The buyout market for Andre Drummond is expected to center around the Lakers and Knicks, says Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
Reports earlier this week indicated that executives around the NBA widely view the Lakers as the favorites to land Drummond, given the team’s ability to offer him an immediate role and an opportunity to compete for a title.
However, the Knicks are an interesting wild card, since their leftover cap room would allow them to offer Drummond a multiyear contract worth eight figures annually without having to wait until the summer.
Drummond’s buyout agreement with Cleveland is in the works, while LaMarcus Aldridge‘s with the Spurs is already a done deal. Here are a few more notes and rumors on the buyout market:
- Multiple teams are keeping an eye on Otto Porter as a potential buyout candidate following the trade that will send him from Chicago to Orlando, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). However, the Magic‘s plan for now is to hang onto Porter, a source tells Haynes.
- The Rockets and John Wall aren’t discussing a buyout, league sources tell Haynes (Twitter link). Wall has two years and $91.6MM left on his contract after this season, so it would’ve been a shock if the two sides were already looking at a possible buyout.
- After retaining Wayne Ellington through the trade deadline, the Pistons have no plans to buy out the veteran sharpshooter, says Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).
- Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link) expects the Nuggets to take a long look at the buyout market, especially if an appealing shooting guard becomes available.
LOL Fertitta doesn’t have the cash to buy out Wall, even if the Rockets front office wanted to.
I’ll be interested to see if they trade an expiring Wall for a bunch of high-money underperformers for future trade capital, or if they just show him the door for being on the wrong side of 30.
LMAO. Fertitta’s is worth $4.6 billion. Walls contract isn’t even a bar tab to him.
Did anyone actually expect a Wall buyout? You might as well report that the sky is not expected to turn red tomorrow.
Lol spot on
Right, there was zero chance that the Rockets were even thinking about giving Wall a buyout. I am surprised Dante Exum didn’t get one though.
Are the Nets completely out of the picture on Drummond? I understand the hype around him going to the Lakers, but they have the least to offer him (i.e., minimum). I’d think the Nets and Knicks would be the top options for him. Nets can offer Dinwiddie’s DPE. Knicks can offer cap space and, possibly, an extension. He’s originally from the NYC metro area.
There’s a better chance that Westbrook gets a buyout than Wall. The Wizards were supposed to be a lock to make the playoffs with him, that ain’t happening. We will see John Wall in a Rockets uniform longer than Russ remains in Washington.
Wiz weren’t expected to make the playoffs.
Of course they were, don’t be ridiculous. They barely missed the playoffs last year after falling apart in the bubble. Everyone said that the Wizards getting Westbrick to go with Beal would make them a definite playoff team but now they’re even worse than last year.
This many people expected them to make the playoffs:
Wasn’t Westbrook in the wallywood username just a few months back? Now he’s westbrick? Oof, also I heard literally -9 people say the wizards were a lock to make the playoffs
I was thinking that Westbrook gets a buy out and joins Milwaukee
Idk what the Rockets have left for picks… but they should have gotten in on the Bulls-Magic trade.
Otto Porter, Felicio, and Ennis to Houston.
Vucevic and Aminu to Chicago.
Carter, Wall, and picks to Magic.
Missed opportunity. Houston would be starting over with cap space, but zero assets.
I forgot we still had felicio on the roster, bulls bout to have him, valentine, markannen, and arcidiacono all walk and AK has flipped the entire roster aside from Zach and Coby in a year…after holding tight for this long I didn’t see this coming but I love it
If buying a guy out meant permanently eliminating even 50% of his salary from the cap, then Wall would be a sure fire buyout candidate.
Just because Fertitta can buy him out, doesn’t mean he would be predisposed to do it. His future spending tendencies as an NBA owner are best predicted by his past spending tendencies as an NBA owner. Plus, no casino owner/operator can be feeling more flush now than a few years ago when he bought the team.
Knicks would be nuts to give Drummond a multiyear 8 figure deal right now — Drummond will be on the Lakers by next week
In New York, Drummond would likely start and split time with Mitchell Robinson, that rotation would continue into the playoffs. Also, the Knicks have a lot of cap space and could sign him to a new contract next offseason (there are rumors of a four-year, $60 million offer, which would be more than most would offer him). With the Lakers, Drummond’s playoff role would likely shrink the deeper the team went into the playoffs —
nbcsports reporting. Berman of NYPost also pushing it. link to nypost.com
Mitch is young they can share position. But this makes us a better playoff team this yr. More offense. And gives us major assets for next yrs big trade. Or next yrs big FA signing. We are deeper and better with Drummond. Plus Thibs could work his magic on Drummond. No better coach to make him a better defender.