JANUARY 21: The trade between the Kings and Trail Blazers is now official, according to press releases issued by both teams.
JANUARY 18: The Kings and Trail Blazers have agreed to a trade that will send Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver to Sacramento in exchange for Trevor Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel, and Caleb Swanigan, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Shams Charania of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter) that the Blazers are trading Bazemore to Sacramento.
The Kings will also receive Portland’s second-round picks in 2024 and 2025 as part of the deal, a source tells Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter) that the swap can’t be officially completed until Tuesday, when Gabriel’s trade restriction lifts.
For Portland, the deal represents a cost-cutting move that shouldn’t impact the team’s on-court performance too drastically, if at all. Both Ariza and Bazemore have had down years so far, but Bazemore’s drop-off has been more precipitous — he has posted a career-worst .347 FG% to go along with a .327 3PT%. Ariza is at least still knocking down his threes (.352 3PT%) at his usual career rate, even as his role was reduced in Sacramento.
Tolliver had been a rotation player for the Blazers, with 16.8 minutes per game in 33 contests, but hasn’t been at his best either — his .368 FG% is his worst mark since he was a rookie in 2008/09.
Bazemore and Tolliver are earning a combined $20.89MM, compared to a total of $15.68MM for Ariza, Swanigan, and Gabriel. Besides trimming more than $5MM off the Blazers’ team salary, the deal will also reduce the organization’s projected tax bill by $12.6MM, according to Marks (via Twitter).
Additionally, the Blazers will create a pair of traded player exceptions, including one worth just over $7MM, since they have a disabled player exception available to acquire Swanigan. The team will have the opportunity to keep Ariza for the 2020/21 season if he finishes the year strong. His $12.8MM salary for ’20/21 is partially guaranteed for $1.8MM, per Basketball Insiders.
It’s not clear if Swanigan and Gabriel fit into Portland’s plans, though it’s worth noting Swanigan was originally drafted by the Blazers before being traded to the Kings a year ago. Both players are on expiring contracts. Portland won’t need to cut anyone to make room to accommodate the three incoming players, since the club already had an open roster spot.
As for the Kings’ side of the deal, Amick observes (via Twitter) that it opens up a roster spot immediately and also creates slightly more flexibility moving forward, since Bazemore and Tolliver are on expiring contracts. The Ariza signing hadn’t worked out like the franchise had hoped, so Sacramento will hope that Bazemore can bounce back and that Tolliver looks more he did when he was a member of the Kings in 2016/17 and shot .442/.391/.744.
There are no plans to buy out Bazemore, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who tweets that the veteran swingman has a “great relationship” with head coach Luke Walton and the Kings’ front office.
Even if the Kings’ new additions keep slumping, the team will come away with a pair of future assets in the trade by picking up the Blazers’ 2024 and 2025 second-round picks. Sacramento had already acquired multiple extra second-rounders for 2020 and 2021, so the team is building up quite a stash of draft picks, which could be useful in future deals.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Fart noises
Garbage for garbage trade but Vlade sure loves getting 2nd picks and giving them away in the draft for nothing. Lol
they get picks and an expiring deal. that’s not bad
I guess the real move here is Portland saving $$$ this year and Sacramento saving $$$ next year….with 2nd round picks
Fart noises
Barnes and Bazemore reunited!! I think anyway.
Trevor is a great piece. Look him up. They win, where he plays.
Like the Wizards and sun’s did last year?
Don’t forget that sweet Kings dominance so far this season.
He won 1 title over a decade ago. For 13 million a year you can use more than what he puts up. Theres a reason the Kings are already trading him.
The Lakers traded him after that title and didn’t miss a beat, as well.
He contributes nothing. He sucks. Been living off reputation for 5 years.
Is it possible for Portland to use the Hood DPE to take Swanigan, who is expiring? If so, their trade exception should be 7M rather than 5M.
Trevor Ariza stopped caring before last season even started. If he was Trevor Ariza from 2-3 years ago, this would be a good fit. Bazemore was mostly there for defense. He was awful offensively, but at least ok on defense, and they had a positive net rating with him on the floor, and he helps Sacramento in that area, as they needed another perimeter defender. I think this opens up more playing time for Nassir Little.
I like the fit for Gabriel in Portland at the 5/some 4 in bigger lineups. Interested to see how he does there. Swanigan might actually get a look b/c of Portland’s need at the 4 behind Melo, but that depends on where Ariza and Little see their minutes. Swanigan needs to play harder more consistently b/c he might be out of the league after this last chance. Needs to be better defending in space
Swanigan was supposed to be smarter, or at least less dumb, said who, said me, but I am suspecting that Purdue has a way of making things easier for their guys, of showing them off, with systems.
He only cares when it’s contract time. Been doing this crap for 10 years. Gets big contract, underperforms, gets traded.
Lillard McCollum Ariza Melo and Whiteside
That’s a decent starting 5 for now.
Nurkic and Collins will return back from injuries also.
Blazers should’ve tried to go even bigger and trade Whiteside for Barnes and Dedmon.
Dedmon would fill in at centre until Collins and Nurkic return, while also being able to space the floor.
Barnes would’ve been another solid two way wing.
But I like this deal for them either way and Kings get an expiring deal and some seconds so can’t complain either
Sounds a bad deal since Whiteside is much better than Barnes & Dedmon together. This year Hassan is having a monster season, the best of his career, food for thought for Miami. Actually I would say without a doubt he is better than Nurkic & more durable, the only advantage for Nurkic is that he is younger & in a nice contract for longer instead of an expiring contract, otherwise I’d rather keep Hassan as the starter.
^^^ “I only care about counting stats.”
I’m a big Whiteside fan but I wouldn’t go that far.
Nurkic can pass, shoot and just general play is better than Hassan’s but Whiteside does give you a load of rebounds, blocked shot ands work in the paint.
Barnes is a much better player than Whiteside. Barnes can play both ends of the court, can play on or off the ball, can play SF or PF. Has championship winning experience and is reliable.
Ainge is playing 4D chess here – he will deal Hayward and picks for Bjelica and Bogdanovic
No he wont
If you want to set 100 million dollars on fire, hire Vlade Divac. Dedmon, Ariza and Corry Joseph almost 40 million a season LOL.
He’s so bad and he’s got Vivek thinking he’s the second coming it Geoff Petrie.
It’s really too bad that Lillard’s loyalty to Portland will likely prevent him from ever having a legitimate shot at a championship. He will have to go elsewhere for that to happen.
I wanted Olshey/Portland to make financial deals like this last year. This is good; and they might get something from Ariza, esp if they start him, which is probable. Motivate the old guy just touring the country.
Basketball-reference nicknames are great.
Apparently Trevor Ariza is “switchblade”, who knew lol
Then there are posternames. Formerlyz may be surprised by who El Don is, adding to the humor.
Same s**t every year. Ariza signs big deal, grossly underperforms, gets traded mid-season, then finds another dummy who still believes he’s good.
Vlade does something every now and then just to LOOK like he’s doin something every now and then. So much at this level is about smoke (and mirrors).
Vlade is definitely all about the smoke, but his owner is clueless, so it works.