Kings Acquire Tristan Thompson In Three-Way Deal
AUGUST 7: The three-team trade is now official, the Kings, Celtics, and Hawks all announced today in press releases.
The 2023 second-round pick that the Hawks are sending to Boston originally belonged to the Trail Blazers and was shipped to Atlanta by the Clippers in the Lou Williams trade in March, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).
JULY 30: The Celtics are trading veteran big man Tristan Thompson to the Hawks for guard Kris Dunn, forward Bruno Fernando and a 2023 second-rounder, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
However, Thompson isn’t staying with the Hawks. He’s being forwarded to the Kings, with guard Delon Wright going to Atlanta.
All the players in the three-way deal have expiring contracts. Thompson will make $9.7MM next season, while Dunn will secure just over $5MM and Fernando will collect $1.8MM. Wright will make approximately $8.5MM next season.
The move pushes the Celtics another $3MM below the luxury tax threshold, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Dunn had a player option on his contract and opted in earlier this week, which made the trade viable.
After nine seasons in Cleveland, Thompson played in 54 regular-season games with the Celtics, including 43 starts. He averaged 7.6 PPG and 8.1 RPG.
Dunn’s lone season in Atlanta was a washout due to an ankle injury. He only appeared in four regular-season games, but does give the Celtics another option for their backcourt rotation with Kemba Walker getting traded this offseason.
Fernando, an early second-round pick in 2019, appeared in 89 regular-season games during his first two years in the league.
Thompson gives the Kings some frontcourt insurance with Richaun Holmes entering free agency.
Wright averaged 10.0 PPG and 3.6 APG in 27 games with Sacramento after being acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline. Wright can play either guard spot and will likely slide into a backup role with Atlanta.
Pistons Sign Second-Round Pick Isaiah Livers
The Pistons have officially signed former Michigan forward Isaiah Livers, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
While terms of the deal aren’t yet known, Detroit had been operating under the cap, giving the team the ability to offer Livers a three- or four-year deal that starts above the rookie minimum.
The 42nd overall pick in this year’s draft, Livers spent all four years of his college career with the Wolverines, putting up career-best marks in PPG (13.1), RPG (6.0), APG (2.0), and 3PT% (.431) as a senior.
Livers won’t be available for Summer League, as he continues to recover from the right foot surgery that ended his college career. However, as we relayed on Thursday, he’s hopeful that he’ll be fully cleared for basketball activities this fall, around the start of the 2021/22 season. Detroit figures to play it safe with the 6’7″ rookie and may have him spend time in the G League.
The Pistons selected four players in this year’s draft — Livers, Luka Garza, Balsa Koprivica and, of course, No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham.
Rockets Sign Alperen Sengun, Josh Christopher To Rookie Deals
The Rockets have signed first-round picks Alperen Sengun and Josh Christopher to their rookie scale contracts, according to NBA.com’s official transactions log.
Sengun, a 19-year-old forward/center from Turkey, was named the Turkish League MVP in 2021 after averaging 19.2 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.7 BPG in 29 games (28.3 MPG) for Besiktas. Houston traded a pair of protected future first-round picks to acquire the No. 16 pick to select Sengun on draft night.
Christopher is a 6’5″ guard who played his college ball at Arizona State and declared for the draft following his freshman year. He was selected 24th overall after averaging 14.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 15 games (29.7 MPG) for the Sun Devils.
[RELATED: Rookie Scale Salaries For 2021 NBA First-Round Picks]
The Rockets, who drafted four players in the first round last Thursday, have already locked up No. 2 pick Jalen Green to his rookie contract as well. No. 23 pick Usman Garuba is the only one of the four still unsigned, likely due to the complications created by his expensive buyout with Real Madrid. We’ll have to wait to see if the Rockets are able to get him stateside for the 2021/22 season.
Bucks Acquire Grayson Allen From Grizzlies
AUGUST 7: The trade is now official, the Grizzlies announced in a press release. While Merrill’s salary for 2021/22 is not yet fully guaranteed, Memphis intends to guarantee his deal and keep him on the roster, reports Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link).
AUGUST 6: The Grizzlies have agreed to deal guard Grayson Allen to the Bucks for guard Sam Merrill and two future second-round picks, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Allen, who is entering his fourth NBA season, had a breakout year for Memphis in which he started 38 of 50 games and averaged 10.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2.2 APG. The former Duke star has knocked down 38.1% of his 3-point attempts during his three-year career and will give the Bucks another perimeter option.
Milwaukee will absorb Allen’s contract using a $4.89MM traded player exception generated by a deal this past winter that sent guard D.J. Augustin to the Rockets, according to Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer (Twitter link).
Allen has an expiring $4.1MM contract and is eligible for a rookie scale extension. Merrill has a $500K guarantee on his contract and his $1.5MM deal will become fully guaranteed if he’s on Memphis’ roster through Sunday, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. It’s uncertain whether Memphis plans to keep Merrill, a 2020 second-pick who appeared in 30 regular season games with the Bucks.
Milwaukee’s projected luxury tax bill will jump via this acquisition. The team’s luxury tax penalty will increase from $36MM to $44MM, Marks notes in a separate tweet. Milwaukee is right at $200MM in salary and luxury tax, Marks adds.
NBA Investigating Lowry, Ball Sign-And-Trades For Possible Tampering
The NBA has launched investigations into two of the sign-and-trade deals that were agreed upon early in free agency, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.
Those two deals are the one that sent Kyle Lowry from the Raptors to the Heat – which was officially announced on Friday – and the one sending Lonzo Ball from the Pelicans to the Bulls, which hasn’t been officially completed yet. The NBA is set to investigate possible violations of its tampering policy.
According to Wojnarowski and Shelburne, the league is expected to look into any contact that may have occurred prior to the opening of the free agency negotiating period on Monday at 5:00pm CT. Both agreements were reported within minutes after the negotiating period began.
It’s an open secret that teams and agents begin free agent discussions before the negotiating period officially starts, but the NBA generally frowns on any deals that blatantly violate those rules. Sign-and-trades receive even more scrutiny since they’re more complex and typically require more time to complete than a typical free agent negotiation, Wojnarowski and Shelburne note.
Last year, for instance, an alleged sign-and-trade agreement involving the Bucks, Kings, and Bogdan Bogdanovic was reported several days before free agency officially began. The league ended up taking away Milwaukee’s 2022 second-round pick after investigating that situation, while Bogdanovic – who claimed he never agreed to terms with the Bucks – landed in Atlanta instead.
We’ll see what the investigation into the Lowry and Ball sign-and-trades turns up this year. It’s unlikely that the league would nix either deal, but fines and/or draft-pick penalties don’t seem out of the question, given the manner in which the deals were publicly reported.
One Monday report outlined the specifics of the Lowry sign-and-trade to the Heat nearly three hours before free agency began, though there was some uncertainty for much of the week about whether the deal would involve more pieces than just Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa. Lowry’s commitment to Miami was confirmed just minutes into free agency and his agency announced his destination shortly thereafter.
Ball’s deal with the Bulls was reported literally the minute the negotiating window opened, with the full terms of the trade agreement – including another sign-and-trade involving Garrett Temple – surfacing just seven minutes later.
As Wojnarowski notes (via Twitter), the NBA adopted new anti-tampering measures two years ago, giving the league the power to fine teams for up to $10MM, suspend executives, take away draft picks, or even void deals altogether if proof of tampering is found.
The Bucks’ second-round pick forfeiture is the most significant penalty we’ve seen since then. However, as Wojnarowski and Shelburne point out, the NBA’s decision in that case took into consideration that Bogdanovic didn’t end up signing with Milwaukee, so the league could come down a little harder on Miami and/or Chicago.
Warriors Trade Eric Paschall To Jazz
AUGUST 7: The trade is official, the Warriors announced in a press release. As detailed below, the deal sends Paschall to Utah in exchange for the Grizzlies’ 2026 second-round pick, which the Jazz had just acquired in a separate deal. That pick reportedly has top-42 protection.
AUGUST 4: The Warriors have agreed to trade forward Eric Paschall to the Jazz in exchange for a future protected second-round pick, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). That pick will be Memphis’ 2026 second-rounder, with top-42 protection, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Paschall, 24, has spent his first two NBA seasons in Golden State after being selected with the 41st overall pick in the 2019 draft and has been a regular rotation player for the team during that time. In 100 career games with the Warriors, he has averaged 12.2 PPG and 4.0 RPG on .497/.301/.755 shooting in 23.5 minutes per contest.
After a strong rookie year, Paschall’s numbers dipped a little in 2020/21 and he missed a chunk of the season due to a hip injury. Slater suggested in May that the big man’s future with the organization might be “tenuous,” and it looks like he was right. The deal will open up a roster spot and should create a small amount of tax savings for the Warriors.
Paschall will get a chance for a fresh start in Utah, providing frontcourt depth and playing alongside his close friend Donovan Mitchell. The two players grew up together in Westchester County, New York.
Paschall is technically earning the veteran’s minimum this season, but he can’t be absorbed using the minimum-salary exception because his contract was a three-year deal. Since Utah isn’t sending out any salary in the deal, the team will use one of its trade exceptions to take on Paschall’s $1.78MM salary. The exception created in last year’s Tony Bradley trade still has $2MM+ left on it and will expire soon, making it the best fit.
Tony Jones of The Athletic first identified Paschall as a Jazz trade target on Monday.
Pacific Notes: Clippers, Paul, Ariza, Lakers, Howard
The two-year, $21.6MM commitment the Clippers made to Reggie Jackson, including a $10.38MM cap hit next season, will have major tax implications for the team, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. After accounting for new contracts for Jackson and Kawhi Leonard, who is expected to sign for the maximum, the Clippers’ tax bill is projected to be $95MM. Taking into account both salaries and tax penalties, the cost of the roster will be $265MM, says Marks.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- In a separate tweet, Marks provides the specific details on Chris Paul‘s new four-year, $120MM contract with the Suns, confirming a report that the deal includes $75MM in guaranteed money. It will start at $30MM before dipping in year two and increasing again in the third year, which is partially guaranteed for $15.8MM. The structure will allow Phoenix to stay out of the tax in 2021/22 and ensures the deal’s cap hit will be lowest in ’22/23, when potential new contracts for Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges go into effect.
- Trevor Ariza, who has signed a one-year deal with the Lakers, said that Russell Westbrook recruited him, Mark Medina of USA Today tweets. Westbrook called Ariza approximately 20 minutes after Westbrook was traded to the Lakers, the veteran forward said. He also said his children urged him to sign with the Lakers.
- The Lakers may be stockpiling aging veterans like Ariza, Carmelo Anthony, Wayne Ellington and Dwight Howard to help LeBron James and Anthony Davis win another title, but Howard said there won’t be a lack of energy or enthusiasm, Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes. “I think we have new life, all of us coming together and playing,” he said of the Lakers’ vets. “I think it’s going to provide new life being able to see who we have on our roster, who’s going to be playing alongside of us each and every day. I think we’ll have so much energy it will be hard to contain.”
Grizzlies Acquire No. 30 Pick Santi Aldama From Jazz
AUGUST 7: The draft-night trade between the Jazz and Grizzlies is now complete, per a team release from Memphis. The two teams had to wait until the Grizzlies officially acquired the rights to No. 40 pick Jared Butler from New Orleans before they could officially complete this deal.
As detailed below, the final trade is the Grizzlies receiving Almada’s draft rights in exchange for the rights to Butler and two future second-round picks. Those second-rounders heading to Utah are Memphis’ own selections in 2022 and 2026, per Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link).
JULY 29: The Jazz will send the 30th pick to the Grizzlies, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Memphis will select Loyola Maryland forward Santi Aldama, Woj adds (via Twitter).
Utah will receive the 40th pick and two future second-rounders in return, according to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link). The 40th pick was part of a trade with the Pelicans earlier this week that won’t become official until the moratorium ends.
The Grizzlies believed the Thunder were targeting Aldama in the second round, so they thought they had to trade up ahead of the 34-36 range to make sure he didn’t go to OKC, tweets Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated.
The 6’11” Aldama turned down an invitation to the combine and didn’t conduct any publicly-known workouts before the draft, notes Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Aldama said he preferred to play in his native Spain and discouraged teams from drafting him. That led many people around the league to believe he had a promise from somebody, and Memphis likely shut him down several months ago.
Clippers Acquire No. 51 Pick Brandon Boston From Pelicans
AUGUST 7: The trade is official, according to a press release from the Pelicans.
New Orleans announced that the second-round pick it received in the deal is the Kings’ 2022 second-rounder. However, that pick was top-54 protected when it was initially sent to the Clippers and is unlikely to convey, so the cash included in the deal is the primary return for the Pels.
JULY 29: The Clippers are adding a late-round selection by trading with the Pelicans for the No. 51 pick, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. L.A. is using the pick to draft Kentucky guard Brandon Boston Jr.
New Orleans will receive cash and a future second-round choice in return, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN (Twitter link).
The pick originally belonged to the Grizzlies and was included a trade that was agreed to earlier this week, but can’t be finalized until after the moratorium ends. The Clippers also acquired the No. 33 pick tonight in a trade with the Magic.
Boston, 19, played just one season with the Wildcats, averaging 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 25 games.
Heat Sign P.J. Tucker
AUGUST 7: The signing is official, according to a team press release.
“P.J. Tucker is the perfect addition to this team,” Heat president Pat Riley said. “He brings both shooting and most importantly, the ability to defend a lot of perimeter players. We love his versatility in order to put a defensive team on the court, where all five guys can defend, while also having enough shooting and scoring to win games.”
AUGUST 2: The Heat have agreed to a deal with free agent forward P.J. Tucker, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Charania (Twitter link), Tucker will get a two-year, $15MM contract from Miami, which suggests the team is putting a chunk of its mid-level exception toward the signing. The deal will feature a player option in year two, Charania adds (via Twitter).
Tucker doesn’t bring much to the table on offense besides the occasional corner three (he’s a career 35.9% shooter from beyond the arc), but he’s a physical, versatile defender who is just as willing to battle in the post with centers as he is to guard quicker guards and wings on the perimeter.
Tucker will fit in nicely on a Heat squad that already features tough defenders like Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, and Kyle Lowry.
The Heat had been looking to address their power forward position with their mid-level exception and will likely remain on the lookout for at least one more player who can play minutes at the four, though their cap flexibility is now limited. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald reports (via Twitter) that the club has an offer out to veteran forward Markieff Morris.