The Hornets are receiving three second-round picks along with DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr. and Duane Washington Jr. as the third team in the Knicks–Timberwolves blockbuster trade, Shams Charania, Jon Krawczynski and Fred Katz of The Athletic report (via Twitter). A pair of those second-rounders are coming from the Knicks, while the Timberwolves will provide the other one.
The Knicks, of course, are acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns in the trade, while Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop and a protected Pistons first-round pick controlled by New York are headed to Minnesota.
The Knicks will also receive the rights to 2023 draft pick James Nnaji from Charlotte, Katz tweets.
Jeffries has appeared in a total of 64 NBA games for four different teams. He saw action in 17 games off the bench for New York last season.
Brown has appeared in NBA games for five organizations since entering the league in 2019/20. He played eight games for the Knicks last season.
Washington has played a total of 79 games for Indiana and Phoenix. Washington, who didn’t appear in an NBA game last season, signed a two-year contract with Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade in July.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks provides more details on Charlotte’s haul (Twitter link). Minnesota is shipping a 2025 second-rounder (the least favorable of Denver’s or Philadelphia’s picks). The Knicks are giving up a 2026 pick that Golden State owed them and their own 2031 second-rounder.
The trio of veteran players are involved in sign-and-trades and Charlotte will also collect a total of $7.2MM in cash from the two other teams in the deal, Marks notes.
The cash Charlotte receives will offset the salaries of the three players, who will earn a combined $6.8MM, Marks adds (Twitter link). The Hornets are using their room exception to make those acquisitions, making them the first team to take advantage of new rules allowing teams to trade for players using the non-taxpayer mid-level, room, or bi-annual exception.
Partizan and Washington will agree to a buyout freeing him up for the sign-and-trade deal, but Charlotte plans to waive him, so he could re-sign with the Belgrade-based club, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets.
Nnaji, the 31st pick of the 2023 draft, is a draft-and-stash prospect who struggled to get rotation minutes with Spanish powerhouse Barcelona in ’23/24. He’s playing for Spain’s Girona on loan from Barcelona this season.
As we outlined on Saturday when we discussed the cap implications of the trade for the Knicks, they’ll have just 12 players under contract once the deal is official and won’t have enough room under their hard cap to carry two more players on veteran minimum deals.
In all likelihood, they’ll carry a 13th man on a minimum-salary contract (possibly Landry Shamet) and will promote either Kevin McCullar or Ariel Hukporti to the standard roster. They’d also have the option of signing a draft-and-stash prospect as their 14th man, though most viable candidates for an NBA roster spot are under contract with teams elsewhere.
Is Snoopy coming along with Charlie Brown?
The Hornets asked for Snoop Dogg, the 6-3, 155 lb guard of LA celebrity hoops fame, but the Knicks said you’ll get Charlie Brown instead…
The deal still has a chance to be completed because the Hornets think they’re getting Dwayne (Pearl) Washington Jr to make up for it.
Wow, the Knicks just won the trade again. James Nnaji is currently honing his game with FC Barcelona’s primary team. Can ask for a better place to develop your game than that.
No better way to hone your game than riding the bench. You are a first round pick in the NBA and can’t crack the rotation in Spain? Sounds like a huge steal
2nd round pick
There’s 3 other big men in front of him on the depth chart, leading to his loan. Last year he could barely crack 18 minutes a night.
Except it says right there that he’s been loaned to Girona
Rokas, Lessort, Nnaji and Vaulet draft rights all owned by the Knicks. They also have another guy they own
Thanks CBA! – Sincerely, Jefferies, Washington and Brown.
The 3 guys, with no NBA possibilities, get to divide up over 8 mm, solely because they happened to be on the NYK roster at season’s end. Probably all get cut right after the trade goes through, in which event, it’s not bad $$ for a day’s work, which might have involved nothing more than a signature. Brought to you by Adam Silver’s salary “cap” system.
After the last trade deadline, the Knicks had multiple open roster spots. When Leon signed these bums, I thought, there’s gotta be someone younger and/or better available, right?
By signing such crappy guys, they enabled this deal – and the Bridges one. Not many teams have five potential walking trade exceptions to re-sign as needed.
Can they actually get Washington? The guy is playing in Partizan right now.
He got a buyout from Partizan, sounds like charlotte will likely cut him and he’ll sign back with Partizan
Yes a illegal trade but it’s the new NBA so who cares
How is it illegal? Partizan is not a NBA team. Charlotte has the NBA rights. It is nothing new.
They have the NBA rights to him. It happens all the time.
How did they trade an 86 year old guy that’s been dead for 2 years?