Villanova guard Collin Gillespie will sign a two-way contract with the Nuggets, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Gillespie is a fifth-year senior who spent his entire college career with the Wildcats. He averaged 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists this season.
The 22-year-old, who was named MVP of this year’s Big East Tournament, is 11th on ESPN’s ranking of undrafted players.
11:45pm: The trade is now official, according to the Mavericks (Twitter link).
10:33pm: The Kings are trading the 37th overall pick to the Mavericks for two future second-round picks, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
The Mavericks traded their own second-rounders in 2024 and 2028 to Sacramento, Marc Stein tweets.
Dallas selected G League Ignite guard Jaden Hardy with the 37th pick. Prior to move, Dallas didn’t have a selection in this year’s draft after giving up the 26th pick to Houston in the still-unofficial Christian Wood deal.
Hardy averaged 17.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 3.2 APG for the Ignite. He slipped out of the first round and could wind up as a value pick for Dallas. He’ll add backcourt depth and scoring prowess, which could come in handy if unrestricted free agent Jalen Brunson doesn’t re-sign with the Mavs.
A pair of Central Division teams made a late second-round swap, as the Pacers agreed to trade the No. 58 pick to the Bucks, Shams Charania of Stadium tweets. Indiana is receiving cash in the deal, reports James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link).
The Bucks used the last pick of the draft, which was originally owned by Phoenix, to select French guard Hugo Besson, who played for the New Zealand Breakers last season and averaged 13.9 PPG.
Besson will presumably be a draft-and-stash pick for Milwaukee.
JUNE 23: The Nuggets and Thunder have officially completed their trade, according to a press release from the Nuggets.
The deal sends Green and a protected 2027 first-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for the draft rights to No. 30 pick Peyton Watson to the Nuggets and two second-rounders (one in 2023 and one in 2024).
The 2027 first-rounder the Thunder are receiving will be top-five protected for three years and would become a 2029 second-rounder if it falls in its protected range in 2027, 2028, and 2029, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
JUNE 13: The Nuggets and Thunder have agreed to a trade that will send forward JaMychal Green to Oklahoma City, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Green will pick up his $8.2MM player option for 2022/23 as part of the deal.
According to Wojnarowski, Oklahoma City will also receive a protected 2027 first-round pick from Denver, while the Nuggets will get the No. 30 pick in this year’s draft, plus a 2023 second-round selection and a 2024 second-rounder.
The Thunder entered the week with four picks in the top 34 of this year’s draft — they also control Nos. 2, 12, and 34. They were always considered extremely unlikely to bring in four rookies for the 2022/23 season, so it comes as no surprise that they decided to move off one of their picks. Giving up No. 30 will allow them to land a future first-rounder and a potentially useful player in Green, who will be on an expiring contract.
Green had a down year in 2021/22, averaging 6.4 PPG and 4.2 RPG on .486/.266/.871 shooting in 67 games (16.2 MPG) for the Nuggets, but has proven to be an effective stretch four over the years. Entering ’21/22, he had knocked down 38.0% of his three-point attempts in his first seven NBA seasons.
It’s unclear whether the Thunder intend to keep Green for the 2022/23 season or if they’ll try to flip him to another team.
From the Nuggets’ perspective, the trade – Calvin Booth‘s first as the head of basketball operations – allows them to move off some salary for ’22/23 while acquiring an extra 2022 first-rounder in exchange for a future pick. Denver will now control the 21st and 30th overall picks in this year’s draft, giving the team some ammo if it wants to try to move up.
While it looks on the surface as if the Nuggets may be trying to duck below the luxury tax line for next season, Wojnarowski says (via Twitter) that’s not the case. According to Woj, Denver still expects to be a taxpaying team and now has more flexibility to use its mid-level exception or the $8.2MM trade exception that will be generated by moving Green.
The trade will be finalized sometime before the new league year begins at the start of July, since the Thunder will use a portion of their leftover cap room to take on Green’s salary — that cap room will go away in July when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s maximum-salary extension hits Oklahoma City’s books, as we noted in our offseason preview.
Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (Twitter link) estimates that OKC will still have about $23.4MM in ’21/22 cap space after acquiring Green, so more salary-dump deals could be on the way within the next couple weeks.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN observes (via Twitter), the Nuggets already owe their 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected) to the Thunder and their 2025 first-round pick (top-five protected) to the Magic. If either of those selections falls within its protected range, the 2027 pick that OKC is acquiring in this trade would have to be pushed back to 2028, since the Stepien rule prevents teams from trading consecutive future first-rounders.
10:55pm: The Knicks have officially announced their part of the trade with the Hornets, indicating that this deal will actually be split into two separate transactions. The Knicks and Pistons can’t complete their half of the trade until Detroit opens up cap room in July.
9:47pm: Zach Lowe of ESPN confirms (via Twitter) that the Bucks’ 2025 first-rounder is headed to the Knicks in the deal. That means the trade, as reported so far, looks like this:
9:29pm: According to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link), the Hornets are receiving the Nuggets’ 2023 first-round pick, the Knicks’ 2023 second-round pick, Utah’s 2023 second-round pick, either Dallas’ or Miami’s 2023 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable), and the Knicks’ 2024 second-round pick.
All of those second-rounders belonged to New York, while the Nuggets’ 2023 first-rounder (top-14 protected) was held by the Thunder — it’s presumably one of the picks headed to the Knicks in the Ousmane Dieng trade.
Boone’s report suggests that the Bucks’ 2025 first-rounder will go from Detroit to New York rather than to Charlotte, but we’ll await further confirmation to be sure.
8:26pm: The Hornets will trade Memphis center Jalen Duren to the Pistons after selecting him 13th overall in tonight’s draft, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
According to Fischer (Twitter link), it’ll be a three-team trade that also involves the Knicks. Sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that New York is sending Kemba Walker to Detroit as part of the trade.
However, it seems unlikely that Walker will remain with the Pistons for long, as sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that the two sides are expected to discuss a buyout of the final year of his contract, which is worth $9.17MM next season.
James L. Edwards III of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter) that a deal was close, while Wojnarowski says (via Twitter) that Charlotte is acquiring the 2025 Milwaukee first-round pick (top-four protected) that Detroit is receiving from Portland in the Jerami Grant trade.
Meanwhile, Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer reports (via Twitter) that the Hornets are acquiring four second-round picks in the deal. The details on those second-rounders have yet to be reported, but it seems likely that most, if not all, of them are coming from the Knicks as part of the price for dumping Walker’s contract.
Duren averaged 12.0 PPG, 8.1 RPG, and 2.1 BPG in 29 games (25.3 MPG) during his first and only college season, earning AAC Freshman of the Year honors and making the All-AAC First Team. He won’t turn 19 until November after graduating from high school a year early, making him one of the youngest players in the draft class.
9:33pm: Commissioner Adam Silver officially announced the trade between the Thunder and Knicks on the NBA’s draft broadcast.
According to Silver, New York is receiving three conditional future first-round picks in the deal. Shams Charania of The Athletic provides more details, tweeting that New York is acquiring the Nuggets’ 2023 first-rounder (top-14 protected), the Pistons’ 2023 first-rounder (top-18 protected), and the Wizards’ 2023 first-rounder (top-14 protected).
It appears the Denver pick will be re-routed to Charlotte in a salary-dump deal involving Kemba Walker.
8:13pm: The Knicks selected French forward Ousmane Dieng with the No. 11 pick in tonight’s draft, but he won’t play for them.
New York is trading Dieng to the Thunder, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Oklahoma City is sending the Knicks multiple first-round picks in the deal, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
That gave the Thunder back-to-back picks, since they also owned the No. 12 selection via the Clippers. That pick isn’t part of the trade with the Knicks, Wojnarowski tweets. OKC used that pick on wing Jalen Williams from Santa Clara.
Dieng, who played last season with the New Zealand Breakers, is considered the top international prospect in the draft and will give OKC another lengthy big man to pair up with No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren.
New York tried in vain to move up and acquire guard Jaden Ivey and ultimately decided to move down in the draft. By trading out of the first round, the Knicks reduce their salary cap obligations for this year, giving them more elbow room to dump salary if needed for another trade, perhaps as soon as a few days from now, cap expert Nate Duncan tweets.
3:13pm: The Kings have officially announced the trade, reports Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 KTXL (via Twitter).
11:59am: The Cavaliers will pick up a second-round draft choice in a trade with the Kings, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Cleveland will send the draft rights to Sasha Vezenkov to Sacramento in exchange for pick No. 49 in tonight’s draft.
The Cavs will also ship $1.75MM to the Kings in the deal, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link).
Cleveland now has three second-round picks at 39, 49 and 56, along with a first-rounder at No. 14. The Kings are left with picks No. 4 and 37.
Vezenkov, a 26-year-old forward, was a first-team All-EuroLeague selection this season, Wojnarowski notes. He has played for Olympiacos in Greece for the last several seasons and averaged 13.8 PPG and 5.6 RPG on .547/.388/.840 shooting in 31 EuroLeague games (29.6 MPG) in 2022/23.
Vezenkov was drafted by the Nets with the 57th pick in 2017, and his NBA rights were sent to Cleveland in the 2021 James Harden trade.
2:04pm: The trade is complete, the Magic confirmed in a press release (Twitter link). In 2028, Orlando will receive either the Lakers’ or the Wizards’ second-round pick, whichever is better.
It’s unclear how much cash changed hands in the deal, but it will be no more than $2.15MM, since the Magic were prohibited from receiving more than that in a trade for the remainder of the 2021/22 league year.
12:54pm: The Lakers will trade into the second round of tonight’s draft by acquiring the 35th pick from the Magic in exchange for cash and a future second-rounder, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Orlando will receive a second-round pick in 2028, sources tell Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
The Lakers had been trying to land a draft pick and are now in position to grab any projected late first-rounders who slide a few spots. Wendell Moore, Christian Braun and Caleb Houstan may be names to watch, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer (Twitter link).
The trade leaves the Magic with picks No. 1 and 32.
The Cavaliers have exercised their team option on forward Dean Wade for the 2022/23 season, league sources tell Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The decision was an easy one for the Cavs, since Wade’s option is worth just $1,930,681 and remains non-guaranteed even now that it has been picked up. That means Cleveland could waive the 25-year-old later in the offseason without being on the hook for his 2022/23 salary.
However, Wade appears to have earned a spot in the Cavs’ plans for next season. He has been a regular rotation player for the team during the last two years, averaging 5.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.1 APG on .441/.363/.725 shooting in 114 games (19.2 MPG) during that stretch. While those numbers won’t earn him All-Star consideration, they’re solid for a reserve on a minimum-salary contract.
With Wade’s option exercised, the Cavs now have nine players on guaranteed salaries for next season and two (Wade and Lamar Stevens) on non-guaranteed deals. Even if the club brings back all 11 of those players and re-signs Collin Sexton, there will be multiple spots to fill on next year’s 15-man roster.
Our team option decision tracker can be found right here.
Bucks swingman Pat Connaughton has decided to exercise his player option for 2022/23, putting off free agency for another year, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Having opted in, Connaughton will assure himself of a $5,728,393 salary for next season.
Connaughton, 29, had the best season of his seven-year career in 2021/22, averaging 9.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game in 65 appearances (26.0 MPG). He also established new career highs in three-pointers per game (2.2) while knocking them down at a 39.5% clip. Connaughton’s emergence on the wing was one factor in the Bucks’ decision to trade Donte DiVincenzo at the 2022 deadline.
Connaughton’s option decision comes as a bit of a surprise, since he likely could’ve earned a raise if he had chosen to test the open market. John Hollinger of The Athletic (Twitter link) says he felt Connaughton was worth twice as much as his $5.7MM salary and got the sense that a number of teams agreed.
Now that his option has been exercised, Connaughton will be eligible to sign a contract extension for up to four years and approximately $59MM. As Hollinger notes in a follow-up tweet, it’s possible the veteran wing and the Bucks have already discussed the possibility of an extension and reached a mutual understanding contingent on Connaughton opting in.
Theoretically, the Bucks could commit to paying Connaughton the same amount over the next few seasons with an opt-in and extension as they would have if he’d opted out and signed a new free agent contract. Locking in a lower ’22/23 salary should benefit Milwaukee financially, with team salary projected to be well over the luxury tax line next season.
Connaughton had been the No. 20 player on our list of 2022’s top 50 free agents. If you enter our free agent prediction contest and select the Bucks as his destination, you’ll earn a free point.