- Summer League veteran Keifer Sykes hopes to show the Pacers that he’s worthy of a spot on their roster, writes Jonathan X. Simmons of The Indianapolis Star. Sykes reached an agreement on an Exhibit 10 contract this week, shortly after hitting a game-winning shot to wrap up The Basketball Tournament. “This is my fourth time in summer league, so I’m really excited after last year with COVID and we didn’t have it,” Sykes said. “I’m just excited to continue to show people my game, and to continue to have endurance in my pro career while I’m getting into my prime.”
- The guarantee date has passed for Pacers small forward Kelan Martin, so unless the two sides quietly agreed to push that deadline, Indiana will owe him $1.7MM this season, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Martin played 35 games for the Pacers last season after starting his career with the Timberwolves in 2019/20.
The five-team trade involving the Lakers, Wizards, Nets, Spurs, and Pacers, headlined by Russell Westbrook (to Los Angeles) and Spencer Dinwiddie (to Washington) is now official, according to press releases from multiple clubs.
The deal began as a two-team trade sending Westbrook from the Wizards to the Lakers, an agreement that was completed around the start of the draft last Thursday. Later that night, the Wizards and Pacers agreed to a deal sending Aaron Holiday that would be folded into the Westbrook blockbuster.
Subsequently, during free agency, the Wizards and Dinwiddie wanted to find a way to get the point guard to D.C. and ultimately convinced the Nets to accommodate a sign-and-trade. The Spurs entered the mix late to accommodate Washington’s salary-dump of Chandler Hutchison.
Here’s the full breakdown of the deal, based on reports to date:
- To Lakers:
- Russell Westbrook (from Wizards)
- The Bulls’ 2023 second-round pick (from Wizards)
- Either the Wizards’ or Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Wizards)
- The Wizards’ 2028 second-round pick (from Wizards)
- Russell Westbrook (from Wizards)
- To Wizards:
- Spencer Dinwiddie (sign-and-trade; from Nets)
- Kyle Kuzma (from Lakers)
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (from Lakers)
- Montrezl Harrell (from Lakers)
- Aaron Holiday (from Pacers)
- The draft rights to Isaiah Todd (No. 31 pick; from Pacers)
- Cash (from Pacers; $1MM, per Fred Katz of The Athletic)
- To Nets:
- Either the Wizards’ or the Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable; from Wizards)
- The right to swap the Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick for the Wizards’ 2025 second-round pick (from Wizards)
- The draft rights to Nikola Milutinov (from Spurs)
- To Spurs:
- Chandler Hutchison (from Wizards)
- Either the Bulls’, the Lakers’, or the Pistons 2022 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable; from Wizards)
- To Pacers:
- The draft rights to Isaiah Jackson (No. 22 pick; from Lakers)
The Nets also generated the most significant trade exception of any team in the deal — it’ll be worth about $11.5MM.
While it was a fairly minor move for Brooklyn, San Antonio, and Indiana, the deal will significantly reshape the Lakers’ and Wizards’ rosters for the 2021/22 season. Los Angeles consolidated its depth, acquiring a star player who wanted to team up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, then filled out its roster in free agency.
The Wizards, meanwhile, traded one star for several depth pieces and managed to replace their old point guard with one who will earn less than half of Westbrook’s salary for the next couple seasons. The deal should increase the club’s cap flexibility while fortifying its bench.
The Pacers have officially confirmed three previously-reported signings, announcing today in a press release that they’ve added Duane Washington, Terry Taylor, and Keifer Sykes to their roster. Washington received a two-way deal, while Taylor and Sykes are believed to have signed Exhibit 10 contracts.
Washington, a 6’3″ shooting guard, went undrafted last Thursday out of Ohio State. A second-generation NBA pro, Washington is the son of former journeyman shooting guard Duane Washington Sr. and the nephew of five-time Lakers champion point guard (and current Sparks coach) Derek Fisher. Our full story on his two-way deal is here.
Taylor, a 6’5″ wing, who worked out for more than half the teams in the NBA during the pre-draft process, had a big senior year in 2020/21 for Austin Peay, averaging 21.6 points and 11.1 rebounds in 27 games (37.0 MPG). The full story on his training camp agreement with Indiana is here.
An undrafted free agent out of Green Bay in 2015, Sykes has spent most of the last several seasons playing in international leagues. The 27-year-old point guard participated in this summer’s The Basketball Tournament and hit the game-winning three-point shot on Tuesday night to clinch the title and the $1MM prize for Boeheim’s Army (video link). Our story on his Exhibit 10 deal is here.
Indiana’s roster is now officially at 16 players, with deals for T.J. McConnell, Torrey Craig, and Isaiah Jackson still to be finalized and Cassius Stanley‘s contract situation still to be resolved (he’s a two-way RFA). Teams can carry up to 20 players in the offseason.
The Nets, who recognized that Bradley Beal wanted the Wizards to acquire Spencer Dinwiddie and knew they had some leverage in sign-and-trade talks, initially asked Washington for a first-round pick, reports Fred Katz of The Athletic. When they were unsuccessful, the Nets tried to get Washington to part with Deni Avdija or Rui Hachimura, according to Katz.
However, the Wizards held firm in those negotiations and ended up keeping their top assets, instead sending Brooklyn a future second-round pick and a second-round pick swap. The Nets will also generate an $11.5MM trade exception in the deal.
As Katz details, the Wizards also had to sweeten the deal for the Lakers to convince them to loop the Russell Westbrook trade agreement into Washington’s acquisition of Dinwiddie via sign-and-trade, which is why L.A. will be receiving three second-round selections from the Wizards instead of just two.
Finally, Katz reports that the final version of the complex five-team trade will see the Wizards acquire cash considerations from the Pacers. The full breakdown of the trade agreement can be seen on our offseason trade tracker.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- For much of this week, there had been a league-wide assumption that the Wizards may end up rerouting Kyle Kuzma to a new team as part of the Dinwiddie deal, but Washington never included him in trade discussions, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic, who notes that the club has significantly improved its depth with this week’s roster moves.
- Raul Neto‘s new deal with the Wizards will be a one-year, minimum-salary contract, according to Katz. Neto will join Dinwiddie and Aaron Holiday on the club’s point guard depth chart.
- Although Deni Avdija has been cleared for basketball activities, he’s not playing for the Wizards in Summer League, writes Katz. The club wants to limit the risk of a setback for 2020’s lottery pick, who is recovering from a right fibular hairline fracture.
11:56pm: The Spurs are sending the draft rights to 2015 first-round pick Nikola Milutinov to the Nets in the five-team trade, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). That will satisfy the “touching” requirements we outlined below and allow the deal to be officially completed once the moratorium ends on Friday.
Katz adds (via Twitter) that the Wizards have also agreed to trade one more second-round pick (Chicago’s 2023 selection) to the Lakers. Washington is giving up five second-round selections in the deal (three to the Lakers, one to the Spurs, and one to the Nets), as well as a second-round swap (to the Nets).
Finally, Katz reports that the third year of Dinwiddie’s contract will be partially guaranteed (Twitter link).
5:04pm: The Wizards and Spencer Dinwiddie are in agreement on a three-year, $62MM deal that will land the veteran point guard in Washington, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The club will acquire Dinwiddie from the Nets via sign-and-trade.
That $62MM figure had been expected for Dinwiddie’s deal with the Wizards, since it’s the most the team could pay him by looping his sign-and-trade into the larger Russell Westbrook deal with the Lakers, notes Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Charania (Twitter link), the Nets will receive a second-round pick and a draft-pick swap from the Wizards in the sign-and-trade agreement. The move will also create an $11.5MM trade exception for Brooklyn.
Additionally, the Wizards will trade Chandler Hutchison and a second-round pick to the Spurs as part of the multi-team deal, Charania reports (via Twitter). Moving Hutchison’s $4MM+ salary will allow Washington to remain out of tax territory for now, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link) provides the details on the draft assets, reporting that the Wizards are sending a 2022 second-rounder to San Antonio and a 2024 second-rounder to Brooklyn, as well as a 2025 second-round pick swap to the Nets.
The 2022 second-round pick headed to San Antonio will be the most favorable of the Lakers’, Bulls’, and Pistons’ second-rounders, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
That 2025 swap will give Brooklyn a chance to send Golden State’s second-rounder to Washington in exchange for the Wizards’ 2025 second-rounder, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The 2024 second-rounder will be the more favorable of the Wizards’ and Grizzlies’ selections, Bontemps adds.
In total, Wojnarowski tweets, the deal will include five teams: the Wizards, Nets, Spurs, Lakers, and Pacers. The Westbrook trade agreement and the Wizards’ deal for Aaron Holiday will become part of this larger deal once it’s officially completed after the moratorium lifts on Friday.
Here’s what the full trade should look like, based on the details reported to date:
- Wizards to acquire Dinwiddie (via sign-and-trade), Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Holiday, and the draft rights to Isaiah Todd (No. 31 pick).
- Lakers to acquire Westbrook, either the Wizards’ or the Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is less favorable; from Wizards), and the Wizards’ 2028 second-round pick.
- Nets to acquire either the Wizards’ or the Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is more favorable; from Wizards) and the right to swap their the Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick for the Wizards’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Spurs to acquire Hutchison and either the Bulls’, Lakers,’, or Pistons 2022 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable; from Wizards).
- Pacers to acquire the draft rights to Isaiah Jackson (No. 22 pick).
As Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report points out (via Twitter), there will likely be at least one more piece involved between the Nets and Spurs in order to satisfy the rule that every team in a multi-team trade must “touch” two other teams in the deal. As reported so far, Brooklyn and San Antonio are each only receiving assets from (or sending an asset to) the Wizards. That last piece would likely be something minor, such as cash or the draft rights to a stashed player.
In Dinwiddie, the Wizards are getting a 28-year-old point guard who is coming off a lost season. He appeared in just three games before missing the rest of the 2020/21 campaign due to a partially torn ACL. However, Dinwiddie was reportedly cleared for all basketball activities in June and the expectation is that he’ll be good to go for the fall.
In his last full season, Dinwiddie averaged 20.6 PPG and 6.8 APG on .415/.308/.778 shooting in 64 games (31.2 MPG) for Brooklyn in 2019/20.
Word broke on Monday night that the Wizards and Dinwiddie were nearing an agreement, but the club didn’t have the cap space necessary to acquire him without getting the Nets’ cooperation in a sign-and-trade. Because Brooklyn didn’t want to take on any salary but wanted an asset or two for agreeing to play ball, it took all involved parties a couple days to work out the details of the deal that would get the point guard to D.C.
The Pacers have officially signed No. 13 overall pick Chris Duarte to his rookie scale contract, the club announced today in a press release.
Duarte, who turned 24 in June, was one of the older prospects in this year’s draft class, but became a popular target for teams seeking immediate help on the wing. While Indiana was able to snag him at No. 13, Duarte was reportedly a top option for the Warriors at No. 14 and was considered a trade-up target for the Knicks.
As a senior at Oregon in 2020/21, the 6’6″ shooting guard averaged 17.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 1.9 SPG with an impressive .532/.424/.810 shooting line in 26 games (34.1 MPG).
As our breakdown of 2021 rookie salaries shows, assuming he signs for 120% of his rookie scale amount, Duarte is in line for a four-year contract worth about $17.7MM, with a first-year salary of $3.75MM.
As Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files tweets, the Pacers have another first-round pick, Isaiah Jackson, to sign, but the No. 22 overall pick is tied up in a trade that’s not yet official, so the team will have to wait at least a couple more days to finalize his contract.
The Wizards continue to work through their complicated sign-and-trade acquisition of Spencer Dinwiddie, according to multiple reports.
Quinton Mayo (Twitter link) has heard the Bulls and Thunder mentioned as teams that could end up getting involved in a multi-team trade involving Dinwiddie. Mayo also reports that the Nets asked the Wizards for Deni Avdija during those negotiations, which Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News (twitter link) corroborates.
If and when the Wizards, Nets, and other potential trade partners figure out a deal, Dinwiddie is expected to get a three-year, $62MM deal from Washington, reports Winfield (Twitter link).
Here are a few more updates from around the East:
- Although Victor Oladipo‘s camp is optimistic that he’ll be able to return to action sometime between late December and early February, some Heat people believe March is a more realistic target, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Oladipo, who underwent quad tendon surgery in May, agreed to a minimum-salary contract with Miami.
- Following up on an Ian Begley report that stated the final year in the Knicks‘ deals with Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Evan Fournier aren’t guaranteed, ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link) clarifies that all four deals are expected to have standard team options in their last years. Noel, Burks, and Rose will have those options in year three, while Fournier’s will be in year four.
- Pacers big man Goga Bitadze wanted to play for the team in Summer League this month, but he missed Indiana’s first two SL practices due to back soreness and is now away from the club due to a personal matter, writes Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files.
While it’s not out of the question that the Pacers will make a major trade this offseason, the team isn’t any rush to move Myles Turner or Malcolm Brogdon, the two names that pop up most frequently in Pacers-related trade rumors, writes J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star.
Of those two players, Turner is less likely to be dealt, according to Michael, who suggests that new head coach Rick Carlisle would like to try to figure out the best way to maximize the Turner/Domantas Sabonis duo. It’s possible Carlisle will split up the two Pacers bigs and have Turner come off the bench to start the season, Michael adds.
As for Brogdon, the Pacers have been trying to determine whether he’s the right long-term fit as the team’s point guard and leader, according to Michael. As Michael details, Indiana had some locker room issues in 2020/21 and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard suggested at the end of the season that the club lacked vocal leadership. The Pacers may expect more in that regard from Brogdon going forward.
Here’s more from around the East:
- The Knicks, who remain on the lookout for another point guard, have some interest in Dennis Schröder, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Berman also says New York contacted Elfrid Payton at the start of free agency, though it’s unclear if the club views him as a viable fallback option.
- Yam Madar, the 47th overall pick in the 2020 draft, hopes to play for the Celtics this season, he told reporters on Tuesday. As Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets, Boston’s plan is to see how Madar’s Summer League stint goes and to evaluate its options from there.
- Nets star Kevin Durant is thrilled that Blake Griffin is set to return to the team for another season, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “To have Blake back, I’m so excited,” Durant said from Tokyo. “I mean, as soon as the season was over, I was telling him that we want him back and telling him that, you know, we should try to do it again. And I was glad to see it get done.” In a separate story, Lewis confirms that James Johnson‘s new deal with Brooklyn is worth the veteran’s minimum.
- After recently announcing a new deal for NHL star Alex Ovechkin, the centerpiece of his other franchise, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis discussed the contrast between how things played out with Ovechkin and Russell Westbrook, per Emily Kaplan of ESPN. “We had a superstar player with the Wizards, he had an opportunity and wanted to be traded to the Lakers,” Leonsis said. “And I was dealing with that as we were announcing Alex. I couldn’t help but self-reflect on what a difference it is. Here’s a great player in Russell Westbrook, played in OKC, wanted to be traded, went to Houston, wanted to be traded, came to D.C., wanted to be traded and is now in L.A. He’s an unbelievably great person and an unbelievably great player. But that’s the difference between the NBA and the NHL, I suppose.”
Free agent point guard Keifer Sykes has agreed to sign with the Pacers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Sources tell Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (Twitter link) that it’ll be an Exhibit 10 deal for Sykes, who will play for Indiana in Summer League.
An undrafted free agent out of Green Bay in 2015, Sykes has spent most of the last several years playing in international leagues. He has spent time in Korea, Turkey, Italy, China, and Greece, and is coming off a one-year stint with the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Australia’s National Basketball League.
Sykes also participated in this summer’s The Basketball Tournament and hit the game-winning three-point shot on Tuesday night to clinch the title and the $1MM prize for Boeheim’s Army (video link).
Sykes and undrafted rookie Terry Taylor will reportedly be among the Pacers’ training camp invitees this fall.
AUGUST 6: The Pacers have officially re-signed McConnell, announcing the transaction in a press release.
“We are very pleased to re-sign T.J. McConnell,” Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard said in a statement. “This franchise and our fan base knows what T.J. brings to this team: leadership, tenacity and an insatiable desire to win. T.J. has arrived at this point in his career with hard work, patience and overcoming doubters. But he never doubted in himself. He was undrafted and it takes a special kind of player to not only overcome that obstacle, but to turn it into what will likely be a long NBA career. That is a testament to what kind of work ethic and competitive fire T.J. has.”
AUGUST 2: The Pacers and point guard T.J. McConnell have agreed to terms on a contract that will keep him in Indiana for the foreseeable future, reports J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link).
The deal will be worth $35MM over four seasons, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Michael adds that the final year will only be partially guaranteed (Twitter link).
McConnell averaged career highs in PPG (8.6), APG (6.6), RPG (3.7), and FG% (.559), among other categories, for the Pacers in 2020/21, appearing in 69 games and logging 26.0 MPG. His contributions also go beyond the box score, as he’s a heady player and a tough perimeter defender.
The 29-year-old had been expected to draw interest from teams in need of point guard depth, but there was always mutual interest between him and the Pacers.
Indiana had been considered more likely to re-sign McConnell than fellow free agent Doug McDermott, and that’s exactly what happened, as McDermott is San Antonio-bound.