Magic swingman Evan Fournier doesn’t feel any pressure regarding his potential free agent status, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. Fournier can become an unrestricted free agent if he declines his $17.15MM option. “As far as my free agency, I have no pressure at all, really, because I have my player option regardless,” he said. “So when the time comes, I’m just going to look at stuff and look at the numbers and make my decision.”
We have more from around the Southeast Division:
- In a discussion between The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner and Sam Vecenie, Vecenie asserts that Hawks star Trae Young needs to prove he can be effective off the ball. The could be the key to Atlanta becoming a playoff team, Vecenie adds. “The next step in his evolution is going to be learning to play more with the ball out of his hands,” Vecenie wrote. “We haven’t really gotten a chance to see that a ton with Atlanta because its backup point guard position has been a black hole thus far in his career. But showcasing the ability to be effective without having to pound the ball into the ground will play a big role in how much he can translate to winning basketball.”
- Jerian Grant has signed with the Wizards as a substitute player but the Magic retain some control over Grant beyond this season, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Orlando, his former NBA team, still holds his Bird rights along with his free agent cap hold, Marks notes. The point guard spent the bulk of the season with Washington’s G League club, the Capital City Go-Go.
- All 17 players on the Heat‘s roster, including two-way players, will make the trip to Orlando, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes. “We’re bringing all 17 guys for a reason, because we think everyone is healthy and ready,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We think our depth is going to be one of our biggest strengths.” Forward Derrick Jones Jr., the only known Heat player to have tested positive for COVID-19, is in quarantine but doing Zoom workouts at home.
Fournier 17.15 million salary match Warriors 17.20 million trade exception perfectly
Pack 2 second round pick with TE
Trade exceptions can’t be traded with anything else.
A trade exception allows a team to bring in that much more salary, in this case $17.2 million, than they are sending out in a trade.
I meant the warriors couldn’t attach two seconds not that it can’t be traded for a player.
Why would the Magic do this?
Since we’re talking ridiculous trades, then Klay Thompson’s salary matches Vucevic + Aminu $…Magic will even throw in a couple of top 55 protected 2nd rounders.
Top 45 and ya gotta deal
What takes the Hawks to the next level is Young’s play off the ball all right .. on defense. If he doesn’t start defending like an elite athlete instead of like a playground hero the Hawks aren’t going anywhere. Team defense starts with the man guarding the ball-handler, which would be Trae more often than not. He has to take more than passive interest. H:e needs to work so hard on defense that it tires him out. The same goes for this whole team, and if they don’t start doing it now, they might as well get a coach who will enforce it. The true superstars are generally better than league average on D (Magic, Kobe, MJ, LJ, etc), but Trae is easily in the bottom 5% league wide.
Forget about Young’s play off the ball. Let’s face it, he would be in the lineup, even with a good backup, so rarely that it is not what takes the Hawks to the playoffs. And in the general flow of the offense, it’s just more efficient for him to have the ball and lead the attack.
Not only that, good D can tire out your opponent as well, making it easier for you to destroy them on offense if you have the better conditioning.