4:21 pm: The three-team trade is official, according to a press release from the Jazz.
9:27 am: The Clippers, Jazz and Heat have reached an agreement on a three-team trade, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal will send Norman Powell to Miami, John Collins to L.A. and Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a 2027 Clippers second-round pick to Utah.
Powell is coming off the best scoring season of his career and will bring more offensive punch to Miami’s backcourt. After finishing fourth in the Sixth Man of the Year balloting in consecutive seasons, Powell was moved into the starting lineup and responded by averaging 21.8 points per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 41.8% from three-point range.
Powell, 32, will make $20.5MM next season before becoming a free agent in 2026. He’s eligible for a three-year extension worth $77.4MM. Those limits would increase to $128.5MM over four years in six months.
The Clippers were reluctant to give Powell a long-term extension, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). With Kawhi Leonard and James Harden both signed through 2026/27, the team is preserving cap space for 2027 free agency.
Miami will use the expanded traded player exception to acquire Powell, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), hard-capping them at the first tax apron, and will be $1.3MM over the luxury tax line once the deal is complete.
Miami will be just $3.9MM away from that first-apron threshold once the trade is complete, so it won’t be able to use the full taxpayer mid-level exception of $5.7MM, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link), who also speculates that acquiring Powell means the team is probably no longer a logical fit for Bradley Beal, who is believed to be nearing a buyout with Phoenix.
Collins, 27, will bring more frontcourt depth to a Clippers team that recently added Brook Lopez in free agency. Collins has been a starter in Utah since being acquired from Atlanta two years ago, but he was limited to 40 games last season. He has one year left on his contract at $26.6MM and can sign an extension worth up to $100.5MM over three years, per Marks. While a massive payday is unlikely for Collins, it’s worth noting those extension limits would increase six months after the trade to $166.7MM over four years.
L.A. is now $6.7MM below the first apron with $5.3MM of its mid-level exception remaining, according to Gozlan (Twitter link). With their top three-point shooter now gone, Gozlan expects the Clippers to be in the market for Beal.
Anderson, 31, has been a useful contributor on contending teams throughout his career, but it’s not clear how he fits in with the rebuilding Jazz. His contract covers two more seasons at $9.2MM and $9.7MM, but 2026/27 is non-guaranteed. Love, who’ll turn 37 in September, has a $4.15MM expiring deal and will likely become a buyout candidate.
Gozlan notes that Utah can create a $26.6MM trade exception by using the mid-level exception to take on Anderson and Love (Twitter link). Alternatively, the Jazz could create roughly $22MM in cap space by waiving the non-guaranteed contracts of KJ Martin ($8MM) and Jaden Springer ($2.4MM) and could be in position to make a play for one of the remaining free agents.
It sounds like Utah will continue operating over the cap, going the trade exception route, tweets Marks.
Heat cooked
Guess they don’t need the cap space next year anymore!
It’s the last year of Norman Powell’s contract, do some research before just saying anything
For all those of you who thought Pat Riley was nodding off in his rocking chair – drool trickling down his chin – well, uh….he’s not! What a steal for the Heat!
Heat are cooked or the Heat are cooking? I believe they are cooking.
Hey, Davian Mitchell, Norman Powell, and the draft pick from Illinois point guard…Jaccaronis? .BASICALLY, for Jimmy Butler —- not bad considering they had to trade Jimmy… All 3 are scrapy, fits Heat culture. All 3 will play D…. Hero, Powell, Wiggins, Bam, Ware…. not bad… plus a deep bench to develop all the kids….8 seed, if hot, hot maybe a 6 seed to avoid the play in….
Heat were rumored to want Beal. I doubt that now.
Wiggins is still a move they can make imo.
Kasparas is a great pick. Unfortunately he will need 3 years.
Kevin Love buyout coming
Nah, Utah fans are gonna love him
Yes, I’m sure the fans will love him and for the reason that you’re probably implying, but the team can’t use him at all.
So.., buyout coming.
it’s all right.. he’s all white (sorry I had to lol)
What contender is going to want him?
Love is a good fit anywhere, very efficient per minute, high bball IQ, NBA champion, gold medal winner. Plays stretch 4, small ball 5, great outlet passer. Lakers, Warriors, Nuggets all good fits off top of my head.
Or Love can join CP3 and Bradley Beal on the ageless big 3 squad. Nets have the cap space and roster spots.
I don’t know why you’re bringing up his career achievements. Especially the championship where he got benched in favor of a flabby and sick Richard Jefferson because his defense was so terrible.
7 points 39fg% 34 3p%
Those are his numbers the past 3 seasons and once again he’s terrible on defense.
So what exactly does Kevin Love add to a contender?
Locker room presence for vet min
Yes ……. really want to see where he goes. Has to be a contender …
LOVE, Actually he would be a great bench piece for the Celtics on a minimum contract, play the 5 —- 15/20 minutes a game as a back up…Great locker room guy….
On paper this looks like a steal of a deal for heat. Powell is solid
After the injury, his production decreased. Hip, knee, hamstring, shoulder…how many injuries he’s gotten last season…?
woahh good deal for miami
Whoa indeed. Powel is a heart and soul kind of guy.
John Collins is equal in value to Love, Anderson and a 2nd round pick, which is equal in value to Norman Powell?
This is a weird one
Norman Powell wanting a lot of money with the new CBA decreased his value. Its going to still be awhile before these midlevel players realize that nobody is shelling out $30 mil/year anymore for non-all stars. Plus they need the frontcourt help more and have a better chance of re-signing Collins to a reasonable deal (and is younger) than Powell.
Thats the going rate for a starter. Even this offseason starters have gotten contracts similar. Its a bit high for a 6th man, but hey there Naz…
> John Collins is equal in value to Love, Anderson and a 2nd round pick,
> which is equal in value to Norman Powell?
Yes. From an accounting PoV, it looks like each of the three teams exchanged about $18M of assets. (Each team will value the players differently, but not as much as you’d think.)
Think of Collins’ value in the transaction this way:
Collins is a “negative asset”. At $28M/yr, he’s making, let’s say, $10M more than what he’d get on the open market as a free agent — let’s say $18M. That means Utah has to eat $10M of Collins’ value if it wants to move Collins (since no team will give Utah $28M in assets in return for Collins.)
Miami and Utah agreed that Love + Anderson + a 2nd round pick were worth $18M (Collins’ true value). Utah should be able to exchange those three assets now for about $14M in assets, if it wants to.
The only asset exchange the Jazz will get for Kevin Love is whatever he gives back in a buyout.
I certainly wouldn’t “think of Collins value in the transaction” that way and neither would any actual GM in the actual 2025-26 pre-season period NBA.
Even if it’s fair to assume that Collins value if he were an UFA in the current market is 18m/yr and not 28/1 (which may or may not be a fair assumption. There could be a GM or 3 out there with a dearth of solid NBA 4/5 types available with cap space available looking to be competitive this year who might just give a 26/27 yo Collins 28/1. There might not be – you don’t know) you just can’t valuate the player in that manner. Collins isn’t an UFA. He’s also not an old player. Nor is he a bad player.
I mean he’s far better than Kyle Anderson (assuming Love gets bought out) at basketball. Utah is a considerably worse basketball team now than they were before this trade.
@Huh?, Respectfully, I’d say my take on Collins’ contract and real value is the consensus, and is supported by the facts.
Atlanta regretted giving Collins his 5 yr deal by its 2nd year, but were unable to find any decent offers because Collins’ stock had fallen so much by then. The problem is his poor defense, not his offense.
The proof that Collins had a “negative contract”: the best Atlanta could get was 36 yr old Rudy Gay’s $8M expiring contract and a 2nd rounder.
Everyone has understood that Collins was not part of Utah’s long-term rebuilding plan, and that Utah’s plan was to build his value back up by playing him, and then trade him for young/draft assets.
But Ainge over-estimated the demand for Collins and his bad contract. Moreover, because Utah needed to play its younger talent as part of its rebuild, it became increasingly hard to give Collins minutes.
The point isn’t whether Collins is better or worse than Utah’s existing young bigs (Kessler, Fillipoowski, Hendricks, Bailey, etc) or Kevin Love or Kevin Anderson. The point is that because Utah is a rebuilding team, it doesn’t want Collins or Love or Kyle Anderson to be taking minutes away from developing players.
Win-win for all 3 teams, great for Heat, LAL, UTAH decreases salary, 2nd year Anderson not guaranteed… Utah gets a 2nd round pick…
Nice! Now with Norm Powell, the Heat will have TWO Terry Roziers for the season!
I’m assuming Bradley Beal probably won’t come to the Heat after the Suns buyout his contract, so that’s probably why the Heat pivoted for Norman Powell.
Im assuming that’s what I just read in the article.
Norman Powell out of LA and Kevin Love to Utah?? I don’t like the sound of that
> Norman Powell out of LA and Kevin Love to Utah?? I don’t like the sound of that
Love is 37 years old this season. He played 23 games last season, 10 mins per game.
He’s paid $2M/yr more than Utah has budgeted for a deep bench player. I’d expect him to end up on a contending team looking for a stretch big.
Love just needs to call it a career already. He checked out a long time ago and hasn’t loved basketball since LeBron and Kyrie turned him into a tall Kyle Korver.
He should’ve never been give that ring. And the Cavs only won because the league suspended Draymond for a pivotal finals game.
It’s weird how narratives work. The prior year Love missed the entire championship series and Kyrie I believe only played a couple of games. But claims that the Cavs would have won if they had played would rightfully be shut down.
But media and fans alike can push this false narrative that the Warriors lost 4 out of 7 games because Draymond missed the 5th game.
Draymond played in games 6&7. The Warriors lost both. I have never understood how people could believe they lost the last three games of the series because that idiot missed one of the games. It just never made sense.
First, to aircastle, Kevin Love absolutely deserves his ring. He was the third-best player on a championship team, who provided clutch shooting and rebounding, opening up the floor for LeBron and others to operate. Regarding 2015, the Cavs, with LeBron and a group of role players, after they lost two of their three best players, took two games off the vaunted Warriors. You don’t think they could’ve won another or even two more with Irving and Love in the lineup? I’m not saying it’s certain, but I would’ve liked to have seen that series. And all the Warriors/Draymond shills conveniently overlook that not only did Draymond’s absence occur for only one game, he did it to himself and his team by his thuggish behavior, kicking an opponent in his groin when he was vulnerable. If he had been suspended for the rest of the series it would’ve been justified, especially considering his previous transgressions. It’s too bad that for as good and smart a player Green has been, the first thing fans will think of when his name is mentioned is what a dirty player he has been.
harsh
So players 4-15 shouldn’t have been given rings then either, right? Because no matter the narrative you try to spin, Love was the third best player on that team.
The Heat have a bunch of good players but no Batman.
Like that nuggets team where Iguadala was the best player…
More like the -04 pistons. What a great team lacking a Batman.
In the East this year, you may not need Batman, last man standing, which team can stay healthy?
Clippers making room in backcourt for Chris Paul?
Paul and Harden on defense lol.
Paul has always graded out as a good defender, even at 40.
@ Aristotle….what are talking about, lols. Retired Rudy Gay, huh? Traded Rudy, who played on in multiple different cities. What winning are you talking about? Collins took minutes away from younger guys which led to Utah winning. Had nothing but lottery picks, what are talking about Willis? You also say above Collins was untradable yet Ainge got off his contract and bought in guys he could get more assets for. Your words, wow. Clear as mud. Not that’s it hard but, I’m now dumber from having read your posts. Talk about contradicting yourself. Real question…..have you ever shot yourself in the foot?
John Collins is the definitive symbol for Danny Ainge’s bizarre “rebuild”. Two years ago to this day, July 7, 2023, Ainge Sr baffled the basketball world by using a draft pick (and retiring Rudy Gay) to acquire veteran cast-off John Collins and his (untradable) $28M/yr contract, with 3 years remaining. The Hawks praise God for their unexpected fortune.
Utah makes Collins as a starter for the next 2 seasons, taking minutes from their young players (like Walker Kessler), and contributing to victories, that worsen their draft position. This past season, Utah tried to trade Collins for youth or draft capital, but Collins’ massively “negative” contract thwarts their efforts.
On Collins’ 2 year anniversary in Utah, July 7 2025, Ainge Jr dumps Collins’ $28M contract for a 2nd round pick and some unwanted vets.
I guess his contract was able to be traded and they got a pick back
@RenoChris, the 3 year obligation became tradable after the first 2 years elapsed because Utah had effectively “eaten” enough of its negative value.
Atlanta realized they’d made a big mistake in giving Collins a 4 year deal at $28M/yr at the end of yr 1. Utah was the only team Atlanta could find to give Collins’ contract to.
Utah had to wait until there was only 1 yr left on the contract before it could find a team that would take the contract off their hands.
Ainge said at the time that he thought picking up John Collins for a Second round pick was good value. The implication being that he could get more assists back down the line. I guess instead of a discount that proved to be Collins’ market value in the end. Although I think Anderson could be re-traded for another 2nd rounder if they wanted. But yes, the team building via trade during this rebuild has left a lot to be desired.
@PeanutGallery , everything you say is true by my recollection.
But beyond misjudging Collins’ value is the transgression of playing him so much for 2 years, just as with Sexton and Clarkson. The goals of a rebuild are to develop young players and get high draft picks. Ainge failed at failing.
What PFs was Collins blocking in Utah? Taylor Hendricks? Kyle Filipowski?
The Jazz were winning games in 23-24 because
A: Markkanen ended up way better than expected
B: Will Hardy was a way better coach than expected
C. Conley/Olynyk were way better than expected (and traded for value at the deadline)
The Jazz won all of 17 games last year so let’s not pretend the Baptist stopped them from the Mission.
Real 2K Insider Collins was mainly playing Center for Utah. Collins started many games at C ahead of Walker Kessler.
But any minute that Collins played was mismanagement of player development. Everyone knew that Collins wasn’t part of the long-term plan.
Surely you aren’t being serious with that argument are you?
You can’t run a team that way. Even the tankiest organization in the deep throws of a long drawn out and obvious “rebuilding period” cannot run its organization like that/cannot do players like that.
Especially in friggin Utah where you’ve already got enough problems luring quality players to come there and also where you’re the only game in town in that City and doing that kind of thing will alienate fan base quickly
@Huh, I am 100% serious. That’s how it’s done.
A successful rebuild requires going all-in on player development, which means that players not in the long-term plan should not be playing.
If a rebuilding team doesn’t do that, the rebuild stalls and eventually has to be restarted. That’s why the Jazz have little or nothing to show for the last 3 seasons.
Who’s baptist ?
Ainge? Collins ?
John the Baptist
(because of his dunks)
It doesn’t feel like the Collins contract was an albatross, and in the NBA you do have to have a payroll that exceeds a minimum amount even when rebuilding.
I’m happy for Collins that he gets out of purgatory. He isn’t a player who fits very well in today’s NBA but he also isn’t a bad player and it will be nice for him to get a chance to compete for a playoff spot.
Collins was getting paid a lot of money and everyone knew he wasn’t part of the future. That’s the definition of an albatross.
The Jazz have been trying to trade Collins for a long time. The longer you wait, the less they would get in return. There were no takers so they got nothing. A second round pick for taking players nobody wants.
I remember da hype when collins was kickin it w/ tre
Your head’s a repository for strange arcana, A
“…to acquire…his (untradable) [contract]”
How was it an untradable contract on 7/6/23 when someone (the Jazz) just, in fact, traded for it?
How was it an untradable contract two years later when someone (the Clippers/Heat) just, in fact, traded for it?
That a player might not receive the same contract if he were on the open market today doesn’t necessarily make that player a “negative asset” in the manner you think it does. The fact of the matter is that he isn’t on the open market – he’s under contract. And any NBA team is a better basketball team if it has John Collins than if it doesn’t have Collins. He’s an above average NBA player who isn’t as old as you seem to think he is (he’s Markannen’s age). That is something that has a value to it in and of itself that you’re completely failing to account for and just because he is or was on a “rebuilding” team does not make that not so.
@huh?
Language is defined in the context of the domain in which it’s used. I’m using these terms in the context of basketball player transactions. Others in this domain use them the same way.
The term “untradable contract” is synonymous with “negative contract” or “undesirable contract”, all of which mean the contract obviously pays more than the player’s market (or replacement) value.
When people use these terms, they aren’t saying that, as you put it, “the player has NO value”. Rather, they mean that the player has less value than his contract.
You miss that teams are financially constrained by a (roughly) fixed cap on spending. The team’s ongoing goal is to optimize the real value of players under that fixed payroll.
Because Collins has a bad contract, it’s not the case that, as you put it, that “ANY NBA team is a better basketball team if it has John Collins than if it doesn’t have Collins”. Rather, the issue is whether a team can find a better match for their needs with the $28M it would pay John Collins. Most teams can.
“Negative player contracts” become less negative over time, making a trade more possible. 2 years ago, Collins’ contract had 3 years of overvaluation remaining, which made trades prohibitive. Today, there is only 1 year remaining, making a transactIon more possible.
What the heck are the Clippers doing?! More moves to come?
Rebalancing the roster? They have a lot of guards and wings, but not a ton of front court players.
yeah my first thought was wow the clippers won this lol.
1) where does powell play? They Heat have Herro and Mitchell at the guard spots, assuming Wiggins isn’t traded he can’t be a swing SF, unless they find a taker for Terry Rozier, he’s already the 6th man too… they have to make a move for some SF with the Rozier and Wiggins contracts for this to make logical sense to me 2) Why include love in this? It’s like the Heat are trying to harpoon team chemistry… Love has been the Haslem of the team since he got here… he signed a minimum deal for love of the franchise.. this feels like a slap in a face to him… I don’t like that at all. They have 5-6 other minimum contracts they could have thrown in if it needed to be a money match.
Most likely another trade is coming.
Or it is past time for Pat Riley to retire.
> 1) where does powell play?
I don’t know Miami’s personel, but Powell thrives coming off the bench. Any contending team would love to have Norman Powell in its rotation.
> 2) Why include love in this?
Love is 37 years old next season, and played only 23 games, 10 mins per game the last one. At $4M/yr, that’s a lot more than the minimum when the team is trying to squeeze under the apron.
if he comes off the bench… Jamie Jacquez is an empty uniform now? Terry Rozier rides the pine all year out of the rotation? The Heat roll with no back up PG? I get it.. he’s Duncan Robinson’s replacement… but Bradley Beal made a billion times more sense than this did to me.
Rozier probably getting a buyout or waived.
Signing Beal (assuming he wanted that) wouldn’t have gotten them off Kyle Anderson’s contract.
If you’ll recall, the Heat didn’t intend to acquire him in the first place, but needed to make the Butler trade work after I believe Toronto backed out.
Utah is just cutting payroll. they will try to flip Anderson for more draft picks. Ainge is a legend in his own mind.
Somehow kyle anderson’s slo-mo approach cosmically fits w/ utah
You seem to think you’re an NBA expert. Maybe you are, I don’t know. But I’d sure take you more seriously if you knew the personnel of the Miami Heat (and every other NBA team)
@huh… if that was aimed at me.. I’m very aware of the Heat’s roster and their goal to have 2 max slots for next summer… This move didn’t make roster sense for 2025-26, as currently constructed. If they move rozier and/or wiggins, it will make more sense. Right now they have 1 true PG on the entire roster, and if reports are true after this, he won’t even start lol.
As a Heat fan , I agree, a Udonis Haslem Heat culture guy… Hated to see LOVE go…
Powell fits in a multitude of ways:
A. Start Powell at SG (Herro at PG, Mitchell not exactly starting caliber even with MIA improvement)
B. Powell 6th man (they just lost Duncan Robinson + Rozier has seemingly collapsed)
C. Start Powell at SF (Wiggins at PF + Bam at C, Powell is 215 w/ a 6’11” wingspan, he can guard taller players)
D. Trade Herro while his value is high.
Love was also not on a minimum, he was making 4M per (signed 2Y / 8M). He spent most of the year away from the team. Most of his contributions were memes on social media while he was away from the team.
Miami don’t have 5-6 minimums, you’re just making that up.
@real 2k… you basically proved my point in a long winded way.. they need to make more moves for this to work in 25-26.. as for love, he was away BECAUSE HE FATHER WAS DYING…. his “uncle” (Brian Wilson of the beach boys, the best friend of his biological uncle Mike Love) died a couple months later too. Dude is going through a lot even right now. He was beyond a team leader on that roster.. he was the glue…. also you seem to forget the Heat have a 5-4-3 locked in right now (Ware-Bam-Wiggins)… this move doesn’t make sense FOR THE CURRENT ROSTER because they have 4-5 starting caliber 2 guards an 1 PG who’s only ever been a spot starter.
It’s clear you’re an over-emotional fan which is why you dodged the rest of my points (that Love wasn’t on a minimum, and the Heat didn’t have other minimums to trade).
Ware isn’t locked in as the starter, given the team has a bunch of fours and no backup center. At present, they aren’t deep enough to start Bam and Ware without additional moves.
Ware also wasn’t that good in a starting role. Once teams respected his 3pt shot, it crumbled. He could EASILY move to a bench role (ala Mitchell Robinson, Al Horford, Jonas Valanciunas, etc) in favor of someone like Jovic or Highsmith.
1) Yes… I thought Love was on a minimum deal.. double minimum for him is more than worth it and I stand by everything I said in that aspect 2) You clearly don’t know wtf you’re talking about with the heat… they already tried a small ball line up with bam / Highsmith and bam / jovic… both lineups had HORRIBLE per 100 touch numbers .. when they play a big with bam those numbers skyrocket. But I’m just “over emotional” couldn’t be I actually know this team and know wtf I’m talking about lol
Heat Depth Chart (14)
PG: Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell, Kasparas Jakucionis
SG: Norman Powell, Terry Rozier, Pelle Larsson
SF: Andrew Wiggins, Jaime Jaquez, Simone Fontecchio
PF: Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith, Keshad Johnson
C: Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware
This is the reality of the roster at this present time.
So the heat won’t trade ware for kevin durant just to make him a bench rider? Are you nuts? lol
He’s going to get starters minutes, and likely be in the closing lineup.
Not exactly dismissing the emotional assessment.
Norman Powell plays shooting guard.
He’s either the Heat’s first guard off the bench or he’s the starting SG since he’s better than one of the presumptive starting guards prior to his arrival (PG Mitchell) and the other starting guard can play the 1 or the 2 (PG or SG Herro).
So…I’m not sure I even understand the question. What do you mean where does he play?
@huh… Powell has been a swing his entire career.. he’s started as a SF for multiple teams… all of you seem to forget the heat are starting Ware at the 5 and Bam at the 4
Teams are determined to help Lakers I see…
I don’t like it for the Clippers because of the Kahwi situation. Kahwi must miss at least 20 games for medically required load management, and is likely to miss significantly more. Powell fills in for Kahwi beautifully.
I assume that the Clippers will use Bogdanovich more in Powell’s absence. Bogdanovich is a great shooter, but the Clippers will lose a lot defensively without Powell. In the significant number of games Kahwi misses, the Clippers’ defense now looks weak.
Harden + Dunn + Bogdanovic + Zubac + Collins
Oh you forgot brook….😆
He forgot Derrick Jones Jr too, lol at Bogey at SF
Very interesting trade. I think I like this for the clippers. Collins is a really solid player, all of a sudden the clippers are huge up front. Powell is a nice offensive player, but he seems redundant on the clips when they’re healthy. They can live without him.
He also didn’t really show up in the playoffs for them. (Although Powell was not the only player to have a lackluster post season….cough, cough, Harden…cough, cough.)
> Powell is a nice offensive player, but he seems
> redundant on the clips when they’re healthy. They
> can live without him.
“When they’re healthy” is doing a lot of work there!
Clippers would be overjoyed if Kahwi plays 50 games this regular season.
Kahwi played 37 games last season. His contract stipulates ~20 games off for load management.
The Clippers escaped the play-in by 1 game last year. How do you think they do without Norman Powell playing like an All-Star in Kahwi’s absence.
They might have fallen into the play in tournament at worst?
But you could make the argument that had they been a game or two worse in the regular season due to alternate-reality 24/25 Norman Powell being somewhat worse than actual reality 24/25 all-star caliber Powell then they most likely would have flip-flopped position with Golden State standings wise and likely emerge from the play in tournament to get to play Houston rather than Denver and so they actually probably would have advanced to the 2nd round in the playoffs under that scenario rather than being bounced after the 1st round again.
And the healthy Clippers with Kawhi probably matched up better against T-Wolves than the unhealthy Warriors did in the 2nd round and might have been slight favorites in that series. They probably weren’t beating the Thunder in the Western finals though (although it’s not out of the question)
So I’m gonna say that having Powell play all-star caliber ball rather than ordinary caliber Powell-brand basketball cost them a shot at the Thunder in the Western Conference finals.
Thanks a lot Norman Powell. That’s probably why they traded him.
Powell wasn’t redundant on the Clippers at all. He’s a 3-point specialist on a team that badly needed (needs) 3-point shooting.
I guess you could argue he’s a similar player to Boggy Boggy in that regard except that Powell is better and less injured. But having two similar players on your roster doesn’t make either of them redundant unless one’s presence means the other barely sees the court or something and that isn’t/wasn’t the case.
IMO, Collins is a slightly better player overall than Powell and considerably younger (for what that’s worth – he’s only under k for this year) . Powell is a lot more useful to the Heat than the two players they gave up and the Jazz accomplished dual goals of saving a little money while simultaneously making the on-court team quite a bit worse so this is what I call a WIN WIN WIN for all 3 teams.
@huh , if you think Collins is better than Norman Powell you haven’t seen Collins play much.
Powell may have played his best season last year so I will base my evaluation on his whole career. The main thing is that he is a winning player. And he is a 2 way player. He is unselfish. Every team would want him.
Collins is a tall version of Bones Hyland. He will make some amazing athletic plays. But he doesn’t play hard unless it’s to get his own points. Playing defense is not his thing. Nobody has wanted him in a trade because that’s who he is
Alrighty once again on 3. 1 2
Kevin Love to the Lakers.
Love to Lakers or Celtics…. Lakers a great fit…
why would anyone in Love’s position (age, not gonna play much) sign with a tanking team like the celtics? He’s going to one of the LA teams or Portland because its his home team.
MIA got Powell for 2 guys that were unlikely to be in their rotation. No money guaranteed beyond this year on any of the deals. Win for MIA, albeit on what figures to be a rental.
The Reason Collins was traded to UTah was to get to the Cap Threshold and he was the best player at the time to get. Now Utah has to pay Kessler. Anderson will be flipped for a second at the deadline or shortly. Ainge got 20 mill in cap space.
> The Reason Collins was traded to UTah was to get to
> the Cap Threshold and he was the best player at the time to get
That’s inaccurate.
No team would acquire a 3-year, $28M contract “to get to the Cap Threshold” for 1 year. That would unnecessarily put the team $28M in the hole for years 2 and 3.
Nor would a team spend a draft pick in acquiring a contract for the purpose of reaching the cap threshold. There are plenty of bad contracts that can be acquired on more favorable terms, and then discarded after 1 yr.
The fact is that Ainge acquired Collins to play him, which is what he did for the next 2 seasons.
So who should have Utah Traded further at the time to get to the Salary cap?
Spike,
When a team has extra cap space, they use it to *acquire* draft picks in exchange for taking on other teams’ bad contracts; they don’t give away their own future picks for the privilege of taking on unwanted long-term contracts. Ainge did that routinely (see Russell Westbrook) to acquire assets.
There were plenty of teams looking to dump bad 1 year deals in July, 2023 that Ainge could have used to both meet the minium and improve the future of the team.
Ainge acquired Collins (in retrospect, mistakenly) because, as he said publicly, he believed Collins could help the Jazz. Looking at the coverage at the time, Utah needed about $18M of payroll to reach the minimum (keep in mind that they sent out Rudy Gay’s $9M to acquire Collins.), so Collins’ contract helped solve that short-term problem. But that’s not why the main reason they acquired him.
Utah is getting rid of all vets. So they can tank again. It’s all Danny knows. He will tank till he lands a future star. Missed out on Cooper. Is praying Bailey is one of…….
This kind of rebuild could never happen in NY. What Thibs did in 5 yrs is nothing short of a miracle …..
Do you ever not make everything about yourself
A miracle! Omg. Is that why they fired him?
Thibs career just ended and he never sniffed a Title. He’s a 67 years old also-ran. Like Mike Woodson and Mike D’Antoni and Don Chaney. NoNody will remember who he was in a couple of years.
The Knicks have a big budget. Not like OKC or Cleveland or Utah. If you can’t win in NY you can’t win anywhere.
Thibs didn’t inherit a “rebuild”. Knicks had Julius Randle and Robinson and Barrett and others before he got there.
The Knicks added Anunoby and Bridges and DDV and Towns because they are rich. Too bad Thibs got schooled by a great coach. Rick Carlisle
Kevin Love gets the unique opportunity to come home AND go ring chasing. Portland just needs this one last piece for more depth. Go Blazers!
Miami fell out of LOVE with Kevin??
Beal, love, and cp3 to the clippers. Vet power house.
Why not bring back doc rivers and deandre jordan while you’re at it… it’s clearly 2009 in your head lol
Sucks to lose Kyle, and his playmaking and defense, and versatility, especially his interchangeability with Jaime, and his fit next to Jovic and Jaime, Fontecchio, and even Herro, and probably also the kid they drafted (Kaz)…
Losing Kevin Love’s spacing and playmkaing, and rebounding, at smallball 5, and his fit next to Bam is tough, but he missed most of last year, which was a big loss for the Heat, and they have some options spacing at the 5, with Jovic, though I think they lose a lot in certain matchups…I was hoping Lowry, Jimmy, Bam, and Love would play the rest of their careers here, but it is what it is. Those guys just fit so well together. Kevin Love was integral to this organization/team the last 3.5 years and I hope he has a little more left in him b/c he is a great person to have on the roster. He would fit amazingly in GS as a depth big, although they have Post, and obviously Horford would be an insane fit; I could see Philly making some sense off the top of my head…
Meanwhile, thankfully the Heat finally open up a roster spot, and they add help at the 2/3 next to Herro, and Wiggins or in smaller lineups, you can put him at the 3, Wiggins at the 4, and depending on if Dru Smith or Pelle Larsson starts, etc…I would assume this means the end for Alec Burks potentially coming back, though he played amazingly well for the Heat last year when he wasnt in the shadow realm for whatever reason. I would expect Spo to play Powell more often, but Burks is probably a better defender. Maybe they would still bring back Burks or try to sign Cody Martin though, which would probably still be helpful, especially with both Dru Smith and Powell’s injury history. I would assume they have a role planned for Keshad Johnson at the 4 behind Highsmith/Wiggins/Jovic/Jaime, which alleviates some of the loss of Kyle Anderson’s defense at the 4, though we dont know if Keshad is ready at that level yet, or if he’ll knock down enough shots, so maybe another option at the 3/4, 4/5, or 4/3 defensively, is what they should go after, and there are still FAs available on my list for the Heat
Heat hardcap themselves at the 1st apron, but they also retained flexibility going forward, which was an area they needed help with, especially opening the roster spot. Not sure how much room they have to add that last guy on the roster though, as they’ve left that open the last few years, even in situations that cost them championships. Also, besides potentially adding a last player, how much does hardcapping themselves at that 1st apron potentially impact them if someone becomes available during the season, with the contracts/assets they’re capable of trading now
Also, they still have Rozier’s expiring, Ware, Jovic/Jaime, 3 1sts, Fontecchio’s expiring they can potentially still play with and move this offseason, which I’m still hoping for, especially if they could open up a 2nd roster spot doing so
More white space please
My God , you’ve gone mad
Too much basketball words.
Good for clippers.
Utah had the core of a championship team with Mitchell and Gobert, and plenty of assets to go get a third star a few seasons ago.
Now they’re trading one of their best players for two guys that should be retired and a 2nd round pick in 2 years. The Ainges are so overrated.
@WolvesSufferer, yes, the fact the Jazz had such a strong core and Ainge broke it up has to be said.
If it weren’t for Ainge blaming Donovan Mitchell after he left, I’d let him off the hook.
Gordon Hayward left in free agency. That hurt Utah big time.
Good trade for all 3 teams. Everyone gets what they want.
Utah is tanking when they claimed they weren’t going to. A full commitment to clearing space for their young guys to play. They are going to figure out this year who has a future being a building block for them. Remains to be seen if Markenen can be had or if he is their anchor to this team.
Over/under on Lauri making 2 more all star teams in his career? I’d bet under.
He very well could, sure. He’s the Jazz best/most marketable/tradable player but of course he could be had. He’s also injury prone and mid-career aged now. At best he’s on the periphery of all-star caliber every other year for the next 5-6 years perhaps?
> Utah is tanking when they claimed they weren’t going
> to.
How ironic. Because when Ainge Sr said 3 years ago, he would go all out to rebuild fast, he didn’t.
Now, Ainge Jr says he won’t tank, but that’s exactly what he’s doing.
The world spins round n round
greek philosophers know this
What?? Not only is that not ironic, it’s not true. He certainly DID rebuild fast. He got rid of what, ALL them guys??
He might not have rebuilt very well. At all. But he clearly rebuilt. And quickly.
I think he did leave the organization with a pretty solid head coach.
Hey, huh – you have a weird definition for what “rebuild” means. Present tense, it means “we are in process of getting better”. Past tense, it means “we got better”.
So how did Ainge “rebuild” anything? Utah is currently the worst team in basketball. They get worse every year.
All he did was tear the team down.
I’ll finalize ripping Utah to shreds until we find out what they do with this TPE-
So far they have turned 60 M of movable money into 2 2 nd rders and Anderson/Love +TPE future value
Not great, not great at all. Clarkson Sexton and Collins were all expiring, Dannys losing his dance steps on the floor
Q for author or whoever-
The Tpe is worth 26.5 Could they take Afernees 27.6 into it if Utah included Springers 2.3 M min ? Or is that a no go ; salary has to fit into TPE alone (which Afernee doesn’t in this case?
*Imagine your a Bostonian and go radio silent for 60 days after Tatum inj and you come back and have your full MLE avail if Utah did take Afernee into the exception. Twighlight zone moment, help an old friend out Danny
Teams under the first apron have $250K in wiggle room for TPEs (so a $26.5MM exception could be used to acquire a $26.75MM player), but no, they can’t be combined with any players or other exceptions.
Damn so like 900k short, bummer, that coulda been slick for Boston
The Jazz claiming they aren’t planning on tanking this year is the pinnacle of gaslighting lol
It makes a lot more sense if you understand that their definition of “tanking” is manipulating veterans’ minutes and roles like they were for much of last season. Trading away most of their productive veterans is the easiest way to ensure they’ll be non-competitive without that type of “tanking.”
Luke, recall that Ainge Jr was speaking to the fans when he said the team wouldn’t “tank” this year, so, IMO, the word has to be defined by its meaning to that audience primarily.
As far as fans are concerned, “tanking” means the team isn’t doing its best to win. Home fans buy less tickets, television viewers are less likely to watch, advertisers pay less, bettors bet less, etc. The NBA has warned every team never to suggest they won’t do their best to win every game.
That’s why Ainge Jr said what he did, even though he knew this team would be disposing it’s veteran talent. Fear of being fined by the league for sitting Lauri Markkanen against Charlotte is a secondary concern.
IMO, telling Utah fans the team won’t tank is in fact gaslighting, but it’s the league’s fault, not Utah’s, for allowing the tanking problem to reach this stage.
Bettors bet less? Not so sure sir
> Bettors bet less? Not so sure sir
Are you asking about sharp bettors? If so, I don’t know for sure. But for public money, which is what the league cares about, definitely. The effect is huge.
What is Ainge supposed to do?
“Listen Jazz fans…we’re so not gonna tank this season. We’re totally trying to win now…no I can’t even say that with a straight face. Yes of course we’re tanking. We’re building a roster with an intent on losing as many games as possible this year so that maybe just maybe we might have a little better shot at that kid gonna be playing over there at BYU this year. So don’t come here to Jazz games in 25-26 go to Provo and check our boy out! In fact, cancel your season tickets. We need half-filled home games not packed houses! And I only want to be an NBA GM for about 5 more minutes”
Collins can help Clippers. Imo he is a good fit there. Worth a long look. Clippers get Beal ……
Woa …. look out.
Love getting bought out means what ??
@ Aristotle….what team admits to tanking? If Danny Ainge had control over the pingpong balls, Utah would have Wemby and Flagg about now. Anyone who thinks Mitchell and Rudy are cornerstone pieces of a championship team are more than a little crazy. Rudy is unplayable down the stretch, and Mitchell is pretty well known for pulling a disappearing act when it counts.