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NBA Players Who Can Veto Trades In 2022/23

July 28th, 2022 at 10:58am CST by Luke Adams

Entering the 2022/23 league year, it had been four years since any NBA player had an explicit no-trade clause in his contract, but the Wizards ended that streak by awarding Bradley Beal a no-trade clause as part of his new five-year, maximum-salary deal.

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and had become even rarer in recent years. Beal is just the 10th player in NBA history to receive one.

To be eligible to negotiate a no-trade clause, a player must have at least eight years of NBA experience and has to have spent at least four years (albeit not necessarily the most recent four years) with his current team. Even if a player qualifies, his team is typically unlikely to restrict its flexibility by including a no-trade clause in his deal.

While Beal is the only NBA player with an explicit no-trade clause in his contract at the moment, there are several who will have the ability to veto trades in 2022/23.

A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year deal with an option year – is given no-trade protection. That group doesn’t include players on two-way contracts, but it does include players who accept standard (non two-way) one-year qualifying offers.

A player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team also has the ability to veto a trade for a full calendar year.

With those criteria in mind, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the ’22/23 league year:

No-trade clauses:

Players whose offer sheets were matched:

Players re-signing for one year (or two years, with a second-year player/team option):

If any player who re-signed for one year approves a trade during the 2022/23 league year, he’ll have Non-Bird rights at season’s end instead of Early Bird or full Bird rights.

The only player with veto rights who consented to a trade during the 2021/22 season was forward Solomon Hill — he signed off on a deal that sent him from the Hawks to the Knicks. Hill had suffered a torn hamstring prior to that trade and knew he’d likely be waived soon by one team or another, so vetoing the deal in an effort to retain his Early Bird rights with Atlanta would’ve been futile.

Any player who approves a trade will retain his veto ability on his new team, and would have to consent to any subsequent deal during the 2022/23 season.

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Trade Breakdown: Malcolm Brogdon To Celtics

July 28th, 2022 at 7:44am CST by Rory Maher

This is the eighth entry in our series breaking down the major trades of the 2022 offseason. As opposed to giving out grades, this series will explore why the teams were motivated to make the moves. Let’s dive into a deal that sent the 2017 Rookie of the Year from the Pacers to the Celtics…

The day after free agency began, the Pacers agreed to send Malcolm Brogdon to the Celtics in exchange for Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith, Nik Stauskas, Juwan Morgan, Malik Fitts and the Celtics’ 2023 first-round pick (top-12 protected). Stauskas, Morgan and Fitts have subsequently been waived by Indiana, so they are no longer on the team’s roster.

The Pacers’ Perspective:

Why would the Pacers be willing to give up a player who averaged 21.2 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 5.9 APG on .453/.388/.864 shooting just two seasons ago?

After sending two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento in February for a package headlined by point guard Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers effectively signaled that a retooling process was underway and Brogdon’s time in Indiana was nearing an end.

The problem was, Brogdon was injured for much of 2021/22 and was ineligible to be traded after signing a veteran extension just before the season started, so the Pacers had to wait until the season was over to deal him.

Injury problems have plagued Brogdon throughout his six-year career. He has missed 140 regular season games over that span, appearing in an average of just over 70% of his team’s games.

Last season, he missed a career-high 46 games, though it’s possible he may have been deliberately held out of some of those contests for tanking purposes and to preserve his long-term health.

Brogdon will earn $67.6MM over the next three seasons, including $22.6MM in ’22/23. In order to match his salary and make the trade legal, the Celtics had to include five players in their package — the priciest of those players, Theis, is making $8.69MM next season, while Nesmith will earn $3.8MM. Only Theis has guaranteed money beyond next season, earning $9.1MM in ‘23/24.

By shedding Brogdon’s salary, waiving Duane Washington’s non-guaranteed deal, and using the stretch provision to spread the partial guarantees owed to Stauskas, Morgan and Fitts across three seasons, the Pacers created enough cap room to sign restricted free agent Deandre Ayton to a four-year, maximum-salary offer sheet. The Suns ended up matching the offer, so Indiana still has about $31MM in cap room available as the ’22/23 season approaches.

After serving as a high-level role player for the Bucks from 2016-19, averaging 12.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 3.6 APG on .484/.408/.895 shooting while playing solid defense, Brogdon desired an expanded role and was signed-and-traded to Indiana for a first-round pick and two second-rounders.

Brogdon had an up-and-down tenure with the Pacers. His counting stats certainly got better on paper, as he averaged 18.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 6.3 APG over the past three seasons. However, he took a step back on defense, and his scoring efficiency took a hit — his .447/.352/.872 shooting line was still solid, but nothing special.

At 29 years old, Brogdon no longer fit with Indiana’s rebuilding timeline. He had functioned as the team’s lead ball-handler when healthy, but with Haliburton on board, he became redundant.

I’m skeptical that Theis will play much for Indiana after having a poor season in the first year of his new contract, especially considering he’s 30 years old himself. He might be a veteran presence for a young team, but the majority of the frontcourt minutes will go to Jalen Smith, who re-signed with the Pacers in free agency, second-year big man Isaiah Jackson, and veteran center Myles Turner – assuming he’s still on the roster.

After being selected No. 14 overall in the 2020 draft, Nesmith never found a foothold in Boston’s rotation during his first two NBA seasons, appearing in a total of 98 games for an average of just 12.7 MPG. I’m sure that was partly due to his performance – he averaged 4.2 PPG and 2.2 RPG while shooting .417/.318/.796 – but he was also stuck behind two of the best wings in the league in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, so minutes were hard to come by.

The Pacers reportedly view Nesmith as a potential “3-and-D” player, and at 22 years old, he fits in with Indiana’s youth movement. There is some untapped upside here – he was the last pick of the lottery two years ago — but whether it comes to fruition or not will be up to Nesmith.

Still, the primary appeal of this trade for Indiana was moving off Brogdon’s long-term salary and adding Boston’s 2023 first-round pick, which will likely be in the late 20s. The Pacers also control their own first-rounder next season as well as the Cavaliers’ lottery-protected pick, so they could have up to three first-round selections in the 2023 draft.

The Celtics’ Perspective:

In acquiring Brogdon, Boston didn’t give up anything of significant value from last season’s team, which made it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010, ultimately losing in six games to the Warriors. Theis was the only player of the five outgoing pieces who played semi-regular postseason minutes, but he had a pretty dreadful showing – the team was 14 points per 100 possessions better with him off the court than on it.

Giving up a future first-rounder that’s likely to land in the late 20s is a classic win-now move for a Celtics team that hopes to win two more playoff games in ’22/23 in order to win an 18th title, potentially breaking a tie with the Lakers for the most championships in NBA history.

As a result of adding Brogdon’s $22.6MM salary and signing Danilo Gallinari with the taxpayer mid-level exception, the Celtics will be well over the luxury tax line next season, another sign that Boston is invested in winning the championship.

Brogdon is a talented and skilled player. At 6’5″ and 229 pounds, he’s more of a combo guard than a point guard, which has its pros and cons.

Part of the reason why he was a sometimes awkward fit with the Pacers is because he primarily functioned as the team’s point guard, but he’s not quick enough to stay in front of smaller, shiftier players. He is, however, capable of guarding bigger wings, as he uses his strength and toughness to hold his ground.

Brogdon uses that strength on offense to his advantage as well, bullying smaller players in drives to the basket. He isn’t the quickest or most athletic player, but he can get to his spots for the most part and does a solid job of drawing contract.

During Brogdon’s tenure, the Pacers also had Victor Oladipo and Caris LeVert at shooting guard, two other score-first players who aren’t great shooters. That sometimes led to some ugly “it’s my turn now” offensive possessions instead of proper ball movement.

If Brogdon tries to play like he did for the Pacers, Celtics fans probably won’t be happy with the results, but if he accepts his role as a sixth man and acts as more of a tertiary play-maker like he did with Milwaukee, he could be an ideal fit offensively.

During his run with the Bucks, Brogdon attempted 22.9% of his threes from the corners and converted 48.9% of those looks – an elite number. With Indiana, only 11.3% of his three-point attempts came from the corners and he converted 37.1% of them. Again, that was partly a result of Indiana’s poor spacing and Brogdon serving as a primary ball-handler.

Brodgon’s shot is slow and mechanical, with a low release point. He needs time to get it off. But he will get plenty of open looks from the corners if he plays within the flow of Boston’s offense.

While Brogdon is a major offensive upgrade over both Marcus Smart and Derrick White, he is a significant downgrade defensively. He isn’t a liability, but he isn’t a positive either, especially when guarding smaller players. Al Horford and Robert Williams will help erase some of those concerns.

I’m curious to see how Brogdon and White will play together, because both are smart passers when they’re so inclined. Both need space to feel comfortable taking jump shots.

It’s hard not to view this trade as a win for the Celtics, even if the Pacers also accomplished their goal of moving off Brogdon’s salary, adding another first-rounder, and creating more playing time for their young core.

Brogdon is a very productive player. He could be the missing piece that pushes the Celtics over the top if they’re able to reach the Finals again.

The only real question on Boston’s end is, can he stay healthy? If so, the team acquired a player who is an offensive upgrade over any of its incumbent guards without taking anything away from its core.

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2022/23 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team

July 27th, 2022 at 8:45am CST by Luke Adams

As the NBA regular season approaches and teams reduce their rosters from the 20-player offseason limit to the 15-man regular season max, the best way to determine which players will survive preseason cuts is to consider their contracts. Players with guaranteed salaries for 2022/23 are far more likely to earn spots on 15-man rosters than players whose contracts aren’t fully guaranteed.

Keeping that in mind, we’re using the space below to keep tabs on the players on each NBA team who don’t have fully guaranteed contracts. The players listed here have non-guaranteed salaries, partially guaranteed salaries, or Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 contracts, which essentially function like non-guaranteed deals.

Unless otherwise noted, these players are on minimum-salary contracts. Some players on this list have partial guarantees, which we’ve also mentioned below.

Not all of these players will be waived before the regular season begins, so we’ll maintain this list for the next several months, up until January 10, 2023. That’s the day that all players still under contract will have their salaries fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2022/23 season.

Only players who have formally signed contracts are listed below, so if a player has reportedly reached an agreement with a team on a non-guaranteed deal, we’ll add him to our list when that deal becomes official.

Without further ado, here’s the full list of players without fully guaranteed salaries for 2022/23, broken down by team:

Updated 1-10-23 (1:22pm CT)

Atlanta Hawks

  • None

Boston Celtics

  • None

Brooklyn Nets

  • None

Charlotte Hornets

  • None

Chicago Bulls

  • None

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • None

Dallas Mavericks

  • None

Denver Nuggets

  • None

Detroit Pistons

  • None

Golden State Warriors

  • None

Houston Rockets

  • None

Indiana Pacers

  • None

Los Angeles Clippers

  • None

Los Angeles Lakers

  • None

Memphis Grizzlies

  • None

Miami Heat

  • None

Milwaukee Bucks

  • None

Minnesota Timberwolves

  • None

New Orleans Pelicans

  • None

New York Knicks

  • None

Oklahoma City Thunder

  • None

Orlando Magic

  • None

Philadelphia 76ers

  • None

Phoenix Suns

  • None

Portland Trail Blazers

  • None

Sacramento Kings

  • None

San Antonio Spurs

  • None

Toronto Raptors

  • None

Utah Jazz

  • None

Washington Wizards

  • None
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Community Shootaround: Jaylen Brown-Kevin Durant

July 26th, 2022 at 9:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics don’t have Kevin Durant on their roster. They’re already the favorite to win the NBA title next season, according to the Las Vegas bookmakers.

So should Boston trade Jaylen Brown and other players and assets for KD and become the prohibitive favorite for the championship?

Brown is the best player that any potential suitor is reportedly willing to give up to the Nets to make an all-out bid for glory. Brown, who is still under contract for multiple seasons, averaged 23.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 3.5 APG last season and, at 25, is just entering his prime.

The Celtics seemingly addressed their biggest need this summer with the acquisition of Pacers point guard Malcolm Brogdon. Boston didn’t have to surrender any significant rotation players in the process. The team also improved its forward depth by adding veteran Danilo Gallinari.

Let’s look at the flip side. If Jayson Tatum and Brown seem like an imposing duo, just imagine what Tatum and Durant could do alongside each other once they work out chemistry issues. KD may be 34 and moody but he’s as good as ever — he averaged just a shade under 30 PPG and a career-best 6.4 APG last season.

He’s got plenty left in the tank and the four-year contract extension he signed erases any possibility of him leaving after a year or two as a free agent, though there’s always the concern that he could request another trade.

That brings us to our question of the day: Should the Celtics give up Jaylen Brown and other significant players and assets to acquire Kevin Durant? Or should they keep Brown and take their chances at a championship run with the group they already have?

Please take to the comments section to address this topic. We look forward to your input.

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Hoops Rumors’ Trade Breakdown Series

July 26th, 2022 at 9:22am CST by Hoops Rumors

All of the installments in Hoops Rumors’ Trade Breakdown series can be found below. As opposed to giving out grades on the NBA’s biggest trades, this series explores why the teams were motivated to make the moves they did.

This page can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.

2023 offseason:

2022/23 season:

2022 offseason:

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Trade Breakdown: Kevin Huerter To Kings

July 26th, 2022 at 7:59am CST by Rory Maher

This is the seventh installment in our series breaking down the major trades of the 2022 offseason. As opposed to giving out grades, this series will explore why the teams were motivated to make the moves. Let’s dive into a deal between the Hawks and Kings…

The day after free agency began, the Hawks agreed to send Kevin Huerter to the Kings in exchange for Justin Holiday, Maurice Harkless, and the Kings’ 2024 first-round pick (top-14 protected). If the pick doesn’t convey immediately, it would be top-12 protected in 2025 and top-10 protected in 2026. If it still hasn’t changed hands by that point, the Hawks would instead receive two second-rounders.

The Kings’ perspective:

After dealing Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana at the trade deadline for two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis, the Kings signaled that they were building around a couple of dynamic play-makers (the other being De’Aaron Fox), each of whom has a clear hole in his offensive repertoire: three-point shooting. The two lefties have almost identical career percentages from behind the arc, with Fox at 32.0% and Sabonis at 31.9%.

Modern NBA offenses thrive with proper spacing, so surrounding the duo with shooters was paramount. Sacramento was just 25th in the league in three-point makes, 21st in three-point attempts, and 24th in three-point percentage last season (34.4%).

Enter Huerter, who averaged 12.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 2.7 APG in 74 games in 2021/22 (60 starts, 29.6 MPG). A look into his shooting numbers reveals that Huerter was an above-average marksman from all over the court, with a 57% true shooting percentage (58th percentile), 62% at the rim (57th percentile), 48% from mid-range (88%), 38.9% from three-point range (82nd percentile), and 80.8% from the line (64th percentile), per DunksAndThrees.com.

Huerter’s ’21/22 counting stats are quite similar to his career marks of 11.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 3.2 APG in 274 games (216 starts, 29.6 MPG), so consistent year-to-year output has been a strong selling point for the shooting guard. He has shot between 38.0% and 38.9% from deep in three of his four seasons, with a career mark of 37.9%. He is particularly lethal from the corners, with a career mark of 43.1%, including 44.9% last season.

The 6’7″ Huerter fits in nicely with the timelines of Fox (24) and Sabonis (26), as he turns 24 next month (Davion Mitchell turns 24 in September, Malik Monk is also 24, and first-rounder Keegan Murray is 21). He’s also under contract for four more years, so he could become a fixture for the club for multiple seasons.

Although he is mostly known for his shooting prowess, Huerter is a solid secondary play-maker too, with a career assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.38-to-1. He’s a very capable passer who displays above-average vision for a two guard. That should come in handy for the Kings, who were just 22nd in the league in assists last season.

Huerter has proven to a be a capable low-end starter in the NBA, and I mean that as a compliment. Being among the 150 or so best players in the best league in the world is no easy task, and Huerter is in that group. Even he winds up coming off the bench for the Kings, he has still shown he should be considered in that tier and he’d be one of the league’s best reserves.

Huerter has two primary weaknesses. For one, he’s sometimes too passive on offense and avoids contact, which is why he has attempted fewer than one free throw per game in his career in nearly 30 minutes per contest, a very poor rate. That, in turn, is why his true shooting percentage has only been above league average once in his career (last season), despite the fact that he’s a strong shooter.

The second weakness is that he’s a slightly below-average defender. He’s just an okay rebounder, and he’s skinny and can be pushed around even though he’s tall for his position. Huerter isn’t a liability by any means, like some other shooting specialists are, but he’s not a positive either.

It’s the less glamorous end of the court where I don’t love the deal for the Kings, who ranked just 27th in the league in defensive rating last season. In fairness to them, they needed help in basically every area, and Huerter is certainly a better player than either Holiday or Harkless, but not on defense.

New head coach Mike Brown has built his career on being a strong defensive tactician, but he can only do so much with the personnel of the roster. That will continue to be an issue next season for Sacramento, as Fox and Sabonis aren’t exactly defensive stoppers, nor is Monk, whom the team acquired in free agency to bolster its shooting.

Holiday struggled in his brief stint with the Kings, connecting on just 34.8% of his field goal attempts in 25 games (he was also part of the Sabonis trade), and Harkless was completely out of the rotation by the end of the season. Both players are significantly older than Huerter (Holiday is 33 and Harkless is 29), and neither was in Sacramento’s long-term plans, so moving them was no big loss even though both have had long careers for good reasons.

The Hawks’ Perspective:

Let’s get this out of the way first: Atlanta didn’t necessarily want to trade Huerter. Hawks fans will fondly remember his performance in Game 7 of the team’s second-round playoff victory over the Sixers in 2021, when Huerter put up 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists on 10-of-18 shooting, helping Atlanta reach the Eastern Conference Finals for just the second time in the past 50 years.

Moving Huerter was both a short- and long-term financial decision. The four-year, $65MM rookie scale extension he signed just before ’21/22 began kicks in next season, and trading for Dejounte Murray pushed the team into luxury tax territory.

The Hawks already have long-term salaries committed to Trae Young, John Collins and Clint Capela; Murray and Bogdan Bogdanovic are on the books for two more seasons; and De’Andre Hunter is eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer. The roster has become expensive, and after acquiring an All-Star guard in Murray, one of Huerter or Bogdanovic became expendable, through no fault of their own.

Bogdanovic is a better overall player than Huerter and more accustomed to coming off the bench, both positives for Atlanta. However, he’s coming off knee surgery, is older (he turns 30 next month), and makes more money the next two seasons than Huerter, so the Hawks might not have gotten the type of trade package they’d want for him.

Holiday and Harkless, both of whom are on expiring contracts, will make a combined $10.86MM in ‘22/23, saving the Hawks $3.64MM after moving Huerter’s $14.5MM salary. Keep in mind that by acquiring two players for one, the Hawks also don’t have to fill a second roster spot — even a minimum-salary deal carries a $1,836,090 cap hit, so the actual savings in the deal are closer to $5.48MM when taking that into account.

Of the two newly-acquired veterans, I expect Holiday to provide more on-court value and receive more playing time – he’s a much better outside shooter than Harkless (36.5% career from three on much higher volume vs. 32.0%), and I’m sure the Hawks would like to give 2021 first-rounder Jalen Johnson more NBA playing time at the backup power forward spot next season.

Both Holiday and Harkless are well-traveled veterans and have defense-first reputations. Holiday, in particular, provided solid value during his run with the Pacers from 2019-21. His defense wasn’t as sharp last season and his shooting can be inconsistent, but he’s definitely a bounce-back candidate with all the open looks he’ll get in his second stint in Atlanta.

Still, while the duo shouldn’t be discounted, the main appeal for the Hawks in their trade with Sacramento was moving off Huerter’s long-term salary and acquiring the 2024 first-round pick.

There’s no guarantee that pick will convey in two years, of course – the Kings have missed the playoffs for an NBA-record 16 consecutive seasons, so the fact that it’s lottery-protected might not bode well for Atlanta. However, Sacramento’s roster does look a little better on paper entering next season, especially on offense, and the club will have one more year to continue making upgrades before the pick can convey.

If it does convey in 2024, both teams would be happy – the Hawks would pick up another first-rounder, recouping some draft equity after dealing three first-round picks (two unprotected) and a pick swap to San Antonio for Murray, while the Kings would have finally broken their postseason drought.

If it doesn’t convey in 2024, there’s still a decent chance the Hawks could get the pick in either 2025 (top-12 protected) or 2026 (top-10 protected). That might actually be the preferred scenario for them, as the first unprotected pick they traded to the Spurs is for 2025, and San Antonio has swap rights in 2026.

The West is stacked, so a postseason berth certainly isn’t a given, but the Kings do have some interesting pieces, most of whom are young. There are realistic scenarios in which they get better with time and either make the play-in tournament or the playoffs outright. Murray could be the wild card, because if he’s as NBA-ready as he seems, he could be a game-changer.

Overall, the Huerter trade was an understandable deal for both sides. The Kings got a solid young starter who is under contract for four more years and addresses some weaknesses of the roster, and they protected the first-rounder they dealt away so it hopefully doesn’t come back to bite them.

The Hawks cleared long-term money and dodged the tax, got a buy-low candidate in Holiday, a veteran presence in Harkless, and recouped a bit of draft equity after giving up a substantial amount for Murray.

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Community Shootaround: Western Conference Playoffs

July 25th, 2022 at 10:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The play-in tournament, which has been adopted as an every-season fixture, means that only 10 of 30 NBA teams won’t get a taste of the postseason from year to year.

Last season, the Lakers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Thunder and Rockets were the five Western Conference teams who failed to qualify.

All of those teams, via some combination of the draft, free agency and trades, have made numerous roster moves this summer in an effort to improve their stock.

Let’s take a quick look at each of those clubs’ major moves, focusing on acquisitions beyond re-signing their own free agents:

  • Lakers – The reshaping of the roster feels incomplete until we see if/when they’ll deal Russell Westbrook and whether Kyrie Irving winds up there. They have made some interesting free agent moves, despite limited resources, most notably adding former Spurs wing Lonnie Walker and ex-Wizards center Thomas Bryant.
  • Kings – On the surface, the Kings have made some significant upgrades. Their lottery pick, Keegan Murray, was named the MVP of the Vegas Summer League. He could jump right into the starting lineup. They improved their 3-point shooting significantly with the additions of Malik Monk (free agency) and Kevin Huerter (trade).
  • Trail Blazers – The much-rumored Jerami Grant trade came to fruition this summer, giving the Blazers a much-needed frontcourt boost. They added a backcourt rotation piece in Gary Payton II via free agency. Starters Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic signed new deals and Portland rolled the dice on wing Shaedon Sharpe with its lottery pick. Sharpe didn’t play college ball last year but has star potential.
  • Thunder – The stockpile of extra draft picks they have accumulated in recent years, plus some draft-night maneuvers, paid off in the form of three lottery selections this season. They chose Chet Holmgren, one of the most unique players to enter the league, with the No. 2 pick. Wings Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams were added with the No. 11 and No. 12 picks, respectively.
  • Rockets – Jabari Smith was expected to be the No. 1 pick in the draft but slid to Houston’s choice at No. 3. He could be a franchise player. Christian Wood was dealt to the Mavericks and the Rockets received a number of veteran reserves in return along with a late-first round pick. Houston used that on guard TyTy Washington. In between, the Rockets held the No. 17 pick and selected LSU’s Tari Eason, who impressed in Summer League action.

That brings us to our question of the day: Which Western Conference team that failed to reach the postseason this spring – Lakers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Thunder or Rockets – has the best chance to qualify for next year’s playoffs?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

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Community Shootaround: Best Remaining Free Agents

July 23rd, 2022 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Most of the players on the Hoops Rumors’ Top 50 Free Agents list came to terms on new contracts fairly quickly. But more than three weeks after the start of free agency, there are a handful who still remain on the market.

Setting aside Hornets forward Miles Bridges, whose domestic abuse case has clouded his future in the league, and center Montrezl Harrell, who is dealing with legal issues of his own, only three players from our top 50 remain unsigned: Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, Rockets guard Dennis Schröder and Bucks forward Jordan Nwora.

Sexton is a restricted free agent who’s trying to bounce back from a torn meniscus that limited him to 11 games last season. Cleveland is reportedly focused on staying under the luxury tax line and has about $15MM to work with. Sexton is believed to want “starting guard money” with a first-year salary in excess of $20MM. Only the Spurs and Pacers have enough cap room left to offer him that much without a sign-and-trade.

Schröder played 15 games for Houston after being acquired from the Celtics at the deadline. Although the unrestricted free agent has a good relationship with the team, he’s not expected to return as Houston is focused on providing minutes for its young players.

Nwora, who is restricted, is in limbo as he waits for an offer that Milwaukee will have the option to match. General manager Jon Horst said the team is working with Nwora’s agent to find an acceptable solution for all parties. However, there’s no rush to get anything done with training camp still two months away.

Apart from the top 50, there are several intriguing veterans who remain on the open market, including Carmelo Anthony, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard.

We want to get your opinion. Which remaining free agents do you think can provide the most help and where do you think they should end up? Please leave your answer in the space below.

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Trade Breakdown: Dejounte Murray To Hawks

July 22nd, 2022 at 9:50am CST by Rory Maher

This is the sixth installment in our series breaking down the major trades of the 2022 offseason. As opposed to giving out grades, this series will explore why the teams were motivated to make the moves. Let’s dive into a deal that saw an All-Star head from the Spurs to the Hawks…

The day before free agency opened, the Spurs agreed to send Dejounte Murray and Jock Landale (later dealt to the Suns for cash considerations) to the Hawks in exchange for the Hornets’ 2023 first-round pick (top-16 protected), the Hawks’ 2025 first-round pick (unprotected), the Hawks’ 2027 first-round pick (unprotected), the right to swap first-round picks with the Hawks in 2026, and Danilo Gallinari.

The Spurs’ perspective:

Why would the Spurs part with a first-time All-Star who was runner-up for the Most Improved Player Award?

After making the playoffs for an NBA-record 22 consecutive years from 1998-2019, winning five championships in the process, the Spurs have been stuck in mediocrity for the past three seasons, finishing with records of 32-39 in 2019/20 and 33-39 in ‘20/21.

Last season, with Murray as the team’s best player, the Spurs finished with a 34-48 record and the 10th seed in the West — below average, but not bad enough to have a real puncher’s chance at the top pick. The team went just 4-10 in games Murray missed.

Sometimes bottoming out is the best way to improve a franchise in the long run, as unpalatable as it might be for owners, front offices, coaches, players and fans alike. The 2023 draft class features French phenom Victor Wembanyama, a player whom some talent evaluators consider the best prospect the NBA has seen since LeBron James turned pro in 2003. You can connect the dots.

Murray was a developmental success story for the Spurs. He gradually transformed from a raw prospect, selected 29th overall in the 2016 draft, into an All-Star.

The Spurs received a substantial return for him. Unprotected first-round picks are one of the most valuable commodities in the NBA, and San Antonio gained two of them with the possibility of a third if the Spurs are better than the Hawks in 2025/26.

San Antonio also gained another first-rounder with a reasonable chance of conveying at some point in the next three years – the Hornets’ 2023 pick will be lottery-protected in 2024 and 2025 if it doesn’t convey next year, then would turn into two second-round picks if it hasn’t conveyed by that point.

Gallinari, who received a partial guarantee of $13MM on his $21MM+ expiring contract, was only included in the deal for salary-matching purposes and has already been waived and subsequently signed with Boston as a free agent.

For San Antonio, the move was less about a lack of faith in Murray’s abilities and more about having a chance at the top pick in 2023 and extracting maximum value for a player coming off a career season. In ‘21/22, he averaged 21.1 PPG, 8.3 RPG and 9.2 APG on .462/.327/.794 shooting in 68 games (34.8 MPG).

Keep in mind that Murray enters free agency in 2024, the season before the first unprotected pick from Atlanta conveys to San Antonio. Considering Murray just had the best season of his six-year career, it’s possible he could continue to get better, but if the Spurs waited until next summer, he’d be on an expiring contract and would likely be seeking a maximum-salary deal in free agency, diminishing his trade value. If things don’t work out between Murray and the Hawks, or they simply don’t want to pay him a max deal in two years, the Spurs are the clear beneficiary.

Are the Hawks appreciably better by making the trade entering ‘22/23? Yes. Can Murray push them over the top in an increasingly competitive East? I’m a little skeptical.

The Celtics, Heat, Bucks, Sixers, Raptors, Bulls, Nets and Cavaliers all finished with better records than the Hawks (43-39) last season, and the Hornets had the same record before getting blown out by Atlanta in the play-in tournament (the Hawks advanced as the eighth seed after beating Cleveland in the second play-in game).

So maybe, optimistically, the Hawks finish as a top-four or top-five seed in the East. They still have to get past the Bucks, Sixers, Celtics and Heat, who eliminated Atlanta in a five-game first-round series last season. There are roadblocks.

The Nets have a formidable roster if it remains intact. The Raptors will be better with another year of experience. The Bulls and Cavaliers could be too.

There’s a reason the Spurs pushed for the unprotected picks to be years down the line, when the Hawks are much less certain to be a perennial playoff team. Even if those selections are “just” lottery picks and not highly-coveted top-five picks, they would still have considerable value. They’d have even more trade value leading up to those drafts if Atlanta doesn’t look like a good team in the future.

It’s worth noting that Murray and Atlanta’s star point guard, Trae Young, were both very ball-dominant players last season, and Young hasn’t shown much inclination to play an off-ball role. Young has been extremely effective as an offensive engine, with the Hawks ranking eighth and second in offensive rating during the last two seasons.

If Young remains the primary ball-handler, that could reduce Murray’s effectiveness. His breakout season came in the aftermath of DeMar DeRozan, San Antonio’s previous leading scorer and primary play-maker, heading to Chicago in a sign-and-trade last summer.

For as stellar as he was last season, and make no mistake, he was very good, Murray’s 53.3% true shooting percentage was below league average, his career true shooting percentage (51.5%) is even worse, and he holds just a 33% mark from beyond the arc. His career percentage on corner threes is 32.3%, including just 28% last season.

None of those percentages scream “I can spot-up when I have to and make shots consistently.”

Atlanta’s roster could also get very expensive in the future, depending on how much money the team invests to keep the players it has drafted in recent years. De’Andre Hunter is eligible for a rookie scale extension that would kick in starting in ‘23/24, and Onyeka Okongwu will be eligible for an extension next summer that would begin the following year.

Those extensions would be in addition to the major contracts already on the books for Young, John Collins and Clint Capela, all of whom are under contract through at least ‘24/25. If Murray re-signs with the Hawks on a max deal as a free agent, those four players alone could cost $140+MM, depending on how much the cap goes up. The Spurs are betting the Hawks will be hesitant to pay such a hefty price tag if they don’t find more postseason success in the next couple years.

The Hawks’ perspective:

How many times do you have an opportunity to trade for an All-Star who is just entering his prime? Not only that, but Murray, who turns 26 years old in September, has team-friendly salaries of $16.57MM in ‘22/23 and $17.71MM in ‘23/24.

Atlanta didn’t give up any win-now pieces from next season’s team. Prior to the trade, Gallinari’s partial guarantee was only $5MM, so there was no chance the Hawks were going to guarantee the remainder of that sizable deal, given the forward’s declining play and advancing age. Moving off that contract was a bonus.

It was clear the Hawks needed to make moves after an uneven regular season and a disappointing playoff exit which saw the Heat stymie Young, forcing him into more turnovers per game (6.2) than assists (6.0) and drastically reducing his scoring (15.4 PPG on .319/.184/.788 shooting vs. 28.4 PPG on .460/.382/.904 shooting in the regular season).

To aid their star, the Hawks acquired Murray, a player who has consistently improved various aspects of his game every season. General manager Landry Fields recently said they’re betting on the “character makeup” of the two All-Stars and their will to win together.

I’m very curious to see how Young and Murray complement each other on offense, since it will take significant adjustments from both players to get the best out of each other’s talents.

If Young can become much more active away from the ball – coming off screens, setting back-screens, drawing attention away from teammates — that would allow Murray to handle the ball more, and he had a lot of success as a lead ball-handler last season, ranking fourth in the league in assists (9.2), one spot below Young (9.7). Murray also posted a much better assist-to-turnover ratio than his new teammate (3.48-to-1 vs. 2.43-to-1).

I suspect that head coach Nate McMillan will experiment with staggering their minutes somewhat to give Murray more opportunities to run the show with the second unit.

Murray is a pretty significant defensive upgrade over Kevin Huerter, who was dealt to Sacramento in a trade that we’ll cover next week. Murray led the league in deflections (4.0) and steals (2.0) per game last season and is an effective point-of-attack defender.

Having said that, I do think his All-Defensive nod back in ’17/18, prior to his torn ACL, has given him a reputation that has exceeded his actual play on that end of the court the past few seasons. For example, the Spurs’ defensive rating was better when he didn’t play last season (113.4 on vs. 111.9 off), but he was still an overall net positive (+2.3) because they were much better offensively when he was on the court (114.4 on vs. 110.6 off).

Young, of course, is one of the league’s worst defenders, so it’s not as though placing him on a shooting guard instead of having him up top makes things any easier for the Hawks. They will likely still try to hide him on the opposing team’s worst offensive player.

Murray has been an excellent rebounder throughout his career, and he pulled down a career-high 8.3 boards per game last season. Atlanta ranked just 20th in the league in rebounding last season, so that’s another area in which he will definitely help the team.

The Hawks are also betting on a return to health for three players who were all hampered with various injuries last season: Collins (foot/finger), Capela (Achilles soreness/knee) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (knee). All three were key contributors during the team’s surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, but none were healthy in the 2022 postseason.

The Hawks have youth on their side. Of the projected starting lineup of Young, Murray, Hunter, Collins and Capela, the veteran center is the eldest at 28 years old.

Okongwu, who could eventually replace Capela, won’t turn 22 until December. Atlanta’s 2021 first-rounder, Jalen Johnson, turns 21 in December. 2022 First-rounder AJ Griffin won’t turn 19 until August.

The Hawks control their own first-rounders in 2023 and 2024, have an additional lottery-protected pick from the Kings in 2024 (via the Huerter deal), and control five second-rounders over the next two drafts.

The reason I mention the youth and draft equity is because it’s not as though trading for Murray was a death knell for the future. There are still multiple pathways for the Hawks to pivot if things go south, and if they get better, they have some additional assets to continue to improve, if needed.

If Young and Murray form a dynamic backcourt and the roster continues to develop, and if the aforementioned trio return to health and form, Atlanta has the talent to potentially make another deep playoff run, but it won’t be easy.

Even if all those things go right, questions remain. The team’s defense, which ranked 26th last season and hasn’t been better than 21st over the past five years, has to get much better. Young will have to guard someone. Murray will have to make teams pay for leaving him open from behind the arc on offense.

Can Hunter be the player who can defend the big wing scorers like Kevin Durant (if he remains in the East), Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jimmy Butler, and Khris Middleton? Who is guarding the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid? For as good as Capela was two years ago, and he was excellent, he could not stop Brook Lopez down low when Antetokounmpo was injured in the Conference Finals, so he is definitely not stopping either of those two superstars. And that’s only in the East.

The Hawks know all that. They know the fit isn’t seamless, and asking their new backcourt to make major adjustments when they’ve already had individual success isn’t ideal. But they’re betting that Young and Murray can make those adjustments and that the team will become a sustainable winner in part due to their efforts.

The Hawks gave themselves a timeline by trading away first-round picks with no protections. If everything clicks, they have a chance to be very good. But the clock is ticking, and the Spurs are waiting.

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Trade Breakdown: Royce O’Neale To Nets

July 21st, 2022 at 8:54am CST by Rory Maher

This is the fifth installment in our series breaking down the major trades of the 2022 offseason. As opposed to giving out grades, this series will explore why the teams were motivated to make the moves. Let’s dive into a deal just before free agency opened between the Nets and Jazz…

In a deal that got lost in the shuffle amid other major NBA news — namely Kevin Durant requesting a trade out of Brooklyn — the Nets acquired Royce O’Neale from the Jazz in exchange for either the Nets‘, Rockets’, or Sixers’ 2023 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).

The Nets used an $11.3MM traded player exception to take on O’Neale’s salary without having to send any back in return.

The Nets’ perspective:

Why would the Nets give up a first-round pick for a player who has averaged fewer than seven points per game (6.9 PPG) since he became a full-time starter three years ago?

While it’s true that O’Neale isn’t much of a scorer, he brings plenty of other qualities to the table that make him an attractive role player for a team trying to win right now. He scores very efficiently when he does take shots (which is admittedly pretty rare), posting a .446/.384/.803 slash line over the last three seasons, good for a 59.6% true shooting percentage.

He generally makes good decisions when he has the ball, posting a 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio over the last three years, well above-average for a forward, and he’s always willing to make the extra pass for a better look. O’Neale also finds creative ways to be effective on offense, like setting unexpected, bone-crushing back-screens and then slipping to the rim for layups.

O’Neale is a solid rebounder, pulling down 5.7 boards in 30.6 MPG over that same time period. He also has an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time, which is something that doesn’t show up in statistics but is noticeable if you’re specifically tracking a player’s movements.

Much of O’Neale’s value for the Jazz was tied into his willingness to do the dirty work. He was frequently tasked with defending the opposing team’s best non-center, and while his results in that area were mixed, it’s hard not to admire his determination.

O’Neale has been an extremely durable player since 2018, only missing seven total games over the last four seasons, which must have been an attractive attribute for the Nets, given all the games their key players have missed the past few years. He’s also on a reasonable contract, earning $9.2MM in 2022/23, with his $9.5MM salary for ’23/24 partially guaranteed for $2.5MM.

The 29-year-old’s NBA success is a testament to his self-awareness – O’Neale knows exactly who he is as a player, and he doesn’t try to do things he’s not capable of, as he told Brian Lewis of The New York Post a couple of weeks ago.

“(I’ll help) any way I can,” he said. “Just try to be the guy I’ve been doing, not be anyone I’m not. But I know what got me here and what’s going to keep me being here, so just learning any way I can and doing what I got to do offensively and defensively.”

Having said all that, out of all the trades made this offseason, I found this to be the most perplexing one, at least from Brooklyn’s side of things.

Watching O’Neale get repeatedly roasted by Jalen Brunson in Utah’s first-round loss to Dallas made it clear that his defense has fallen off a bit. It’s not like O’Neale was ever a lockdown defender to begin with, either. He’s an undersized forward at 6’4″ and isn’t the NBA’s quickest player, but he uses his length (6’9″ wingspan) and strength (226 pounds) well to do his best to deter opponents.

What he lacked in physical attributes O’Neale always made up for with determined effort and toughness. He rarely had much help on the perimeter, as Utah’s defenses were always anchored by the interior presence of three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

What makes this deal especially confusing to me is the Nets already had a better all-around player in Bruce Brown and reportedly didn’t even make him an offer in free agency – he joined the Nuggets via the taxpayer mid-level exception. O’Neale, on the other hand, is older than Brown and will make more money than him over the next couple of seasons, although Brown’s deal is fully guaranteed in ’23/24 and O’Neale’s isn’t.

While O’Neale is a much more proven shooter than Brown and has more experience playing the two forward spots, Brown is more athletic with a strong, stout build, so it’s not like he’d be a liability defending up a position or two – he did it a lot last season as is.

Maybe the Nets like O’Neale’s veteran presence and think he can help turn around the team’s culture, which general manager Sean Marks has said would be a point of emphasis going forward. They certainly must have been drawn to his playoff experience, even if the Jazz failed to advance past the second round during O’Neale’s tenure.

I still believe O’Neale is a solid player on a fair contract with bounce-back potential, and a likely late first-round pick in 2023 doesn’t do anything in the present for a team that’s trying to win the championship, so in that sense it’s an easily digestible win-now move. I’m just not sure that a player coming off a down season in the area that he’s built his reputation (defense) on was a worthwhile gamble with that asset – we’ll see how it plays out next season.

On the other hand, I did like the Nets’ free agency moves of taking fliers on T.J. Warren and Edmond Sumner, both of whom missed all of last season while recovering from injuries, but are reportedly fully healthy. I also like the collection of young players the Nets have assembled with their recent draft picks, and Marks and the front office have consistently found talent in the rough, so maybe O’Neale will be another one, even if the circumstances are a lot different.

The Jazz’s perspective:

Utah’s reasoning for making the move was a lot easier to understand.

Plain and simple, the Jazz had topped out. Last year’s club disappointed on many levels. Utah was still a good team, don’t get me wrong – making the playoffs every season is no easy task, no matter how some might try to downplay it.

But the writing was on the wall. Being in the luxury tax with no draft equity and no real young players to build around sans Donovan Mitchell (who is on a maximum-salary contract and has his share of flaws) made the Jazz’s roster construction untenable.

You can only run things back so many times before everyone realizes that your window has closed. Perhaps that happened in 2021, when the Jazz posted an NBA-best 52-20 record in the regular season, only fall to the Clippers in the second round of the playoffs after blowing a 2-0 series lead and after Kawhi Leonard tore his ACL in Game 4 of the series (they also blew a 22-point halftime lead in Game 6, the series clincher).

That deflating series loss had a detrimental impact on the Jazz in multiple ways that carried over into last season, when they imploded late in games by blowing several large leads in fourth quarters. They had one of the best net ratings in the league – third overall – despite their solid but unspectacular record of 49-33, and when they were rolling, they were really good. But there was never a sense that things would turn things around after a midseason slump that was unfortunately caused, at least in part, by COVID-19 absences.

Which leads us back to trading O’Neale for a 2023 first-rounder. Change was inevitable for the Jazz. O’Neale being dealt just happened to be the first domino to topple.

NBA teams are always looking for “3-and-D” players that don’t need the ball to be effective to supplement star players. O’Neale fits that mold when he’s playing well.

President Danny Ainge is a notoriously difficult negotiator, but Utah’s asking price for O’Neale was obviously any type of first-round pick, perhaps for 2023, perhaps not, and Brooklyn met that asking price. Gaining a decent draft asset for a player coming off a down season defensively is definitely a good return for the Jazz.

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