- Nets fans have quickly embraced Mikal Bridges, the top player they acquired in the Kevin Durant blockbuster. The home crowd chanted “Brooklyn Bridges” as he shot free throws in his team debut on Saturday. “Hearing that chant, I kind of wanted to join in and make them yell louder. … People were already saying ‘Brooklyn Bridges’ when I got traded. I like it,” he said.
- Bridges didn’t lose his consecutive games streak on a technicality, Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press reports. He was forced to miss a game last week for the first time in his career on Thursday after he was traded by Phoenix. He was listed as “inactive — trade pending” in the official box score. The league determined that since Bridges wasn’t eligible to play, it shouldn’t count as a missed game. He has the league’s longest active streak, now at 367 after the Nets fell to the Knicks on Monday night.
Derrick Rose, who hasn’t been in the Knicks’ rotation, wasn’t involved in a deal at the trade deadline, but it doesn’t appear Rose will seek a buyout, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes.
Rose is content to being a team leader and mentoring the Knicks’ younger players. “It’s still the same thing. I’m still locked in with the team, talking to the guys, mentoring,” he said.
However, a source told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that Rose wouldn’t totally dismiss the possibility of a buyout if there was a team in need of a veteran point guard. The former MVP is signed through next season but there’s a team option on his $15,596,339 salary.
We have more on the New York teams:
- Mitchell Robinson is progressing well, but the Knicks center won’t return from his thumb injury prior to the All-Star break, Bondy tweets. Robinson, in the first year of a four-year, $60MM contract, has been out of action since Jan. 18.
- Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson were teammates at Villanova and now they’ve been reunited with Hart being traded from Portland. Brunson believes Hart will make the Knicks grittier, Braziller writes. “He’s a tough-minded guy,” Brunson said. “He doesn’t back down from a challenge and that’s how he is and that’s how he’s been. I’m not worried at all. He’s going to fit in.”
- Cam Thomas strung together three 40-point games this month but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the starting lineup, Dan Martin of the New York Post notes. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn is trying to sort through all the changes in the roster. Thomas played 18 minutes and scored 14 points against Philadelphia on Saturday. “We’ve seen him garner a lot of attention as a starter, so I don’t think that changes,” Vaughn said. “It will be great to see that against the second unit. He’s a guy we can put the ball in his hand when we need a bucket. He has confidence to come off the bench and score.”
- Ben Simmons‘ former coach, the Sixers’ Doc Rivers, believes Simmons can regain his All-Star level form with the Nets now that Kyrie Irving has been traded, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I believe he can get back to where he was with us, especially now, I think, because he will have the ball in his hands more,” Rivers said. “I thought that’s what we did that really kind of freed him up. But it’s just going to take time. Now, what has it been, a year and a half? I don’t think it’ll be overnight. But he’s working, and that’s all you can do.”
- James Harden played his first game in Brooklyn tonight since being traded to the Sixers at last year’s deadline. Harden offered his thoughts about what went wrong for the Nets‘ Big Three and said he was glad to get out when he did, tweets Nick Friedell of ESPN. “I don’t look like the crazy one,” Harden said. “I don’t look like the guy or the quitter or whatever the media want to call me. I knew what was going on and I just decided to … hey, I’m not built for this. I don’t want to deal with that. I want to play basketball and have fun.”
Mikal Bridges had been a fixture in the Suns‘ rotation since he joined the team in 2018, but he wasn’t surprised that Phoenix was willing to trade him when the opportunity to get Kevin Durant arose, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN. Speaking alongside Cameron Johnson in their first press conference as members of the Nets, Bridges said no one can be considered untouchable when a star like Durant is in play.
“It’s KD. I get it. I 100 percent get it,” Bridges said. “That’s just how it is. I would rather say I’d rather be happy that I got traded for KD than probably like somebody else who I didn’t think would be good or something like that. So just being a realist at the end of the day. Obviously, I’m going to miss everyone there, miss my home, miss all my friends that’s back there, but I get it. You’re getting Kevin Durant, bro. Maybe I would have probably made that trade too.”
Bridges said he didn’t believe the news at first when teammate Damion Lee broke it to him in a phone call. He also had a brief moment of panic when he thought his streak of playing 365 consecutive games might end. Bridges was held out of Thursday’s contest against the Bulls, but the NBA ruled that it didn’t count as a missed game because he hadn’t officially reported to the Nets. Because Bridges appeared in 56 games as a Sun and has the opportunity to take part in up to 27 with Brooklyn, he could actually play 83 games this season.
There’s more from Brooklyn:
- Although their stars are now gone, general manager Sean Marks believes the Nets are in a better position than when he joined the organization in 2016, per Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. At the time, Marks felt he was rebuilding from scratch with very little talent or draft capital to work with. Now he has a roster of proven NBA players, although their roles and long-term fit still have to be determined. “The last time I took over I didn’t have anything,” Marks said. “So it definitely looks different.”
- Marks was able to talk Durant into rescinding the trade request he made last summer, and the GM was asked at a meeting with reporters after the deadline if he tried to do it again, Schiffer adds. “I think there’s a limit, right?” Marks responded. “I mean, you can certainly try and convince guys and you put your best foot forward and say here’s what the roster looks like, here’s what we’re trying to do. But at the end of the day, I think this works out for all parties included.”
- With Durant and Kyrie Irving gone, the Nets are less appealing for national TV games. ESPN has dropped Brooklyn’s February 15 contest against Miami and replaced it with a Cavaliers-Sixers matchup, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
In the wake of Thursday’s trade deadline, several rosters around the NBA remain in flux. Some players will be waived or bought out in the coming days, while others will sign with new teams as free agents, either on 10-day contracts or rest-of-season deals.
With that in mind, we’re doing a Saturday afternoon check-in on open roster spots across the league. Given how much action we expect on the transaction wire in the coming days, it may not take long for this list to become outdated, but this is a snapshot of where things stand as of 1:00 pm Central time on February 11.
With the help of our roster counts page, which will continue to be updated for the rest of the season to account for each new transaction, here are the teams that currently have open roster spots:
Teams with two open roster spots:
- Milwaukee Bucks
- New York Knicks
- Phoenix Suns
These three teams all sent out more players than they received in trade-deadline deals and are carrying just 13 players apiece on standard contracts.
Technically, NBA teams are required to carry a minimum of 14 players on standard contracts, but they’re allowed to dip to 13 for up to two weeks at a time, so these clubs will have until February 23 to fill at least one of their two openings.
Teams with one open roster spot:
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Charlotte Hornets
- Note: The Hornets are reportedly likely to buy out Reggie Jackson, which would open up a second roster spot.
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Denver Nuggets
- Golden State Warriors
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Miami Heat
- Note: The Heat’s 14th roster spot is occupied by Jamaree Bouyea, who is on a 10-day contract, so they’ll open up a second roster spot when his deal expires during the All-Star break.
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Note: The Thunder have a full 15-man roster, but one of their two-way contract slots is open.
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Utah Jazz
We’re still waiting to see which players are officially bought out, but more roster spots will open when those moves are completed. For instance, the Magic currently have a full 15-man roster, but would create two openings if they finalize buyouts for both Terrence Ross and Patrick Beverley — they’re said to be in talks with both players.
The Jazz would open up a second spot on their 15-man roster if they buy out Russell Westbrook.
The Rockets and Pacers currently have full 15-man rosters, but will create openings by officially waiving John Wall and Serge Ibaka, respectively. However, the expectation is that they’ll re-sign Boban Marjanovic and James Johnson, respectively, to fill those newly opened spots.
The Wizards are in a similar situation — they’re reportedly working on a buyout with Will Barton, but the expectation is that they’d use their 15th roster spot in that scenario to promote Jordan Goodwin from his two-way deal. That would create a two-way opening for the team.
Finally, while the Mavericks and Pistons technically have full rosters at this time, each team’s 15th man (Chris Silva for Dallas, Stanley Umude for Detroit) is in a 10-day contract, so they’re both in good position to open up a spot if they need it.
The Grizzlies are the mystery team that was willing to put four future first-round picks in a trade offer for forward Mikal Bridges, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his Lowe Post podcast after Thursday’s trade deadline that he had heard of one team offering four first-rounders to the Nets for Bridges. Brooklyn acquired the 26-year-old forward from the Suns as part of its package for Kevin Durant.
While I have no doubt that Scotto’s and Lowe’s reporting is accurate (ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski also said during a TV appearance that Memphis “tried really hard” to get Bridges or Raptors forward OG Anunoby), there’s an important caveat worth mentioning: neither reporter could confirm the protection details of those four first-rounders the Grizzlies put on the table.
Memphis controls all of its own future first-round picks, as well as the Warriors’ 2024 first-rounder (top-four protected). It’s safe to assume the Grizzlies would have offered their own 2023 first-rounder, which currently projects to be just 25th overall. If Memphis also wanted to add protections to a couple other picks in its offer, it’s easier to understand why Brooklyn was comfortable hanging onto Bridges, a talented two-way player who is under contract through 2025/26.
It’s also worth noting that the Grizzlies’ core is still very young, so their first-round picks from 2025-29 could be considered less valuable than future first-rounders from an older team whose stars might not still be playing by the time those later picks convey.
Bridges is averaging career highs in points (17.2), rebounds (4.3), and assists (3.6) per game this season, and is a career .499/.376/.848 shooter who is also a strong, versatile defender. The Suns were reportedly extremely reluctant to include him in their package for Durant, and Scotto reported earlier this week that several teams immediately called the Nets to see if they’d be willing to flip him.
Having missed out on three-and-D wings like Bridges and Anunoby, Memphis instead completed a deadline-day deal for Luke Kennard, who is one of the NBA’s best shooters but isn’t nearly the defender that Bridges or Anunoby is.
Still, as Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes, the Grizzlies are excited to add Kennard and his .427 career 3PT% to their rotation. Head coach Taylor Jenkins suggested that the newest member of the Grizzlies could share the court with Desmond Bane, another one of the NBA’s top outside shooters.
“That’s what one of our guys was talking about last night,” Bane said. “Just having another guy that can really shoot and has done it at a high level for a while now. So I’m looking forward to seeing what it looks like.”
Prior to the trade deadline, 10 NBA teams projected to be taxpayers this season and the 20 non-taxpayers were each projected to receive $17.2MM as a result of those tax penalties, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
However, one of those 10 taxpayers – the Sixers – ducked below the tax line with a deadline deal, and the Nets‘ Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving trades reduced Brooklyn’s projected end-of-season tax bill by approximately $100MM, Marks notes. As a result of those changes, among others, the luxury tax distribution at the end of the season will now be split among 21 teams and will be worth a projected $14.5MM, based on current team salaries, says Marks.
Danny Leroux of The Athletic also considers the financial impact of a busy trade deadline week, though he’s looking ahead to the offseason, breaking down which teams project to have the most cap room in the summer of 2023.
Leroux anticipates there will be eight teams with the ability to generate significant cap space, ranging from the Rockets at $61MM to the Pacers at $28MM. The Spurs ($40-48MM), Jazz ($31-45MM), Magic ($22-58MM), Hornets ($27-37MM), Thunder ($31MM), and Pistons ($30MM) are also in position to operate under the cap, Leroux writes. The range in projections for some of those teams is related to decisions on options and non-guaranteed salaries.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report has the details on the cash that changed hands at the trade deadline. In a series of tweets, Pincus reports that the Lakers sent $2MM to Magic in the Mohamed Bamba trade, the Suns sent $1MM to the Thunder in the Darius Bazley trade, the Clippers sent $1MM to the Hornets in the Mason Plumlee trade, and the Nets sent $1.36MM to the Pacers in the four-team Durant blockbuster.
- Who will be available on the buyout market in the coming weeks? John Hollinger of The Athletic lists and ranks 32 buyout candidates (or players who have already been cut), starting with veteran guards Russell Westbrook and Reggie Jackson.
- Circling back to a pair of pre-deadline stories: Knicks center Jericho Sims has committed to take part in this year’s dunk contest after Trail Blazers rookie Shaedon Sharpe dropped out, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). And Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue will replace Suns head coach Monty Williams as an assistant on Steve Kerr‘s Team USA coaching staff, per a press release.
- Disney CEO Bob Iger said this week that his company doesn’t plan to sell ESPN, according to Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic, who adds that Iger expressed a desire for ESPN to retain NBA rights when the league negotiates its next media deal.
Kevin Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman asked Nets management for a meeting earlier this week and submitted another trade request during that sitdown, according to Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN (Insider link).
Unlike last summer’s trade request, this one didn’t go public right away. Another key difference? This time around, Durant specifically asked to be sent to the Suns, per ESPN’s duo. He had no interest in kicking off another bidding war and being the subject of intense speculation all week, so he told the Nets that he’d play out the 2022/23 season in Brooklyn if the team couldn’t work out a deal with Phoenix.
Still, both the Nets and Durant recognized that the partnership was on its last legs, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say the only question was whether the star forward’s exit would happen now or after the season.
Here are a few more highlights from the excellent, in-depth ESPN story on how the final days of the Durant era in Brooklyn:
- Before Durant injured his knee on January 15, it looked like both he and Kyrie Irving would both finish the season with the surging Nets. However, when Irving’s offensive numbers spiked during Durant’s absence, he determined it was the right moment to exact some leverage and pursue a contract extension. The Nets were willing to discuss an extension of up to three seasons, but wanted protections; Irving was seeking a four-year extension without conditions, according to ESPN’s report. The difference of opinions on his value resulted in Kyrie’s trade request, and while Durant wasn’t happy with the situation, he didn’t “immediately tie his future” to Irving’s, per Shelburne and Windhorst.
- The Nets had zero interest in any Irving trade that saw them take back Russell Westbrook. As a result, the difficulty of working out a three-team trade with the Lakers made Brooklyn’s decision on Irving fairly straightforward, since dealing with the Mavericks was simpler and the Nets liked the players they were getting from Dallas.
- After Irving’s situation was sorted out and the Nets received Durant’s trade request, they presented the Suns with the pieces they wanted in any deal involving KD: four unprotected first-round picks, an unprotected 2028 first-round pick swap, Cameron Johnson, and Mikal Bridges. Suns general manager James Jones wanted to negotiate those terms – perhaps subbing out for Bridges or adding protections to one or two of the picks – but the Nets were steadfast in their demands, according to ESPN’s reporting.
- New team owner Mat Ishbia was quickly willing to sign off on the extra $40MM the deal would cost the Suns in salaries and tax penalties, representing a departure from the old ownership group. However, it took the team a while to come around on paying the Nets’ price in players and picks. The Suns recognized that if the Nets held onto Durant until the summer, they’d be up against several bidders, which gave Brooklyn some leverage in the process. Phoenix ultimately agreed to meet the Nets’ asking price.
- However, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, the deal nearly hit a roadblock when the Nets also requested Jae Crowder, whom the Suns wanted to trade in another deal (while ESPN’s story doesn’t specify who would’ve been in the Durant offer in place of Crowder in the original framework for salary-matching purposes, a previous report suggested Dario Saric was involved). The Suns pivoted to other trade discussions, including a possible John Collins acquisition, but ultimately circled back to the Nets and agreed to include Crowder too.
- The Nets viewed Durant as a “beacon of light” during several the last few dramatic years, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say the team was heartbroken to trade him but felt good about sending him to his preferred destination.
Nets guard Cam Thomas was fined $40K by the NBA for using “derogatory and disparaging language during a live television interview,” the league announced on Friday (via Twitter).
Thomas was being interviewed on TNT on Thursday night alongside new teammate Spencer Dinwiddie and was asked about comments Dinwiddie made during his press conference earlier in the week. Dinwiddie had joked that the Nets acquired him and Dorian Finney-Smith because they needed more good-looking players.
“We already had good-looking dudes, no homo,” Thomas said (Twitter video link via ClutchPoints).
Thomas took to Twitter late on Thursday night to issue an apology for his comment.
“I want to apologize for the insensitive word I used in the post-game interview,” Thomas wrote. “I was excited about the win and was being playful. I definitely didn’t intend to offend anyone, but realize that I probably did. My apologies again. Much love.”
Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:
- The status of Nets general manager Sean Marks is worth watching this offseason, given how disappointing the Kyrie Irving/Kevin Durant era in Brooklyn ultimately was, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Marks has already gotten the chance to hire three head coaches, Lewis notes, and the team seems further from title contention than it has been at any time in recent years.
- Speaking to reporters after this week’s blockbuster trades, Marks acknowledged that the Irving/Durant Nets “didn’t work” and said it was “sad” to trade away a superstar like Durant. Adam Zagoria of NJ.com has the story and the quotes from the Nets’ GM.
- Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News confirms the Knicks had discussions about OG Anunoby and Zach LaVine prior to the trade deadline, but says those talks didn’t gain traction.
- According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv, the Knicks and Bulls touched base on LaVine on Thursday, several weeks after initially discussing him. During those earlier talks, there was some support within the Knicks’ organization for pursuing LaVine using a package of Derrick Rose, Evan Fournier, a young rotation player, and “significant” draft capital. New York, concerned that it might be a lateral move, opted not to meet Chicago’s asking price, but it’s possible the two teams will revisit those conversations in the summer, Begley writes.
- Although the Knicks didn’t want to give up draft capital to move off Fournier’s contract, they mulled the possibility of downgrading their draft assets in a deal involving him (ie. trading Fournier and a first-round pick in a deal for a less valuable first-rounder), according to Fred Katz of The Athletic. The veteran wing ended up staying put, as New York didn’t find a deal it liked.
Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman has made 14 in-season trades since taking the reins in Cleveland’s front office in 2017, but he had an uncharacteristically quiet deadline this season. As Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes, the Cavs are one of just two teams (along with Chicago) that hasn’t made a trade since the 2022/23 season got underway.
“We just didn’t feel like anything was going to really move the needle for us,” Altman said on Thursday. “Scoured the market and talked to every team I could. We could have made a move that was lateral, multiple moves that were lateral, that I didn’t think appreciably made us better. I really wanted to see what this group looked like together, fully healthy, and the potential of this group, which we’ve seen right in front of our eyes, continue to grow.”
Royce O’Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cameron Johnson, Grant Williams, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Bojan Bogdanovic were among the top targets on the Cavaliers’ wish list, according to Fedor, but the team either didn’t have the assets to acquire those players or deemed the asking prices too high.
Sources tell Fedor that the Cavs made a strong push for O’Neale and tried to line up other deals to get the Nets the sort of assets they wanted, but Brooklyn – which was seeking more than a first-round pick – didn’t bite.
“I think there’s value in continuity,” Altman said. “I think there’s value in giving this group a runway. Sometimes you just say to yourself, ‘Don’t mess this up.’ I think that was a big key for us this deadline. It was not easy for me. We’re the fifth-best team in the NBA right now — 35 wins, which is the fourth-most in the NBA — and some really good numbers to back up what I think you guys see on the court every day. I didn’t see anything that was going to put us over the top.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription required) explores what Jae Crowder can bring to the Bucks and contends that hanging onto Grayson Allen through the trade deadline was a win for the team, since he’s having a strong two-way season.
- Adding former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman to an already crowded frontcourt in a trade that sent out Saddiq Bey may be Pistons general manager Troy Weaver‘s biggest gamble yet, argues Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscription required). James L. Edwards III of The Athletic spoke to colleague Anthony Slater about what to expect from Wiseman in Detroit, with Slater noting that the young center still has a ways to go on the defensive end.
- After not being included in a deadline deal, Pistons center Nerlens Noel has been listed as “not with team” on the club’s injury report, Edwards notes (via Twitter). Noel isn’t owed any guaranteed money beyond this season and finds himself buried even further down the depth chart following Wiseman’s arrival, so he could be a buyout candidate.
- The Pacers‘ relative inactivity at the trade deadline reflected president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard‘s desire not to shake up his core or disrupt the chemistry that the current roster has built, says Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required). As Dopirak observes, Indiana’s lone deadline deal was primarily about using their remaining cap room to add more draft assets, but it will also give the team to take a low-risk look at young wing Jordan Nwora.