- Suns coach Mike Budenholzer doesn’t believe “benched” is the proper word to use with veteran center Jusuf Nurkic (Twitter video link from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). Nurkic was removed from the starting lineup on January 6 and hasn’t played since the following night. He’s currently getting back into game shape in Phoenix following a bout with the flu. “It’s a long season,” Budenholzer said. “He didn’t play a couple of games and now he’s been sick. He’s home reconditioning. We’ll see how he comes through when we go back.”
There have been rumors lately that the Bucks might be interested in taking on Bradley Beal as part of a larger trade that would send Heat forward Jimmy Butler to the Suns. However, NBA insider Chris Haynes says in a Twitter video that Milwaukee hasn’t contacted Phoenix at all to ask about a potential Beal trade.
“It was explained to me that a connection between the two is nonexistent,” Haynes said, “so if Phoenix is able to acquire Jimmy Butler, it would not come via the Milwaukee Bucks taking on the star guard.”
If the Bucks aren’t involved, it could become very difficult for the Suns to find any team willing to accept Beal’s contract, which pays him $53.7MM next season with a $57.1MM player option for 2026/27. That’s a huge financial risk for a 31-year-old guard whose scoring numbers have declined during both of his years in Phoenix and who hasn’t played more than 60 games in a season since 2018/19.
Beal also has a no-trade clause in his contract, which means he has the right to reject any deal the Suns make. He recently stated that no one from management has reached out to him or his agent to discuss a possible trade.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 states that he hasn’t heard of any teams that have expressed interest in acquiring Beal, and there are only “a select few” places that Beal would be willing to go (Twitter link).
As a second-apron team, Phoenix can’t take back more salary than it sends out and can’t aggregate players to match Butler’s $48.8MM deal. Miami reportedly isn’t interested in Beal, partially due to the no-trade clause, so at least one more team will have to get involved to facilitate the trade.
Phoenix made a trade with Utah on Tuesday, acquiring three first-round picks in exchange for its unprotected first-rounder in 2031. There has been an expectation that the Suns would use one or more of those picks to incentivize someone to add Beal, but they may be saved for other trades if there are no takers.
There was an “undeniable vibe” in Miami on Tuesday that the Suns‘ draft-pick trade with Utah moved Phoenix a step closer to potentially acquiring Jimmy Butler, according to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), who say a source close to the process believes there’s a “real pathway” to a deal sending the Heat star to the Suns.
[RELATED: Likelihood Of Suns Acquiring Jimmy Butler Increasing?]
Still, sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking tell Stein and Fischer that the Suns made their deal with the Jazz – which sent out Phoenix’s 2031 first-round pick in exchange for three less valuable first-rounders – without a specific follow-up move lined up.
As Stein and Fischer write, while that trade puts the Suns in a better position to make a play for Butler, it also led to plenty of chatter around the league that the club was seeking more general flexibility. For instance, one of those first-round draft picks could be attached to Jusuf Nurkic to move off his contract and get something value in return.
One executive speculated that the Suns could keep the 2025 first-round pick they acquired from Utah (likely to be Cleveland’s pick at No. 30) and use it in June to trade back in the draft and acquire more future assets, like they did on draft night in 2024 when they moved down six spots from No. 22 to No. 28 and added three future second-rounders in the process.
For what it’s worth, John Hollinger of The Athletic expresses skepticism that the Suns don’t already have a plan in mind for a particular trade, arguing that you don’t make a move like that and then say, “Well, now maybe let’s see what we can do?” The Suns already know the answer to that question, according to Hollinger, who says Phoenix almost certainly made the move to meet a specific need conveyed by a potential trade partner.
Here’s more on the Suns:
- Within his story analyzing the Suns/Jazz trade, Hollinger lauds Phoenix’s front office for its creativity in continuing to find new ways to add draft assets using its limited tradable picks. However, he compares Tuesday’s deal to swapping out a dollar for three quarters and notes that the Suns likely won’t have more options to continue unearthing draft capital — since they project to be well into second-apron territory next season as well, their 2032 first-round pick will be frozen, ineligible to be included in a trade.
- The Heat have spoken to multiple teams about Butler, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Insider link), but the Suns remain atop the 35-year-old’s list of preferred destinations and are expected to be “aggressive” in seeking roster upgrades between now and the February 6 trade deadline, Charania adds.
- Kevin Durant dismissed the idea that he might run out of gas in the second half of the season, telling Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, “I ain’t a regular 36-year-old. … How many people playing at this level at my age? So you can’t compare me to anybody who’ve burnt out. It could happen, but does it look like it right now?” Durant also said he’s not frustrated by the restrictions the Suns face under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement: “I’ve seen a lot of crazy s–t just happen in this league. You know, regardless of rules and CBA is put in place, these dudes get paid a lot of money to figure out ways and stuff like that. So it isn’t frustrating. I mean, we just added Nick (Richards), which is a good pickup.”
- Within that same Yahoo Sports story, Goodwill confirmed that there are whispers about the Bucks and Raptors potentially getting involved in a multi-team deal sending Butler to the Suns and added the Wizards to the list of clubs rumored to be possible facilitators in that scenario.
- Bradley Beal, who is still listed as questionable to play on Wednesday vs. Brooklyn due to a left ankle sprain, referred to the game as “a must-win for us,” per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
After the Suns made a trade on Tuesday to turn their unprotected 2031 first-round pick into three separate first-rounders in 2025, 2027, and 2029, a source close to Jimmy Butler told The Athletic that there’s “rising optimism” the Heat star is closer to being traded to his preferred destination in Phoenix.
As we outlined earlier today, even though the Suns’ 2031 first-round pick was easily the most valuable of any of the four draft assets involved in their trade with Utah, breaking up that pick into three future first-rounders puts Phoenix in a better position to offer sweeteners to multiple trade partners, which will likely be necessary.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Twitter link) believes that as many as five teams would be involved if the Suns are able to eventually work out a deal for Butler.
The Bucks continue to be identified by rival executives as a team worth watching as a facilitator in the Butler talks, according to The Athletic’s reporters, including Sam Amick, Tony Jones, and Jon Krawczynski. There’s a belief that Milwaukee is exploring the idea of reducing its payroll to duck below the second apron while aggregating salaries to bring in another maximum-salary star.
Marc Stein suggested earlier this week that the Bucks could be a team to keep an eye on for Suns guard Bradley Beal, who would almost certainly need to be sent to a third team in any Phoenix trade for Butler, waiving his no-trade clause in the process.
The Athletic’s reporters also mention Zach LaVine as the type of player who might appeal to Milwaukee, though if the Bulls star were involved in any Butler/Beal scenario, it would have to expand into an even larger, more complex deal.
For the time being, Butler continues to take the floor for the Heat, though the six-time All-Star had another underwhelming outing on Tuesday vs. Portland, with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting in 27 minutes — he didn’t play in the fourth quarter and Miami was outscored by 19 points during his time on the floor.
Shams Charania of ESPN, who reported last week that Butler reiterated his trade request during a meeting with president of basketball operations Pat Riley, tweeted on Tuesday night that the veteran forward has since “tripled down” on that request to Riley and team owner Micky Arison.
The Jazz and Suns completed a fascinating trade on Tuesday, with Utah sending three first-round picks (in 2025, 2027, and 2029) to Phoenix in exchange for a single first-round pick in 2031.
The exact terms of the deal are as follows:
- Jazz acquire the Suns’ 2031 first-round pick (unprotected).
- Suns acquire either the Cavaliers’ or Timberwolves’ 2025 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable); either the Cavaliers’, Timberwolves’, or Jazz’s 2027 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable); and either the Cavaliers’, Timberwolves’, or Jazz’s 2029 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
- Note: The Timberwolves’ 2029 pick is top-five protected.
Our readers who have commented on our story on the deal have argued in favor of both the Suns’ and Jazz’s sides, while some have wondered about the logic of trading three first-rounders for a single far-off pick.
Given the assets that both teams held, it’s the sort of swap that makes perfect sense for both sides. Here’s why:
Why the trade makes sense for the Jazz:
As a result of their trades sending Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland and Rudy Gobert to Minnesota, the Jazz controlled Cleveland’s and Minnesota’s unprotected first-round picks in 2025 and 2027, along with Cleveland’s unprotected 2029 pick and Minnesota’s top-five protected ’29 selection.
That means, along with their own pick, the Jazz would have three first-round picks in each of those drafts. That’s essentially the same situation Utah has been in for each of the last two drafts — the club controlled three of the top 28 picks in 2023 and three of the top 32 in 2024 and used all of them to bring in rookies. It has proven to be a challenge to get all those youngsters acclimated at once, so it makes sense that the Jazz would want to avoid repeating that situation over and over again in the coming years.
By trading the least favorable of their 2025, 2027, and 2029 first-round selections, the Jazz will consolidate the least valuable of those picks while still leaving themselves with multiple first-rounders in each draft.
And now they have an intriguing new unprotected 2031 first-rounder, which has significant value due to the nature of the Suns’ roster construction. While Devin Booker figures to be a star in Phoenix for years to come, Kevin Durant turns 37 this year — he certainly won’t still be a Sun by 2031. And if Phoenix trades for Jimmy Butler, the club will be adding a player who turns 36 later this year (even if Bradley Beal remains a Sun for now, it’s unlikely he’ll still be on the roster by 2031).
Suns owner Mat Ishbia has shown he’s willing to spend big, but that doesn’t always translate to winning. This year’s Suns team has the highest payroll in the NBA and is still on the verge of falling out of the play-in picture — they’re tied for the No. 10 seed at 21-21. So there’s certainly no guarantee that, with few valuable draft assets left in their coffers and little flexibility to upgrade their roster, the Suns will be a playoff-caliber team in 2031. The Jazz are certainly betting against it.
Could this bet backfire on Utah? Sure. Maybe the Cavs and Timberwolves both fall apart in the coming years and Utah’s rebuild doesn’t progress as planned, resulting in all three teams missing the playoffs in 2029 and the Jazz sending Phoenix a lottery pick. But given the building blocks the Cavs and Timberwolves have in place, that’s highly unlikely, and even in that scenario, Utah would still control two lottery picks (unless Minnesota’s ’29 first-rounder is in the top five, which is a long shot).
Maybe the Suns figure out a way to maintain a sustainable contender and their 2031 pick ends up in the 20s. But even if that happens, it probably won’t become obvious for several more years, given how quickly teams’ fortunes can change in the NBA. And in the meantime, that unprotected pick will have tremendous value on the trade market if Utah wants to flip it in another deal.
There’s certainly some risk involved, but given how many draft assets they already possessed, it makes sense for the Jazz to surrender their three least valuable first-rounders to roll the dice on the chances that Phoenix’s 2031 pick could land in the top five.
Why the trade makes sense for the Suns:
Given how valuable that unprotected 2031 Suns first-rounder could be, along with the likelihood that the three picks they’re acquiring will end up in the 20s (or even at No. 30, if the Cavs finish the 2024/25 season with the league’s best record), what’s the thinking for Phoenix here?
Well, this Suns front office remains fully focused on upgrading the team in the short term and turning a single first-round pick into three first-rounders will help them do that.
Take Phoenix’s pursuit of Butler, for instance. In a multi-team scenario in which the Suns send Beal to a third team and acquire Butler from Miami, both the Heat and that third team will need to be incentivized. With just one tradable first-round pick in 2031 to offer, the Suns weren’t well positioned to offer sweeteners to both of its trade partners.
Now, Phoenix could offer, say, one first-rounder to the Heat and one first-rounder to the team taking on Beal’s onerous contract, with an additional pick left over to potentially send to one of those two clubs (which team gets it could depend on what the rest of the deal looks like). Those individual picks aren’t as valuable on their own as the Suns’ unprotected 2031 first-rounder, but splitting them up into multiple tradable assets allows Phoenix to spread them out across multiple trade partners.
The same thinking would apply if the Suns don’t acquire Butler and instead make separate trades to upgrade their roster. For instance, Phoenix could look to trade Beal and a pair of first-round picks for a series of role players who would better complement Durant and Booker, then attach a third first-rounder to Jusuf Nurkic in order to try to upgrade that roster spot too.
Again, that Suns 2031 pick is more valuable on its own that any of the new picks Phoenix acquired, but it also represented a risk for any potential trade partner — it’s six years out, and there’s no guarantee it won’t end up in the 20s itself. The Jazz were willing to take the risk on that 2031 pick due to their cache of existing draft assets, but it wouldn’t have made sense for every team.
The new picks are simpler for teams to place a value on, so there shouldn’t be much disparity between what the Suns and a trade partner think they’re worth. That might not have been the case for the 2031 first-rounder.
It’s also worth noting that reacquiring picks in 2025 and 2027 and 2029 gives the Suns more flexibility in terms of which first-rounders they make available going forward. The team could theoretically now trade its picks in 2026 and 2028 while hanging onto the ones in the odd-numbered years without running afoul of the Stepien rule, which prohibits a club from leaving itself without a first-round pick in consecutive future drafts.
However, trading first-rounders for even-numbered years would limit the Suns to two tradable picks, since the 2030 first-rounder can’t be moved now that Phoenix doesn’t control a 2031 pick. Additionally, those 2026 and 2028 also have “least favorable” terms applied to them, so if they’re more valuable than the newly acquired picks, it’s only marginally.
The ’26 selection will be the least favorable of Washington’s, Orlando’s, Memphis’, and Phoenix’s first-rounders, while the ’28 pick – probably the most valuable of the bunch – figures to be the least favorable of Washington’s, Brooklyn’s, and Phoenix’s first-rounders (Philadelphia’s pick could also be in that mix if the Sixers don’t convey their pick to Brooklyn in 2027).
Whatever the Suns plan to do with their first-rounders from 2025-29, it seems like a relatively safe bet that they won’t still control all of them by the time the trade deadline passes on February 6.
The Warriors endured a 40-point beatdown at the hands of the Celtics on their home floor on Monday and they admit that the 2022 Finals, in which they defeated Boston, feels like ancient history, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes.
“Yeah, we have an entirely different roster pretty much, obviously,” Stephen Curry said. “Especially without Draymond [Green] out there (due to injury). But you look [at what] they have, besides [Kristaps] Porzingis, they have pretty much the whole rotation still, and they are the defending champs. So, they’re coming in with a level of confidence and swagger about ’em, and it’s the exact opposite of what we have right now. So yeah, obviously great memories, but definitely feels like a long time ago.”
“Seems like an eternity ago,” Warriors center Kevon Looney added. “We have had a lot of iterations of the team since then. Each season brings on a new challenge. That year seems further and further away. But hopefully, we can get back to that feeling of being a champion. But we got a long way to go.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Is it time for the Warriors to hit the reset button? Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo.com endorses that approach, saying they should look to deal Curry and Green while they still have a lot of value. O’Connor explores a number of trade possibilities involving Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, the Lakers and Orlando to demonstrate what the return could be for each player.
- Domantas Sabonis has knocked down 48.4 percent of his 3-point attempts this season, far above his 34.9 percent career average. The Kings big man told Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee that he has gradually developed his long-range game. “It’s something I’ve been working on ever since I started playing basketball,” Sabonis said. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen overnight. You’ve got to keep doing it one summer, another offseason, another offseason. You just hope at one point you’re going to break through, and so far this year it’s been going in, so I’ve just got to keep sticking with it and shooting with confidence.”
- The Suns list Bradley Beal as questionable to play against the Nets on Wednesday due to a left ankle sprain (Twitter link). Beal returned to action on Monday at Cleveland after a two-game absence but contributed just five points and four assists in 25 minutes. Jusuf Nurkic, who last played on January 7, remains out due to “return to competition reconditioning.”
7:15pm: The trade is official, according to the Suns and Jazz (Twitter links).
6:26pm: The Suns have been seeking more draft capital and they are making a trade to that end. They are sending their 2031 unprotected first rounder — the last tradable first-rounder in their possession — to the Jazz in exchange for three first-round picks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports.
The Suns are acquiring the following three picks:
- The Cavaliers’ or Timberwolves’ 2025 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
- The Jazz’s, Cavaliers’, or Timberwolves’ 2027 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
- The Jazz’s, Cavaliers’, or Timberwolves’ 2029 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
Phoenix now control first-rounders in each of the next six drafts and will have more flexibility to make trades with the additional picks. The Suns are operating over the second tax apron and have limited options on the trade market this season. They’re not able to aggregate contracts or take back more salary than they send out.
Phoenix’s only other tradable draft asset is the 2025 second-round pick it acquired from Charlotte (while sending out three second-rounders) during the recent trade for center Nick Richards. That will almost certainly be Denver’s second-rounder.
This move could help facilitate a potential Jimmy Butler trade for the Suns. According to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link), the Heat are seeking multiple picks plus two players for Butler, and any deal would likely include at least four teams. Bradley Beal would almost certainly have to be part of Phoenix’s outgoing trade package, and he’d also need to approve any deal since he has a no-trade clause.
Butler is back in action after serving a team-imposed seven-game suspension but is still looking to be dealt, with the Suns reportedly his preferred destination.
The incentive for the Jazz to make this deal is the lack of protections on the 2031 first-rounder. The 2025 pick they’re giving up will most likely be one of the last two picks in the first round, given the Cavaliers’ record, while the 2027 and 2029 first-rounder will be the least favorable of three selections. The Suns’ ’31 pick has significantly more upside, especially considering that Phoenix’s current roster isn’t necessarily built for sustainable long-term success.
Of the 15 teams in the Western Conference, only two are clearly focused more on the 2025 draft lottery than the 2024/25 standings. The 10-31 Jazz and 14-28 Trail Blazers don’t have realistic postseason aspirations this season, with management prioritizing the development of young players and the possibility of landing another high draft pick.
Those two teams are sandwiching the 12-32 Pelicans, who definitely didn’t expect their season to play out like this. Plagued by injuries since top offseason acquisition Dejounte Murray broke his hand on opening night, New Orleans has won its past four games but likely dug too deep a hole in the first half to seriously vie for a play-in spot this season, even if the roster gets (and stays) fully healthy.
Still, that leaves 12 teams in the hunt for eight playoff spots in the Western Conference.
We can safely pencil in the Thunder for one of those spots — and it will almost certainly be the top one. At 35-7, Mark Daigneault‘s squad has a seven-game cushion on the next-best team in the conference.
The Rockets (28-14), Grizzlies (28-15) and Nuggets (26-16) round out the current top four in the West and appear well positioned to claim playoff berths. That’s not necessarily a lock, given how competitive the conference is — a single injury could be all it takes for one of those teams to fall back to the pack. But they’re in strong positions.
After the top four, things gets interesting. Here are the current Western Conference standings from five through 12:
- Los Angeles Clippers (24-18)
- Los Angeles Lakers (22-18)
- Dallas Mavericks (23-20)
- Sacramento Kings (22-20)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (22-21)
- Phoenix Suns (21-21)
- Golden State Warriors (21-21)
- San Antonio Spurs (19-22)
These eight teams are separated by a total of 4.5 games. The gap from No. 6 to 11 is just two games. A five-game winning streak or losing streak for any of these clubs could significantly change the perception of how their season is going.
To that point, as recently as January 4, the Kings were 12th in the conference at 16-19, while the Spurs were in eighth place at 18-16. A Sacramento hot streak and a San Antonio cold spell have resulted in those two clubs swapping places in the standings just seven games later.
The Spurs are probably a little ahead of schedule in their rebuild and didn’t necessarily expect to make the postseason this year, so if they continue to slump, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for them. But the rest of the clubs listed above had serious playoff aspirations this season. The Clippers, Lakers, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Suns, and Warriors are all spending into the tax on their rosters, and the Kings aren’t far off.
Barring a major collapse from one of the top four seeds, one of these clubs (or two, if San Antonio sticks around) will finish outside the top 10, missing out not just on the playoffs but on the play-in altogether. Two more will be eliminated in the play-in tournament and will fail to clinch one of the eight playoff spots in the West.
What happens at the trade deadline could go a long way toward determining how this race plays out down the stretch, but we want to know what you’re thinking at the halfway point of the season.
Which teams do you expect to finish outside of the top 10 in the West? Which teams will be eliminated in the play-in? Which clubs besides the Thunder are the most serious contenders to represent the conference in this year’s NBA Finals?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Jimmy Butler has appeared in two games for the Heat since his team-imposed seven-game suspension ended last week, but the front office hasn’t slowed its efforts to find a trade involving the disgruntled star. In fact, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst suggested on the latest episode of his Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link) that Miami has actually gotten more serious within the past few days about trying to get a deal done.
“Since Jimmy had his meeting with (team owner) Micky Arison on Thursday, there is no doubt an uptick in discussions around Jimmy Butler,” Windhorst said. “The Heat shifted into a new gear after that meeting.
“I even had a team on Friday call me and say… ‘Hey, we were just talking to a couple teams. We’re trying to dump a salary. And they all of the sudden had to end our phone calls to do something bigger, they said. What’s going on?’ And I go, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ But I speculate that it has to do with Butler. And not just a direct Butler trade, but three- and four-team trades. The point is, I do think the Heat are actually trying.”
The Heat still have over two weeks until the February 6 trade deadline to try to figure something out, and there’s reportedly no shortage of clubs expressing interest in potentially getting involved as facilitators in a three- or four-team scenario.
However, as has been well chronicled in recent weeks, moving Butler is a challenge due to his salary ($48.8MM), contract situation (he holds a $52.4MM player option for next season and reportedly wants an extension), and age (35). Many of the teams rumored to be most interested in the veteran forward, including the Suns, are most restricted in their ability to offer the sort of pieces Miami would want, including win-now players on short-term contracts.
Any Phoenix deal for Butler would almost certainly have to involve guard Bradley Beal, who has an even pricier cap hit than the Heat star and is under contract for two more seasons beyond this one, which isn’t appealing to Miami. That means the two sides would have to find a third team willing to take Beal, who in turn would have to sign off on the deal due to the no-trade clause in his contract.
According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, the Suns still haven’t asked Beal for his thoughts about any potential trade. A source familiar with Beal’s thinking confirms to Katz that the three-time All-Star would consider waiving the no-trade clause for the right situation, adding that winning would be his top priority in that scenario.
When Beal was traded from the Wizards to the Suns back in 2023, he was also open to the Heat, as well as West Coast teams like the Warriors, Kings, Lakers, and Clippers, says Katz, but none of those clubs appear to be likely suitors at this point.
Jimmy Butler‘s return from his seven-game suspension hasn’t changed the Heat‘s desire to work out a trade before the February 6 deadline, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack column (subscription required).
Butler was back in the starting lineup and played 33 and 28 minutes as Miami split a pair of weekend games, but concerns remain that the relationship will continue to deteriorate if he’s still on the roster past the deadline. Sources tell Stein that the Heat are “exploring every potential pathway” to assemble a multi-team trade to get Butler off their roster.
The Suns remain Butler’s preferred location, but it’s not clear that Phoenix is eager to pursue him or that it has enough assets left to make a competitive offer, Stein adds. Phoenix gave up three second-round picks and got one in return in last week’s trade for Nick Richards. That leaves the Suns with just their 2031 first-rounder and a 2025 second-rounder from Denver to offer in any deal.
The Raptors have been mentioned as a team that might be interested in helping to facilitate a Butler trade, and Stein says a well-placed source told him that “about half the league” has expressed similar sentiments to Miami. He cites the Timberwolves as another club that might be willing to help the Heat move Butler on to his next location in exchange for other assets.
Stein shares more inside information from around the NBA:
- League sources confirmed to Stein a report that Butler’s camp hasn’t told the Bucks not to pursue a deal. However, he believes Milwaukee might be more interested in reviving its previous interest in Suns guard Bradley Beal if it’s going to add a player in that salary range. Stein points out that the Bucks can’t trade for either player without dropping below the second apron, which would likely mean trading Pat Connaughton‘s $9.4MM contract without taking back any salary in return.
- Some rival teams are questioning why the Hornets were willing to take on extra salary in the Richards trade while only netting two second-round picks, Stein adds. Charlotte acquired Josh Okogie at $8.3MM while parting with Richards’ $5MM contract, a move that will save the Suns more than $20MM in luxury tax. Stein speculates that the Hornets may have another move planned involving Okogie before the deadline.
- Stein hears that the Nets don’t feel an urgency to trade Cameron Johnson because they’ve already weakened their team enough for tanking purposes by unloading Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith. Brooklyn is just 4-13 since sending Schröder to Golden State and has moved into sixth in the race for the best lottery odds.
- Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison is typically active at the deadline, but Stein doesn’t believe the team’s injury woes will force him into a move. “We look at everything,” Harrison said in a recent interview with Dalton Trigg for his Mavs Step Back Substack (subscription required), “but we’re not going to be reactionary to a short-term injury.”
- Discussing the Mavericks, Stein also writes that it would be a “misnomer” to suggest Dallas is shopping center Daniel Gafford. However, he didn’t outright dispute a previous report stating that the Mavs have been willing to discuss the big man.