9:00am: Wojnarowski has another update on this deal, reporting (via Twitter) that George Hill will indeed end up with the Thunder rather than the Pelicans. New Orleans will also send Oklahoma City Darius Miller‘s $7MM expiring contract, Washington’s 2023 second-round pick, and Charlotte’s 2024 second-round pick, Woj adds.
New Orleans is still acquiring Bledsoe in the multi-team trade, per Woj (Twitter link), so Miller’s contract will likely need to become fully guaranteed for salary-matching purposes and the Pelicans will still probably have to send out a bit more salary. So I expect there are still more parts of this deal to be reported.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter) that Adams may also need to amend his trade kicker to make the money work.
12:41am: The lottery-protected 2023 first-round pick that the Nuggets agreed to send to the Pelicans on draft night in order to land RJ Hampton will be rerouted to Oklahoma City as part of this deal, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The Thunder will also receive two future second-round picks from New Orleans, per ESPN.
12:00am: Having already traded away guards Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder, the Thunder are now finalizing a trade that will send veteran center Steven Adams to the Pelicans, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The deal is becoming a part of the Jrue Holiday blockbuster that New Orleans and the Bucks previously agreed upon, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the Holiday trade will expand to include more teams and players. It still has “a lot of moving parts” and will take some work to finish, tweets Wojnarowski.
The Thunder will be receiving a first-round pick and second-round picks as part of the expanded swap, per Woj (Twitter link).
While it’s tricky to evaluate the deal before we know all those moving parts, we can at least break down Adams’ fit in New Orleans. He’ll fill the hole in the frontcourt created by the free agent departures of Derrick Favors and Jahlil Okafor earlier this evening. The Pelicans were said to have interest in Aron Baynes, among other big men, but it looks like Adams will be the team’s new man in the middle.
In 2019/20, Adams averaged 10.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 63 games (26.7 MPG) as Oklahoma City’s starting center. His contract is somewhat onerous, with a $27.5MM cap hit for 2020/21. However, it’ll be an expiring deal and will come off the Pelicans’ cap next summer.
With the Pelicans now taking on Adams’ salary, it seems likely that at least one of the point guards they were set to receive in the Holiday trade – Eric Bledsoe and George Hill – will be rerouted elsewhere — most likely to OKC.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jaxon hayes is believed to be apart of the deal
Source?
Common sense. If they get Adams, Hayes doesn’t have a place anymore.
Again wrong states Bledsoe or hill are getting delt. Try again.
Why would I try again? It still makes sense and now Hayes will be relegated to the bench if he is not dealt. Seems like a waste of a resource to me.
How is it a waste? He is young and can develop under a bench roll, pels are trying to win now not sell low on a high pick.
It’s not selling low, it’s saving a draft pick when you could include a player with more value to another team than to yours. Putting him on the bench now will in effect undermine all the confidence he gained by playing so much last season.
BTW, not to nitpick but the term is role, not roll
Lol, I liked the visual of “bench roll”, but I was sure I would never make sense of that post!
BTW I think building around Zion is causing changes… though I doubt Zion can be so relied upon, healthwise, so that strat ‘s a risk.
Hayes is young dude. He’s still going to play. Pels needed an experienced big especially after letting Favors walk. Adams is an expiring contract. He only helps with development of team and Hayes. If you are NO fan. Be happy it’s a good move.
Mmm. Bench rolls are tasty,
Adams is on an expiring contract. He’s clearly a stopgap to allow Hayes more time to develop.
Ya I’d say Hayes is one of the best young centers in the league.
Very little I’d move him for, let alone Steven Adams
i wonder who they’re sending to OKC
has to be hayes right? and maybe walker
Draft picks I’m sure
NBA Draft 2025:
“With the fourth pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder select…”
“With the seventh pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder select…”
“With the eleventh pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder select…”
“With the fourteenth pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder select…”
“With the twenty-first pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder select…”
“With the twenty-third pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder select…”
….
Steven Adams & his porn-stache should fit right in with Ron Jeremy & his PELICANS.
Sam Presti will have everyone’s picks very soon.
Hope Presti gets a nice return for Nick Collison.
Gettin me worked up…
So everyone in OKC that didn’t have an SGA jersey will be buying Horford jerseys?
The Thunder just saw that NO was getting 3 firsts from Milwaukee and had to get into the deal. Over the next 6 years, the Thunder could theoretically form a second or even a third franchise with all of their first rounders. Maybe they have plans on creating their own NBA division.
Lol the thunder are going to be able to add 2 more g-league teams for their franchise if they want
Having a lot of draft picks can be a double edged sword. It’s great to have the ability to move around and such, but just looking at the Celtics the past years should show that most of those draft picks will inevitably be wasted on draft and stash guys that will never play here or spent on players that just can’t get on the court. There is still a limit of 5 players per team at any one time. They now have more draft picks over the next 6 drafts that they have roster spots and that is just first round picks. They need to do what Boston didn’t do and trade WAY up in every draft for the next 3-4 years. They are going to be bad more than likely and will likely have a top 5 pick, but they have enough ammo to get another one in each of the next 2-3 drafts. Imagine a team getting 2 top 5 picks in 3 straight drafts. THAT is what they need to do.
Good point. The celtics didnt even get a chance to develop their lottery pick last year in Romeo langford because he rode the bench. And most teams the thunder traded with dont expect to be in the lottery anyways, thus them trading away those picks (and a few of them are protected). If the thunder do pull this off and have that many top 5 or top 10 picks, i honestly can only give them kudos. I might even say id be a little jealous haha
We just need one big recap at the end of this. I’m lost.
As much movement as has taken place, we might need a recap of the recap post because it is likely to be huge by itself.
Jaxon Hayes will be traded to eithier Oklahoma,miluake, or Celtics as the pelicans are preparing to offer Aron Baynes a 2 year deal
Building around Zion, who doesn’t shoot much outside, like Jaxon.
Adams doesn’t either but he will expire soon. Baynes does.
Zion also doesn’t play much.
Zion shot at 43% on treys on his rookie year, no bad if you ask me, right?
He should do it more often, 6/14.
Never said I like their methods. Fans want him to be a 5 but ignore his ballhandling & passing & height at 6-6.
Thunder fan here. This was the right move to make. Adams was a fan favorite, but his play has deteriorated the last couple seasons and he’s been nonexistent come playoff time. Hopefully Stan gets better use, but I’m glad we can finally move on from his contract. Gotta think Horford is next
Big brutes like adams will never be effective in the playoffs(MAYBE unless his match up is literally gobert) but he will always get paid of perception and regular season production.
IMO
Eric Bledsoe and George Hill will be rerouted to Thunder or somewhere.
How many roster spots do the Oklahoma thunder have.
who wants to bet that George Hill will be traded for couple more picks and some throw in salary a team wants to lose?
OKC brokerage is making a killing for prospect capital. Unlike Boston I expect they will be spending these picks in a couple years to acquire players. There are going to be teams howling for young cost controlled talent. And there will be a line up at the OKC draft bank.
Trevor Ariza has been traded 5 times in 5 days.
Some people thought there would not be much trading this year.
Probably NYers not bothering to think much past the Knicks, with players nobody was asking for.
trade, trade, trade!
Is anyone else’s head just spinning from this off-season? Right when I think I got it down, 300 more moves happen lol
Especially because this year everything happens so quickly (draft, trades, free agency). There must be people in the league who have not slept for 96 hours
Hampton is not going to thunder…
These type of trades shows why you need to wait until the season before proclaiming any team is the best team this year. Pelicans now push themselves up to one of the playoff teams for next year. Gives them a good 1 and 2 punch at center. There is no favorite team in the west.
And yet Warriors fans keep acting like they are the favorites to win it for the next several years, including you, arc. Absolutely comical.
Well, except for the Lakers…
About time they trade Adams