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And-Ones: Taxpayers, Cap Room, Traded Cash, Sims, Lue, More

February 11th, 2023 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

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.

Blazers GM Cronin Defends Handling Of Payton’s Injury

February 10th, 2023 at 9:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin denied that the team did anything wrong in its medical treatment of Gary Payton II, saying that the reserve guard had been “cleared” to play and the organization was “confident that he was healthy,” Bill Oram of The Oregonian tweets.

The four-team trade involving the Warriors, Pistons, Trail Blazers and Hawks is in jeopardy after Payton failed to pass the Warriors’ physical exam on Friday. Though the trade has been announced as official, players still had to undergo physical exams.

Payton has a lingering core muscle injury that could sideline him for up to three months, according to the exam by the Warriors’ medical staff. Payton underwent surgery in the offseason to address a core muscle injury and was sidelined until early January.

He has been playing regularly since his return, including a 22-minute stint against Golden State on Wednesday in which he scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds.

However, Payton has been playing through pain and the Blazers training staff has been giving him Toradol shots to help him stay on the court, according to a report by The Athletic. That information wasn’t relayed to the Warriors during the negotiation process, The Athletic adds.

Cronin defended the Portland organization and medical staff.

“Player safety is super important to us, it’s a super important thing around the league,” he said. “We were playing him, he was playing. He had been cleared. We were confident he was healthy when he was playing. We would not have brought him back if we thought he wasn’t healthy or he was at risk, so you trust that we did the right thing, and you trust that our process was correct.”

The Warriors have until Saturday to decide whether to nix the complex deal.

Gary Payton II Fails Physical; Four-Team Trade In Jeopardy

February 10th, 2023 at 6:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Gary Payton II has failed a physical exam, placing the four-team swap involving the Warriors, Pistons, Trail Blazers and Hawks in jeopardy, Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic report.

Payton has a core muscle injury that could sideline him for up to three months, according to the exam by the Warriors’ medical staff.

Though the trade has been announced as official, players still had to undergo physical exams. The Warriors have until Saturday to call the complex trade off, according to Charania and Slater.

In the deal, the Hawks acquired Saddiq Bey from the Pistons; the Pistons acquired former lottery pick James Wiseman from the Warriors; the Trail Blazers acquired Kevin Knox from the Pistons, three second-round picks from Atlanta, and two second-rounders from Golden State; and the Warriors re-acquired Payton from Portland, along with two second-round picks from Atlanta.

Payton’s debut with Portland was delayed until Jan. 2 due to a core muscle injury. He has played regularly since returning to action, including a 22-minute stint against Golden State on Wednesday in which he scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds.

However, Payton has been playing through pain, according to Charania Slater, and that the Blazers training staff has been giving him Toradol shots to help him stay on the court. That information wasn’t relayed to the Warriors during the negotiation process, The Athletic’s duo adds.

The defensive ace was a key member of the Warriors’ championship rotation last season and Golden State felt he could have a similar impact on its bench this season.

According to Charania and Slater, there have been behind-the-scenes discussions on Friday about possibly amending the trade. The amount of parties involved complicates matters.

Wiseman Will Get Long Look In Detroit

February 10th, 2023 at 5:49pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pistons general manager Troy Weaver said newly acquired center James Wiseman will get plenty of playing time, even though the team seemingly has an overload of bigs, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets.

“He needs to play,” the Pistons’ top executive said. “With your talent, if you don’t use it, you lose it. We need him to get back out there to use his talent and be confident as a player.”

Weaver also indicated the Pistons needed another quality big man to combat the top teams in the Eastern Conference, who have regularly pushed them around, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press tweets. “You don’t have a chance (without size). Point blank period. We need some men and some size,” he said. “We haven’t beaten those teams yet. If you look at those games, we’ve usually struggled on the glass.”

Central Notes: Cavs, O’Neale, Crowder, Wiseman, Noel, Pacers

February 10th, 2023 at 11:21am CST by Luke Adams

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.

Pistons Sign Stanley Umude To 10-Day Contract

February 10th, 2023 at 10:27am CST by Luke Adams

Rookie wing Stanley Umude has earned a call-up from the G League, as the Pistons announced on Friday that they’ve signed him to a 10-day contract. Umude had been playing for Detroit’s NBAGL affiliate, the Motor City Cruise.

Umude signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Pistons during the offseason after going undrafted out of Arkansas and spent training camp with the team, but didn’t earn a regular season roster spot.

Since being waived at the end of the preseason, Umude has appeared in 31 total games for the Cruise — 18 in the Showcase Cup and 13 in the G League’s regular season. In those 31 appearances, he has averaged 14.3 PPG and 4.9 RPG on .402/.356/.754 shooting in 27.0 MPG.

Detroit had an open spot on its 15-man roster after completing a two-for-one trade on deadline day, sending out Saddiq Bey and Kevin Knox in a deal for James Wiseman. As a result, no corresponding roster move will be necessary to make room on the roster for Umude, who will earn $58,493 during his 10 days as a Piston.

Because the Pistons play three games before the All-Star break, Umude’s 10-day contract won’t extend beyond All-Star weekend. It will run through February 19, at which point Detroit will have the option of signing him to a second 10-day deal.

Wiseman To Pistons, Bey To Hawks, Payton To Warriors In Four-Team Deal

February 9th, 2023 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

9:01pm: The trade is now official, the Hawks announced in a press release. According to Atlanta’s announcement, three of the five second-round picks the team is sending out in the deal are going to Portland, while the other two are going to Golden State. Here’s the breakdown:

To the Blazers:

Either the Hawks’, Nets’, or Hornets’ 2023 second-round pick (whichever is second-most favorable).
The Hawks’ 2024 second-round pick (the Hawks previously traded this pick to Portland with top-55 protection; those protections are now removed).
The Hawks’ 2025 second-round pick (protected 41-60).
- Note: Portland will receive this pick if it’s between 31-40 and Oklahoma City will receive it if it’s between 41-60 (based on a prior trade).

To the Warriors:

The Hawks’ 2026 second-round pick.
The Hawks’ 2028 second-round pick.

The Blazers are still receiving five second-rounders in total, however. According to the Warriors’ own press release announcing the deal, they’ve sent two other second-round picks to Portland. Those picks are the Grizzlies’ 2026 second-rounder (top-42 protected) and the Warriors’ own 2028 second-rounder.

1:55pm: The trade is being expanded further, according to Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the Warriors are sending five second-round picks and Knox to the Trail Blazers in exchange for Gary Payton II.

It’s unclear if those are the same five second-rounders Golden State is getting from the Hawks, but the Warriors are essentially trading out Wiseman and getting back Payton, who was a key rotation player on last season’s championship team.

Interestingly, the Warriors just faced the Blazers last night, getting an up-close look at the defensive stalwart, who will now rejoin Golden State. Payton signed a three-year, $26.1MM deal with Portland in the offseason, but has only appeared in 15 games in 2022/23 — he was slow to recover from abdominal surgery.

In addition to getting back a player they’re very familiar with, the Warriors will also save a good chunk of money toward the luxury tax over the next two seasons, as Payton’s cap hit is smaller than Wiseman’s.

1:34pm: Kevin Knox is headed from Detroit to Golden State in the trade for salary-matching purposes, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Knox isn’t a lock to remain with the Warriors, Woj notes.

1:04pm: The Pistons will acquire James Wiseman from the Warriors in a three-team trade that will send Saddiq Bey to the Hawks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Golden State will get five second-round picks from Atlanta in the deal, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).

Detroit needs to send out another $2.5MM to match salaries, so at least one more player will be involved in the deal, tweets Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype.

According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), the Warriors also had Wiseman discussions with the Trail Blazers and Spurs. The Pistons and Hawks discussed a separate deal involving John Collins, but sources tell Fischer that those talks have stalled.

Reports that the Pistons and Warriors were discussing a deal involving Wiseman broke earlier this afternoon. Detroit has been interested in the 21-year-old center since the 2020 draft, and Golden State was willing to move on from a player who never lived up to expectations after being the second overall pick.

He has appeared in just 21 games this season after sitting out all of 2021/22 with injuries and has spent a significant portion of the season in the G League. The Warriors picked up Wiseman’s fourth-year option, so he will be under contract for $12.1MM next season. He will be eligible for an extension this summer, but it’s extremely unlikely that the Pistons will want to make that type of commitment.

Bey has been a productive forward for Detroit since being selected 19th overall in 2019. Through 52 games (30 starts, 28.8 MPG) in ’22/23, he’s averaging 14.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.6 APG and 1.0 SPG on .404/.345/.861 shooting.

The 23-year-old is still on his rookie contract, which is very affordable considering he’s been a regular contributor in each of his first three seasons. He’s making $2.96MM this season and will make $4.56MM in ’23/24. Like Wiseman, he will eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.

Rory Maher contributed to this post.

Raptors’ Anunoby, Pistons’ Bogdanovic Among Trade Candidates Staying Put

February 9th, 2023 at 3:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

While there was quite a bit of activity at the trade deadline, numerous players who were expected to be moved wound up staying put.

At or near the top of that list is the Raptors’ OG Anunoby. He generated plenty of interest around the league, with the Grizzlies, Pelicans, Knicks and Trail Blazers reportedly all in the bidding. Even the Warriors made a substantial run at Anunoby, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania (video link).

Toronto, rather than going into sell mode, brought back center Jakob Poeltl in a deal with the Spurs and kept Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr. and Pascal Siakam, all of whom were mentioned in trade rumors. They’ll now have some hard decisions to make this summer with VanVleet, Trent, and Poeltl expected to hit the free agent market, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN notes (Twitter link).

Here are some of the notable teams who retained key players:

Perhaps no team surprised the league more by not making a move than the Bulls, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic tweets. It was anticipated the Bulls might blow up an underperforming roster and ship out some combination of Nikola Vucevic, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso, and Coby White. Vucevic will be a free agent this summer and White will also enter the market, though Chicago could make him a restricted free agent by extending a qualifying offer.
The Pistons made a splash in a three-team swap, shipping out Saddiq Bey and Kevin Knox and bringing in former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman from the Warriors. However, Detroit decided to hold onto Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press tweets. Bogdanovic, in particular, drew a lot of interest around the league but the team’s front office repeatedly made it clear in recent weeks it wanted to keep Bogdanovic and Burks to blend in with an otherwise young team next season.
Another surprise was that Heat president Pat Riley failed to make a big move. Miami was unable to find a taker for some of its unpalatable contracts (Duncan Robinson, Kyle Lowry). However, the Heat will actively explore the buyout market, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). The Heat have two available roster spots (and need to fill at least one) and have their $4.1MM bi-annual exception and a portion of their mid-level exception still available to entice free agents.
The Cavaliers were the rare contender that decided to stand pat, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Cleveland had long been considered a prime candidate to acquire another wing. Thus, the Cavs will ride with Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro and Cedi Osman. LeVert will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
The Mavericks didn’t move big man Christian Wood, Marc Stein notes (Twitter link), even though it doesn’t appear the two parties are close to an extension agreement. Wood had said he didn’t want to be traded.
The Sixers failed to deal disgruntled wing Furkan Korkmaz, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. Korkmaz, who has fallen out of Doc Rivers’ rotation, had requested a trade.

Trade Rumors: Bey, Wiseman, Bridges, Toppin, LeVert, Gordon, More

February 9th, 2023 at 12:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons and Warriors have engaged in discussions about a possible trade that would involve forward Saddiq Bey and center James Wiseman, reports Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

According to Fischer, Golden State has shown an increased willingness to move Wiseman and Detroit has interest in the former No. 2 overall pick — he was atop the Pistons’ draft board in 2020, notes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).

Still, both Sankofa and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter links) say that no deal appears imminent between the Warriors and Pistons, so the talks may not ultimately bear fruit. According to Fischer (Twitter link), Golden State may be weighing an offer from Detroit against other trade opportunities.

Here are a few more trade rumors from around the NBA, with the deadline less than two hours away:

According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Rockets are among the teams that have kicked the tires on Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, who are headed to the Nets as part of the Kevin Durant trade. However, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) has heard that Brooklyn intends to hang onto Bridges through Thursday’s trade deadline.
The Pacers are among the teams to register interest for Knicks forward Obi Toppin, while the Kings are among the teams to have inquired about point guard Derrick Rose, says Ian Begley of SNY.tv. The asking price for Toppin is substantial, according to Begley.
The Cavaliers have informed veteran wing Caris LeVert that he won’t be traded before Thursday’s deadline, according to Matt Moore of Action Network.
Moore also reports that the Pelicans, Grizzlies, and Knicks have made offers for Raptors forward OG Anunoby that include multiple draft picks. There has been internal debate within the Knicks organization about whether to include Immanuel Quickley in any trade offers, including for Anunoby, Moore writes.
Both Brian Smith and Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter links) have heard rumblings about the increasing likelihood that Rockets shooting guard Eric Gordon will be on the move today. Moore reported that there’s skepticism around the league about Houston’s ability to get a first-round pick for Gordon.

Eastern Notes: Thybulle, D. Robinson, Lowry, Celtics, Hart, Pistons

February 9th, 2023 at 10:37am CST by Luke Adams

Sixers center Joel Embiid knows that teammate Matisse Thybulle has been mentioned in trade rumors leading up to Thursday’s deadline, but the All-Star big man praised Thybulle’s defensive abilities and said he’d like to see the team hang onto the fourth-year wing, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Personally, I would love to have him,” Embiid said. “I think he’s one of our better defenders, especially on the perimeter. We don’t have a lot of guys that cause steals or blocks, and all that stuff, extra possessions. That takes extra possessions from the other teams. He’s someone that fits on every NBA team based on his defensive skill set. I think he helps us a lot. But then again, I don’t make the decisions.”

There are a handful of reasons why Thybulle has been mentioned as a trade candidate. His offensive limitations have been exposed in past postseasons, he’s headed for free agency this summer, and the Sixers are only slightly above the luxury tax line, so moving off a small amount of salary could save them a significant amount of cash at season’s end.

Here’s more from around the East:

The Heat have explored trading forward Duncan Robinson, but Robinson’s pricey long-term contract and uncertainty about his status following finger surgery have decimated any value he might have, per Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. According to Jackson and Chiang, potential trade partners have sought multiple first-round picks in talks involving Robinson, so the Heat are more focused on discussions centered around Kyle Lowry, with the Clippers still in the mix.
The Celtics‘ trade offer for Jakob Poeltl consisted of guard Payton Pritchard, injured forward Danilo Gallinari, and multiple future second-round picks, reports Brian Robb of MassLive.com. While that proposal would’ve given the Spurs a promising young player in Pritchard, it fell well short of what Toronto was offering in terms of draft compensation.
Fred Katz of The Athletic explores how Josh Hart will fit in with the Knicks and explains why New York wanted him, noting that he’s a classic Tom Thibodeau sort of player. Katz also notes that the protection terms on the team’s traded 2023 first-round pick (it will turn into four second-rounders if it lands in the lottery) will allow the Knicks to remain flexible with all of their future first-rounders this offseason and beyond.
The Pistons have reportedly set a high asking price for veterans Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, who are both under contract for next season, and head coach Dwane Casey understands why the front office has taken that stance, as Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscriber link) relays. “(Burks) and (Bogdanovic) are the perfect fit for our rebuilding program, and we’re ready to take off and go forward next year,” Casey said. “Those two guys are just important pieces now and also going forward.”