Dewayne Dedmon has been receiving plenty of interest from teams as a mid-level target, according to Lowe, who refers to Dedmon as “sneakily the most coveted under-the-radar free agent in the league.”
- Marks adds that Magic big man Khem Birch has also generated substantial interest, though he cautions that teams may not want to tie up cap room in an offer sheet for the RFA-to-be.
- Lowe and Marks both believe Clippers point guard Patrick Beverley will do very well in free agency. After initially viewing Beverley as a mid-level type player, Marks now believes that the veteran could get an offer closer to $14-15MM per year.
- Despite a history of foot issues that could limit his value to some extent, the Bucks are “bracing” for a big offer sheet for Malcolm Brogdon, per Lowe. If Brogdon gets a deal in the range of $20MM+ per year, Milwaukee may have to decide between becoming a taxpaying team or letting him go.
- According to Lowe, the Bucks and Pacers have “walk-away” numbers for Brogdon and Bojan Bogdanovic, respectively, if the bidding gets too high, though he’s not sure what those specific numbers are.
Nets will regret letting Russell walk…bring in KI. Pacers can’t over pay for brog…they will have to trust dougie mcbuckets. TJ leaf can score too. I believe turner or sabonis will be traded. 3 centers? Hope it is turner…his shot selection…decision making drives me crazy.
McDermott is trash
Nothing you say about the Pacers makes sense. They just acquired TJ Warren in the Phoenix trade. He’ll be the replacement for Bogdanovic, not McDermott. You want to trade Turner because of shot selection? The guy just led the league in blocks and ranked in the top 10 in defensive rating and defensive win shares while shooting 39% on threes from the center position, AND he just turned 23.
Will Russell be a sign a trade or is he leaving for nothing?
Sign and trades rarely happen so unfortunately it’s unlikely. That being said, he does have strong ties to Kat and if Minn can send Teague to the Suns for Baynes they might be able to afford him. DLo would have to sign off on it and Minn wouldn’t give much up, maybe a heavily protected future 1st.
Minn gets DLo and Baynes
PHX gets Teague
BKN gets Minn 2020 top 20 protected 1st
That’s the only possible sign and trade I could see.
Amazing if Beverly collects that much. Shades of 2016.
Bucks should keep Brogdon at whatever cost their window to win is now through Giannis’s prime.
Exactly! If a team is serious about competing they need to pay the tax, simple as! If Milwaukee wants to keep Giannis long term they gotta pay & not be cheap & lose vital parts of the team, otherwise next year they will lose Giannis!
Beverley is an okay player, but you’re taking a big risk to sign him for that much at his age. Over the last 6 years, he’s missed 153 games out of a possible 492, including 71 games with a knee injury the year before last. He also had arthroscopic knee surgery a year or two before that. He’s 31 and managed to play 78 games last year. You’re gambling a lot of money hoping that the one year he didn’t have a significant injury wasn’t just a fluke.