Jrue Holiday Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pelicans Notes: Ball, Bledsoe, Adams, Holiday, Ingram, Williamson

November 30th, 2020 at 8:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pelicans won’t be choosing between Lonzo Ball and recently-acquired Eric Bledsoe as their starting point guard, according to executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin. New Orleans’ top executive envisions that they’ll form the starting backcourt, Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets. The Pelicans had a similar setup last season, when Ball and Jrue Holiday shared ballhandling duties. The Pelicans acquired Bledsoe from the Bucks and center Steven Adams from the Thunder, along with draft picks, in a four-team deal that sent Holiday to Milwaukee.

New head coach Stan Van Gundy said that Griffin has prioritized toughness and competitiveness at a very high level, and Bledsoe and Adams fit that mold, Scott Kushner of the New Orleans Times Picayune tweets.

Griffin and Van Gundy dropped some interesting tidbits during their Monday press conference:

Griffin had pursued Adams for a very long time, according to Kushner (Twitter link). Griffin was impressed with Adams since meeting him prior to the 2013 draft. Adams, who was selected with the No. 12 pick that year, received a two-year, $35MM extension as part of the four-team deal.
The front office wanted to do right by Holiday by trading him to a title contender, Lopez notes (Twitter link). Griffin said Holiday’s career timeline to compete for a championship differed somewhat from the Pelicans’ timeline.
Brandon Ingram‘s five-year contract doesn’t include a player option, Lopez adds in another tweet, but there is a trade bonus. Ingram officially signed the $158.25MM contract on Monday.
Zion Williamson will not have any restrictions heading into training camp, according to Van Gundy. The coach anticipates the early days of camp will look different because they haven’t played as much pickup due to COVID-19 restrictions and a short offseason (Twitter link).
The team’s disappointing showing in the Orlando restart convinced Griffin the team needed more “elite competitors” and didn’t have “enough of a work ethic identity,” Kushner relays (Twitter link).

Bucks Rumors: Bogdanovic, Giannis, Oladipo, DiVincenzo, More

November 25th, 2020 at 10:48am CST by Luke Adams

Bogdan Bogdanovic was considered Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s preferred target for the Bucks in free agency, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who says that Thanasis Antetokounmpo had been in contact with Bogdanovic for months as the brothers attempted to lure the swingman to Milwaukee.

As Fischer explains, Giannis admires Bogdanovic’s “toughness and swagger” and considers him someone you could “go to war with in the postseason.” As a result, the Bucks pursued Bogdanovic aggressively, discussing sign-and-trade scenarios with the Kings in the hopes of effectively taking the RFA-to-be off the market before last Friday by agreeing to a deal with Sacramento.

Early discussions between the Kings and Bucks included Eric Bledsoe, according to Fischer, who points out that sending Bledsoe’s $16.9MM contract to Sacramento would have made it simple for Milwaukee to meet Bogdanovic’s asking price of $18MM per year. However, the Kings insisted on Donte DiVincenzo‘s inclusion on any deal and Bledsoe’s salary was required for Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday acquisition.

After they struck a deal for Holiday, the Bucks reached a tentative agreement with the Kings, but Bogdanovic’s camp insists it never discussed the particulars of a contract agreement with Milwaukee, per Fischer. Bogdanovic even phoned the Antetokounmpo brothers to reiterate that point, Fischer adds.

When at least one rival team filed a formal complaint about the fact that the Kings had seemingly lined up a deal for Bogdanovic days before the start of free agency, the NBA launched an investigation and essentially took Milwaukee off the table as a destination for the 28-year-old due to the risk that the league would block the deal, says Fischer.

Now, the Bucks will have to hope that their failed pursuit of Bogdanovic doesn’t cause Giannis to pass on their super-max offer. According to Fischer, the franchise had been very confident about the odds of reaching an agreement with Antetokounmpo, but there has been a “categorical step back in that confidence” since the Bogdanovic debacle. That doesn’t mean an agreement won’t be reached — just that the Bucks aren’t as sure about it as they once were.

Here’s more on the Bucks from Fischer’s article, which is packed with interesting details:

The Bucks and Pacers had conversations about a possible trade for Victor Oladipo, Fischer confirms, adding that a package of DiVincenzo, George Hill, and the No. 24 pick was discussed at one point. Like the Kings did, the Pacers insisted on DiVincenzo being included in any offer.
DiVincenzo ultimately remained in Milwaukee and the Bucks are still “bullish” on his potential, writes Fischer. They were willing to move him for Bogdanovic because the RFA was considered a “necessary target in line with Antetokounmpo’s wishes.”
Before the Bucks struck a deal for Holiday, the Hawks discussed a package that included the No. 6 pick, Kevin Huerter, and Dewayne Dedmon, says Fischer.

Four-Team Jrue Holiday, Steven Adams Trade Officially Complete

November 24th, 2020 at 9:15am CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans, Thunder, Bucks, and Nuggets have officially completed the four-team trade that will send Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee and Steven Adams to New Orleans, the Pelicans announced today in a press release.

In total, the mega-deal involves 10 players, five draft picks, and two future pick swaps. The trade breaks down as follows:

Bucks acquire Holiday and the draft rights to Sam Merrill (No. 60 pick; from Pelicans).
Pelicans acquire Adams, Eric Bledsoe, the Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick (unprotected), the Bucks’ 2027 first-round pick (unprotected), and the right to swap first-round picks with the Bucks in 2024 and 2026.
Thunder acquire George Hill, Darius Miller, Kenrich Williams (sign-and-trade), Josh Gray (sign-and-trade), Zylan Cheatham (sign-and-trade), the Nuggets’ 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Wizards’ 2023 second-round pick (from Pelicans), and the Hornets’ 2024 second-round pick (from Pelicans).
Nuggets acquire the draft rights to RJ Hampton (No. 24 pick; from Bucks).

The deal began when the Bucks and Pelicans reached an agreement on a trade sending Holiday to Milwaukee last week. From there, the Thunder got involved when New Orleans agreed to flip Hill to Oklahoma City in a trade for Adams.

A draft-night deal between the Nuggets and Pelicans that involved the Nuggets’ 2023 first-rounder and the Bucks’ No. 24 pick (sent to New Orleans as part of the original Holiday agreement) was folded in to make it a four-team trade when the Pels agreed to flip Denver’s ’23 pick to OKC as part of the Adams package.

As cap expert Albert Nahmad has pointed out (via Twitter), it’s an intricate, complex transaction that had to make use of a slew of CBA rules. The Pelicans, who are signing Adams to a two-year extension as part of the trade, needed to sign-and-trade Williams, Gray, and Cheatham to Oklahoma City and guarantee most or all of Miller’s $7MM salary in order to abide by salary-matching rules.

Meanwhile, Adams gets a trade bonus worth a little over $2MM as part of the deal, while the Thunder create the largest trade exception in NBA history, worth $27.5MM, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

Unfortunately, as Nahmad observes (via Twitter), Oklahoma City will likely have to use that massive TPE immediately to accommodate the acquisition of Al Horford. Still, as John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, the Thunder should come out of their series of transactions with a handful of usable trade exceptions, including one worth $15.4MM.

A full breakdown of this offseason’s trades – including the ones not yet made official – can be found right here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Thunder Trading Steven Adams To Pelicans

November 21st, 2020 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

9:00am: Wojnarowski has another update on this deal, reporting (via Twitter) that George Hill will indeed end up with the Thunder rather than the Pelicans. New Orleans will also send Oklahoma City Darius Miller‘s $7MM expiring contract, Washington’s 2023 second-round pick, and Charlotte’s 2024 second-round pick, Woj adds.

New Orleans is still acquiring Bledsoe in the multi-team trade, per Woj (Twitter link), so Miller’s contract will likely need to become fully guaranteed for salary-matching purposes and the Pelicans will still probably have to send out a bit more salary. So I expect there are still more parts of this deal to be reported.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter) that Adams may also need to amend his trade kicker to make the money work.

12:41am: The lottery-protected 2023 first-round pick that the Nuggets agreed to send to the Pelicans on draft night in order to land RJ Hampton will be rerouted to Oklahoma City as part of this deal, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The Thunder will also receive two future second-round picks from New Orleans, per ESPN.

12:00am: Having already traded away guards Chris Paul and Dennis Schröder, the Thunder are now finalizing a trade that will send veteran center Steven Adams to the Pelicans, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The deal is becoming a part of the Jrue Holiday blockbuster that New Orleans and the Bucks previously agreed upon, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the Holiday trade will expand to include more teams and players. It still has “a lot of moving parts” and will take some work to finish, tweets Wojnarowski.

The Thunder will be receiving a first-round pick and second-round picks as part of the expanded swap, per Woj (Twitter link).

While it’s tricky to evaluate the deal before we know all those moving parts, we can at least break down Adams’ fit in New Orleans. He’ll fill the hole in the frontcourt created by the free agent departures of Derrick Favors and Jahlil Okafor earlier this evening. The Pelicans were said to have interest in Aron Baynes, among other big men, but it looks like Adams will be the team’s new man in the middle.

In 2019/20, Adams averaged 10.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 63 games (26.7 MPG) as Oklahoma City’s starting center. His contract is somewhat onerous, with a $27.5MM cap hit for 2020/21. However, it’ll be an expiring deal and will come off the Pelicans’ cap next summer.

With the Pelicans now taking on Adams’ salary, it seems likely that at least one of the point guards they were set to receive in the Holiday trade – Eric Bledsoe and George Hill – will be rerouted elsewhere — most likely to OKC.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bucks Notes: Connaughton, Bogdanovic, Holiday, Assistants

November 18th, 2020 at 7:34am CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on The Hoop Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said he’s had a couple teams with cap room ask him about Bucks free-agent-to-be Pat Connaughton. While Lowe doesn’t necessarily expect a bidding war for Connaughton, he suggests the shooting guard should draw interest for more than the veteran’s minimum, which could make it tricky for the hard-capped Bucks to re-sign him.

Here’s more on Milwaukee:

In that same Hoop Collective podcast, Windhorst said it’s his understanding that Bogdan Bogdanovic really wanted to play with Giannis Antetokounmpo and might have been able to get a slightly more lucrative offer elsewhere in free agency. We still don’t know exactly what Bogdanovic’s new deal with Milwaukee will look like, but Windhorst estimated it’ll start in the $14-15MM range.
According to Windhorst, when the Pelicans were discussing trades for Jrue Holiday, gauging Holiday’s interest in a longer-team stay with potential trade partners was part of that process. While nothing has been agreed to yet, Windhorst gets the sense that Holiday is open to an extension (or eventually re-signing in free agency) with the Bucks.
The Bucks announced on Tuesday in a press release that they’ve officially hired Mike Dunlap and Josh Oppenheimer, naming them assistant coaches on Mike Budenholzer‘s staff. A report last month indicated that Oppenheimer – who worked in Milwaukee from 2013-16 would be returning to the franchise. Dunlap, who has spent the last six years as the head coach at Loyola Marymount University, previously had a brief stint as the Bobcats’ coach.

Atlantic Notes: Ibaka, Raptors, VanVleet, Celtics

November 17th, 2020 at 5:10pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Rockets superstar James Harden is not the only former Thunder teammate of Kevin Durant that the Nets have interest in adding, according to Mike Mazzeo of Forbes. Durant has also apparently tried to recruit power forward/center Serge Ibaka.

Though Ibaka earned $23.3MM in his final year with the Raptors, he may be interested in joining a contender for the $9.2M non-taxpayer mid-level exception, per Ian Begley of SNY. Begley notes that Ibaka may be anticipating offers in the territory of $12-15MM from teams with available cap space. Both figures may be out of the Nets’ range, as Brooklyn is expected to be limited to the $5.7MM taxpayer MLE in free agency.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Speaking of the Raptors, there is still no resolution as to where Toronto will play during the 2020/21 season, but Michael Grange of Sportsnet tweets that the club will be holding a Los Angeles-based team mini-camp from November 20-25.
Raptors general manager Bobby Webster has stressed the team’s continued interest in re-signing unrestricted free agent guard Fred VanVleet, Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweets. “He’s our top priority,” Webster said. “Our biggest priority for the offseason is bringing him back.” Toronto is also expected to have interest in bringing back Ibaka.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer mentioned on today’s installment of The Ringer NBA Show podcast that there was “chatter” about the Celtics offering the expiring contract of oft-injured forward Gordon Hayward and the team’s three first-round picks in the 2020 draft to the Pelicans in exchange for guard Jrue Holiday (hat tip to RealGM). Holiday was ultimately traded to the Bucks.

Pelicans To Trade Jrue Holiday To Bucks

November 17th, 2020 at 9:39am CST by Luke Adams

NOVEMBER 17, 9:39am: ESPN’s Bobby Marks has the details on the picks headed to New Orleans in the trade, reporting (via Twitter) that in addition to this year’s No. 24 pick, the Bucks will also give up their unprotected first-rounders in 2025 and 2027. The Pelicans will have the right to swap first-rounders with Milwaukee in 2024 and 2026.

In order to ensure the 2025 and 2027 picks are freed up and don’t violate the Stepien rule, the Bucks are sending a future second-round pick to the Cavaliers, who were owed Milwaukee’s 2022 first-round pick. In exchange, the Cavs will agree to lift the top-10 protection on that first-rounder, ensuring it changes hands in ’22, per Marks (Twitter link).

Milwaukee will also receive the No. 60 pick in Wednesday’s draft as part of the deal, tweets Jonathan Givony of ESPN. That pick was originally the Bucks’ own, but was one of the second-rounders they sent to New Orleans in 2019 for Nikola Mirotic. Now they’ll have it back.

That pick will help the Bucks fill out their roster on the cheap, since a rookie drafted in the second round can likely to be signed to a minimum salary that will only count for $898,310 against the cap and tax.

There are conflicting reports on whether the Bucks will also receive the No. 42 pick in this year’s draft from New Orleans. Eric Nehm of The Athletic reported (via Twitter) that the pick is part of the deal, while Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link) has been told that Milwaukee is only receiving No. 60.

NOVEMBER 16, 10:33pm: The Bucks have reached a deal to acquire standout guard Jrue Holiday from the Pelicans, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that New Orleans will receive Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and draft compensation in return.

That draft compensation is substantial — the Pelicans will receive three future first-round picks from Milwaukee, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). One of those three selections is this year’s No. 24 pick, tweets David Aldridge of The Athletic. New Orleans will also acquire a pair of future draft pick swaps in the deal, per Charania (Twitter link).

Holiday, 30, is coming off a 2019/20 season in which he averaged 19.1 PPG, 6.7 APG, 4.8 RPG, and 1.6 SPG with a shooting line of .455/.353/.709 in 61 games (34.7 MPG) for New Orleans. Although he didn’t earn a spot on one of this season’s All-Defensive teams, he has done so twice in the past and is widely considered one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders.

Acquiring Holiday is an all-in move for the Bucks and general manager Jon Horst, who are trying to convince two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign a super-max contract extension to remain with the team long-term. Antetokounmpo has repeatedly stated that he’s interesting in staying in Milwaukee as long as he believes the club is capable of winning a title.

Upgrading their backcourt by acquiring Holiday should make the Bucks – who have posted the league’s best regular season record in each of the last two seasons – an even more formidable title threat. However, the acquisition cost is significant, particularly given Holiday’s contract situation.

The 30-year-old’s deal will pay him $25.9MM in 2020/21 and includes a $26.8MM player option for ’21/22, meaning he can reach free agency a year from now. While Antetokounmpo and Holiday are both eligible to hit the open market and sign elsewhere in 2021, it sounds like the Bucks are betting heavily on their ability to lock up both players to new deals.

On that note, Marc Stein of The New York Times tweets that the last couple weeks have been “filled with chatter” about the possibility that Antetokounmpo will sign his super-max offer this offseason. Milwaukee’s willingness to give up so many future assets seems to reflect the team’s optimism, Stein observes.

Holiday’s age and contract situation prompted the Pelicans to explore the trade market in search of a deal this offseason, as president of basketball operations David Griffin looked to acquire pieces that better line up with the timeline of the club’s young core, led by Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.

While the Pelicans were reportedly willing to hang onto Holiday if a favorable deal didn’t materialize, a return of three first-round picks and two pick swaps was too appealing to turn down. Having landed a substantial haul in last year’s Anthony Davis trade as well, New Orleans now has five extra first-round picks in future seasons, as well as three pick swaps.

It remains to be seen whether Bledsoe and Hill – both veterans in their 30s who probably aren’t part of the Pelicans’ long-term plans – will spend the season in New Orleans or if the team will look to flip one or both players in subsequent deals.

Bledsoe, a strong defender whose offensive limitations have hurt the Bucks in the last two postseasons, averaged 14.9 PPG, 5.4 APG, and 4.6 RPG on .475/.344/.790 shooting in 61 games (27.0 MPG) in 2019/20. He has three years and about $54MM left on his contract, though his 2022/23 salary ($19.4MM) is mostly non-guaranteed.

Hill, meanwhile, was a reliable rotation player in Milwaukee, averaging 9.4 PPG, 3.1 APG, and 3.0 RPG on .516/.460/.842 in 59 games (21.5 MPG) last season. The 34-year-old has a guaranteed $9.6MM salary in ’20/21 with a lightly guaranteed $10MM salary for ’21/22.

With Holiday off the market, teams like the Nuggets and Nets, who were linked to the veteran guard, will have to look elsewhere for a potential upgrade on the wing.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Trade Notes: Bucks, Bogdanovic, Holiday, Kings, Pelicans

November 17th, 2020 at 7:47am CST by Luke Adams

The deals to acquire both Jrue Holiday and Bogdan Bogdanovic took practically every asset the Bucks had left, but the team now projects to have one of the NBA’s best starting lineups, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic, who notes that Milwaukee’s new additions will join Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez in the starting five.

As Nehm writes, the Bucks’ aggressive roster overhaul should eliminate any doubt that the franchise is serious about getting Antetokounmpo the help he needs to win a title. However, the acquisitions will leave the club hard-capped and with little flexibility to fill out the rest of the roster.

Because Holiday has a series of likely and unlikely bonuses that count toward the hard cap, the Bucks will probably be limited to minimum-salary contracts as they look to fill out their roster and keep team salary below $138,928,000, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

By my rough calculations, Milwaukee would have about $27.3MM in room below the hard cap to fit in Bogdanovic’s starting salary and minimum-salary contracts for seven players. That would get the Bucks to 14 players, not counting two-ways, though they could carry just 13 for parts of the season in order to create a little more cap flexibility.

Here’s more on the two deals the Bucks agreed to on Monday night:

While former Kings general manager Vlade Divac likely would’ve been willing to match offers in the $15-18MM range for Bogdanovic, it was never clear how enthusiastic new GM Monte McNair was about retaining the swingman, whose camp signaled a “willingness to play hardball” with Kings management, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
The Pelicans‘ decision to move Holiday in a package that includes three first-round picks and a pair of pick swaps is the latest indication that the organization is prioritizing its long-term goals over shortcuts to contention, says Scott Kushner of NOLA.com. Even with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram on the brink of stardom, New Orleans is preaching patience and wants to build its roster through the draft, as Kushner explains.
The Pelicans could theoretically flip Eric Bledsoe or George Hill to another team immediately after acquiring them, but they won’t be able to aggregate either player for salary-matching purposes until December 8, tweets Marks. Typically, there’s a two-month gap before a player can be aggregated, but that has been adjusted to account for the shortened offseason. For instance, the Thunder will be able to aggregate the players they acquired for Chris Paul as early as December 5, Marks notes (via Twitter).
Speaking of Paul, the Bucks never engaged in any trade talks for the veteran point guard, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link).

Trade Rumors: Westbrook, Hornets, Holiday, Gordon

November 16th, 2020 at 2:10pm CST by Luke Adams

The first major domino of the NBA offseason has fallen, as the Thunder and Suns are set to finalize a deal that will send All-Star guard Chris Paul to Phoenix.

Kelly Oubre is one of the key pieces headed to Oklahoma City in that swap, and according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7FM (Twitter link), the Suns felt as if Oubre was expendable not only due to the emergence of Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, but because they didn’t think they’d end up re-signing Oubre in free agency in 2021.

Meanwhile, while Paul is on board with being dealt to the Suns, Marc Berman of The New York Post hears that CP3’s top preference would have been a move to the Clippers. The veteran point guard had “mixed feelings” about a possible deal to the Knicks, Berman adds.

As we wait for more trade agreements to be reached, here are a few of the latest rumors from around the NBA:

The Hornets appear to be the most likely landing spot for Russell Westbrook, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who writes that team owner Michael Jordan wants to acquire the former MVP. However, sources tell O’Connor that Charlotte won’t put the No. 3 overall pick on the table in an offer to the Rockets.
The Mavericks aren’t involved in the Jrue Holiday sweepstakes for now, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who tweets that the Pelicans prefer to trade Holiday to an Eastern Conference team. Mike Singer of The Denver Post notes (via Twitter) that New Orleans’ apparent desire to send Holiday to the East might be posturing to try to drive up the price for a team like the Nuggets.
Asked today about trade rumors involving Aaron Gordon, Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman confirmed there have been “a lot of calls” on the forward (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel). However, he added that there’s an “amazing amount of misinformation that circulates and is unfounded.” A report last week suggested Orlando was trying to move up in the draft from No. 15 by attaching Gordon to the pick.
In case you missed it, James Harden is rumored to be seeking a trade out of Houston.

Draft Rumors: Wolves, Edwards, Ball, P. Williams, Hawks, Knicks, More

November 16th, 2020 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2020 NBA draft just two days away, several draft experts are publishing their final mocks of the year, nearly five months after the event was initially scheduled to take place. Jonathan Givony of ESPN, Jeremy Woo of SI.com, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report are among those who published new mock drafts today. Let’s round up a few of the key pieces of intel from those mocks…

Sources tell Vecenie that the Timberwolves still haven’t finalized a decision on what they’ll do with their No. 1 pick, as they expect “real” trade offers to start coming in during the next couple days. However, Givony and Woo have both heard that most teams around the NBA are operating as if the Wolves will select Anthony Edwards if they stay put.
LaMelo Ball‘s private workouts with teams last week were strong, according to Givony, who suggests that the Warriors were among the teams impressed by what they saw from Ball. Still, Givony and other draft experts view James Wiseman as Golden State’s most likely pick at No. 2.
There has been plenty of chatter about Florida State forward Patrick Williams, whose ceiling is as high as No. 4 to the Bulls, according to both Woo and Givony.
Opposing front offices say the Hawks (No. 6) have been the most active team in trade talks, according to Givony, who says Atlanta could push for an impact player (such as Jrue Holiday or Victor Oladipo) or trade down and pick up another young player.
Sources tell Wasserman that the Knicks (No. 8) appear to be “looking hardest” at Devin Vassell, Isaac Okoro, and Kira Lewis Jr. Sources have also linked Obi Toppin to New York for some time, per Woo, though the Dayton forward is less likely to be on the board at No. 8.
Assuming the Suns keep the No. 10 pick, sharpshooter Aaron Nesmith is thought to be high on their list, says Wasserman.
While the Celtics have looked into packaging their three first-rounders (Nos. 14, 26, and 30) for a mid-lottery pick, interest in that sort of deal appears to be lukewarm, according to Woo, who says Boston may be more likely to make smaller trades with their picks.
Sources tell Wasserman that the Trail Blazers (No. 16) have expressed interest in Serbian forward Aleksej Pokusevski, while Vecenie says Jay Scrubb‘s name is the one he has heard linked most frequently to Portland.
The Bucks‘ pick at No. 24 is one to watch in trade talks as Milwaukee tries to upgrade its roster, writes Vecenie. If they keep the pick, Josh Green is among the options the Bucks are eyeing, per Wasserman.