- Wizards center Dwight Howard is more likely to exercise his player option for next season after undergoing surgery last week, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington notes. Howard underwent a spinal procedure to correct a gluteal ailment and will be sidelined for two to three months. He has a $5.6MM option and if he exercises it, it’d likely push the Wizards further over the projected cap. Washington already has $111MM in salary guarantees to just five players next season.
The Nets would “very much like to keep” guard Spencer Dinwiddie, but only at the right price, ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski said today in an interview with Fordham’s student radio station (hat tip to NetsDaily).
Wojnarowski wouldn’t speculate on how much Brooklyn’s front office is willing to give Dinwiddie, but it’s obviously less than the four-year, $47.5MM extension he’s eligible to receive starting next Saturday. The Nets have until the end of June to finalize an extension with Dinwiddie, who is currently making the league minimum. He will become a free agent July 1 if no deal is in place by then.
“I think the Nets would very much like to keep him and keep him long term but again, it’s negotiation,” Wojnarowski said. “It will be at a number — I don’t know what the number is for Brooklyn — but I’m sure they have in their minds a sense of what they’re willing to do and then how does that measure up to what the other options are, what it does to their cap space, what they want to do with D’Angelo Russell.”
Dinwiddie is having a career year in a reserve role, averaging 15.9 PPG and shooting 37% from 3-point range. Wojnarowski believes there will be a strong market for Dinwiddie if he reaches free agency and predicts the Nets will try to re-sign him if they can’t come to terms on an extension.
Wojnarowski touched on a few other topics in the interview, saying:
- The Nets are unlikely to trade for an “established player” this season. Management seems content to keep the current core in place and try to make additions through free agency.
- The Knicks seem like a long shot to land Kevin Durant because they don’t have a strong foundation already in place. He noted that elite free agents have historically gone to teams that are already equipped to contend for a title.
- The Wizards would demand a high price if they elect to trade Bradley Beal. However, they may have to take on a long-term contract to unload the $81MM they still owe to Otto Porter.
- Nothing is expected to happen with Sixers guard Markelle Fultz until “more clarity” is obtained on his physical condition.
Over the course of the 2018/19 NBA season, up until February’s trade deadline, we’re keeping an eye on potential trade candidates from around the NBA, monitoring their value and exploring the likelihood that they’ll be moved. Each of these looks at possible trade candidates focuses on a specific division, as we zero in on three players from that division.
The Southeast could be one of the NBA’s most active divisions leading up to this season’s trade deadline. It features a pair of underachieving teams (the Heat and Wizards) who could badly use a trade to shake things up, along with at least one lottery-bound club that looks like an obvious seller (the Hawks). It’s too early to tell which direction the Hornets and Magic will go, but they’re candidates to be active too.
Here’s our latest look at a few possible trade candidates from the Southeast…
Otto Porter Jr., F
Washington Wizards
$26.01MM cap hit; $27.25MM guaranteed salary in 2019/20; $28.49MM player option for 2020/21
As I wrote earlier today when I relayed news of the Kings’ renewed interest in Porter, the young forward looks like the best trade candidate of the Wizards‘ three highly-paid cornerstones. His contract isn’t as scary as John Wall‘s, which will make him easier to move. Conversely, he’s not as valuable an asset as Bradley Beal, meaning Washington won’t be as averse to giving him up.
Although Porter’s contract will make him a somewhat tricky sell, he fits the mold of the three-and-D wing that so many teams around the NBA are seeking. He’ll draw interest, especially from teams that have a little cap flexibility but don’t necessarily expect to be major players in free agency — like the Kings, whose expiring contracts and cap space make them an interesting potential trade partner for Washington.
The Pelicans are also said to have interest in Porter. If they’re willing to include a first-round pick and a mid-sized expiring contract, it might be worth it for the Wizards to take on Solomon Hill‘s contract.
Dewayne Dedmon, C
Atlanta Hawks
$7.2MM cap hit; UFA in 2019
A popular subject of trade speculation last season, Dedmon stayed put at the deadline and ultimately ended up exercising his player option to remain in Atlanta for another year. There are reasons to believe that he’s more likely to be traded this time around.
For one, potential suitors may have been put off by his uncertain contract situation last year. This time, his status is clear — he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, so teams won’t have to worry about accounting for him on next year’s books.
Additionally, the Hawks may have some regrets about how they approached last season’s trade deadline, when they kept Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova, then bought them out after the deadline passed. Both players ended up with the Sixers, serving as important rotation pieces into the second round of the playoffs. This season, Atlanta may be less inclined to let solid contributors get away for nothing.
While Dedmon doesn’t necessarily have one specific skill that could be a difference-maker for a playoff team like Belinelli’s and Ilyasova’s floor-spacing abilities were, he’s a solid big man who has some previous postseason experience under his belt, and he shouldn’t be overly expensive.
Nikola Vucevic, C
Orlando Magic
$12.75MM cap hit; UFA in 2019
It has been a fascinating season for Vucevic and the Magic so far. Despite a modest 10-12 record, Orlando currently holds the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, and Vucevic has played a huge part in the club’s early success, recording career highs in PPG (20.8), FG% (.553), 3PT% (.410), and APG (3.9), among other categories.
The 28-year-old is performing like the type of player the Magic should be trying to re-sign and build around, rather than one they should be looking to dump before he reaches free agency — especially if they remain in the playoff mix. So far, there are no indications that Orlando is interested in trading Vucevic.
Still, this is a complicated situation. The Magic drafted Mohamed Bamba earlier this year to be their center of the future, and with Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac in the frontcourt mix too, it looked like Vucevic might not be in the team’s long-term plans.
Could the Magic realistically lock up Vucevic long-term without compromising the development of their younger players? If they commit to the veteran, would the Magic need to trade one of those other young bigs? Would they be willing to keep Vucevic for the full season and risk simply losing him in unrestricted free agency next summer without any compensation? The answers to those questions will determine whether or not Vucevic becomes available before this season’s trade deadline.
Previously:
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Kings are “closely monitoring” the Wizards with an eye toward potentially making a play for forward Otto Porter Jr., league sources tell Jason Jones of The Athletic.
Sacramento has long been fond of Porter, pursuing him when he reached restricted free agency in 2017. Although the Kings made Porter a maximum-salary contract offer at that point, he ultimately decided to sign a similar offer sheet with the Nets, which was subsequently matched by Washington.
Now, with the Wizards reportedly willing to listen to inquiries on any of their players and the Kings still seeking a long-term answer at small forward, the time might be right for Sacramento to go after the 25-year-old once again.
Porter’s contract, which features a $26MM cap hit for 2018/19 and is worth $55.7MM over the following two seasons, is considered onerous, but the Kings’ books are clear of significant long-term commitments. They’re about $11MM under the cap right now, and project to have a ton of cap room in 2019. With Sacramento not viewed as a realistic player for 2019’s star free agents, it makes sense that the team would be open to the idea of sacrificing some of that potential cap space by acquiring a possible core piece in a trade.
The Kings also have several veterans on expiring contracts who could be used for salary-matching purposes, including Zach Randolph ($11.69MM), Kosta Koufos ($8.74MM), and Ben McLemore ($5.46MM).
It remains to be seen what approach the Wizards will take to in-season trade negotiations, since they’re still very much in the mix for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, despite their slow start. If they do decide to shake things up, Porter appears to be the likeliest trade candidate of the Wizards’ “Big Three.” He’d have more trade value than John Wall, and Washington would be more inclined to move him than Bradley Beal.
12:49pm: Howard has undergone an L4-L5 lumbar microdiscectomy, the Wizards confirmed in a press release. According to the team, he’ll be re-evaluated in approximately two to three months.
10:23am: Howard will undergo surgery, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports confirms. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) the procedure will be on the L4/L5 discs in Howard’s spine.
Howard hopes to return to the court within eight weeks, Charania adds. Haynes suggests a possible two-to-three month timeline, though he acknowledges that the big man could return sooner than that.
12:17am: Wizards center Dwight Howard will likely require surgery to provide relief from a gluteal injury that has kept him out of action for much of his first season in Washington, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Previous reports had indicated that Howard was scheduled to visit a nerve specialist this week, and according to Wojnarowski, that specialist recommended a surgical procedure. If the eight-time All-Star undergoes surgery, he’d be sidelined for a significant portion of the 2018/19 season, so he may seek a second opinion before making any final decisions, writes Wojnarowski.
Howard, who will turn 33 in December, signed a two-year, $10.94MM deal (second-year player option) with Washington during the offseason after being bought out by the Nets. He was expected to provide much-needed rebounding and rim protection for the Wizards, who traded former starting center Marcin Gortat to the Clippers in June. However, Howard has been limited to nine games so far, chipping in 12.8 PPG and 9.2 RPG in just 25.6 minutes per contest.
If Howard remains on the shelf for the foreseeable future, Washington will likely continue to start Thomas Bryant at the five, frequently using smaller lineups in which Markieff Morris serves as the de facto center. Veterans Ian Mahinmi and Jason Smith also provide a little depth up front.
Although they’re off to a disappointing 8-13 start, the Wizards are just 1.5 games out of the playoff race and could look to add frontcourt reinforcements at some point via trades or free agency.
The Wizards could also potentially apply for a disabled player exception if Howard is ruled out for the rest of 2018/19, but there’s no indication that this procedure would be a season-ending one. We’ll have to wait for further updates to get a clearer sense of how Howard’s injury will be treated and how long his recovery might take.
The Wizards are said to be open to discussing deals involving any player on their roster, but league-wide trade interest in star point guard John Wall is “close to nonexistent,” sources tell ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider-only link). As Marks details, Wall’s super-max extension, which goes into effect next season and runs through 2022/23, has substantially diminished the 28-year-old’s value around the NBA.
“Every player in this league can be traded, but the Wall extension right now is the toughest contract I have seen a team try to move in 20 years,” one club executive told Marks. “I couldn’t look my owner in the eye and tell him there is value with the player even if we didn’t have to trade anything of significance.”
While most teams don’t have interest in acquiring Wall, clubs are still trying to figure out how his 15% trade bonus would work if he were moved this season, says Marks. Wall’s trade kicker should pay him a bonus worth 15% of the remaining salary on his contract if he’s dealt; that bonus money would typically be dispersed evenly across the remaining non-option years of the deal.
However, a trade bonus can’t increase a player’s cap hit beyond his maximum salary — Wall’s salary for 2018/19 is well below his current maximum, but he’ll start earning his max in 2019/20, which complicates how his trade bonus could be spread out across multiple years. It’s an unprecedented situation that the NBA and the players’ union didn’t anticipate.
According to Marks, if Wall were traded this season, his 15% trade kicker may just apply to his current-year salary, rather than taking his extension into account. So he’d get an extra $2MM+ this season without impacting his future cap charges.
Still, that discussion may be moot — any in-season trade involving Wall seems like a long shot, given all the future money owed to him. And even next summer, once the confusion surrounding his trade bonus clears up, the point guard likely won’t be any easier to move.
According to Marks, the consensus among team executives he spoke to was that there was no way they’d sign Wall to a four-year, $171MM contract this offseason, which is what his extension will amount to. As Marks explains, execs have – for the most part – learned their lesson about overpaying borderline stars into their 30s and will be more cautious going forward, limiting the appeal of a highly-paid player like Wall.
Wizards center Dwight Howard is visiting a nerve specialist in Los Angeles to get a second opinion on his strained lower piriformis, according to Chris Miller of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link). Howard has missed the team’s past five games with the injury.
It’s unclear how much longer Howard will be sidelined, but the Wizards’ need for a strong frontcourt piece is clear. The team signed Howard to a two-year deal in free agency with hopes that he could replace Marcin Gortat, doing the dirty work such as setting screens and controlling the glass on both ends of the floor.
Howard, 32, has averaged 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds in nine games this season, seeing a career-low 25.6 minutes per contest. The Wizards have primarily started Thomas Bryant in his absence, struggling to start the season with a consistent effort at 8-13.
Washington holds a 4-5 record with Howard active and a 4-8 record with him inactive this season. The team could look to flip contracts for younger pieces and future assets if it continues to struggle, especially if Howard is set to miss extended time.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Kent Bazemore‘s move to the bench has paid dividends for the Hawks, writes K.L. Chouinard of Hawks.com. Bazemore is the longest-tenured player on the Hawks, entering his fifth season with the club this fall.
- Nikola Vucevic‘s All-Star caliber play could force the Magic to be in a tough position next summer, Matt John of Basketball Insiders writes. Despite most of the preseason excitement being placed on Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba, Vucevic has averaged an impressive 20.8 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. He’s set to become a free agent on July 1.
- Jeremy Lamb may also put his team in a tough spot next summer, with the Hornets guard putting up solid numbers in his first season as a starter with the club, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes. Lamb has averaged a career-high 15 points per game on the season.
After making a brief comeback last season, veteran big man Kendrick Perkins is looking for another shot with an NBA club this season. As A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston details, Perkins said on Wednesday that he reached out to the Celtics to inquire about a potential reunion with his old team.
“I did reach out to (Celtics president of basketball operations) Danny (Ainge),” Perkins said. “I told him, ‘I’m here if you need me.’ He said, ‘You know what, Perk? I would love for you to end your career here.’ And I was like, ‘OK, keep me in mind.'”
During an appearance on Toucher & Rich on Thursday morning, Ainge acknowledged that he had spoken to Perkins, as Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston tweets. However, while the former Celtics center may be on Boston’s radar, it doesn’t sound like a deal will happen anytime soon.
“I don’t think it’s a good fit for our team right now,” Ainge said. “You never know what happens during the course of a season.”
According to Blakely, Perkins said that if he returns to the NBA, it likely won’t happen until at least January, when teams become eligible to sign players to 10-day contracts. And no matter where he ends up playing, the 34-year-old expects 2018/19 to be his final NBA season, Blakely adds.
Perkins didn’t specify any other potential destinations besides Boston, but indicated that he has drawn interest from a couple other clubs and will probably work out for one of them in early December, per Blakely. Citing a source close to Perkins’ camp, Ben Stinar of AmicoHoops.net (Twitter link) identified the Wizards and Timberwolves as ideal fits, so those may be the two other teams the 14-year veteran was referencing.
Perkins signed with the Cavaliers at the end of the 2017/18 season, appearing in his first NBA game since April 2016. However, his 15 minutes of action in Cleveland’s regular season finale represented his lone appearance for the team — he didn’t see the floor at all during the playoffs.
- The Wizards have assigned forward Okaro White to the Capital City Go-Go, per an update from the team’s official Twitter account. This will be his first assignment this season, but he averaged 18.4 PPG and 8.7 RPG in 23 G League contests last season.
- The Wizards seem to play best when turmoil strikes, writes Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. In the past couple of weeks, negative stories and/or rumors have emerged regarding John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Dwight Howard. Yet, the Wizards are now winners of three of their last four games and playing their best basketball of the season.