Here at Hoops Rumors, we pride ourselves on making sure that every single asset that changes hands in a trade shows up in our breakdown of that deal -- even the ones so minor that the term "asset" hardly applies.
In some cases, tracking that information is pretty simple. For instance, the Warriors and Hawks made it easy on us on Wednesday when they agreed to swap Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield for Kristaps Porzingis in a deal that included no draft picks, no cash, no draft-rights players, and no additional pieces at all besides those three players.
In other instances, it's trickier, with certain missing pieces revealed belatedly, well after a trade has been agreed upon -- or even well after it has been officially finalized and announced.
On Thursday evening, for example, I spent way too much time trying to track down the details on what the Cavaliers got back from the Jazz in the trade that sent Lonzo Ball and a pair of second-round picks to Utah. Even when those two teams formally announced the trade in press releases, neither the Cavs nor the Jazz included any mention of what was headed from Utah to Cleveland.
In most cases, those missing details end up very minor. Case in point: We eventually learned on Friday that the Jazz sent $110K to Cleveland in the Ball trade. If they were going to include cash as their outgoing piece, that was the absolute minimum amount the Jazz could've sent to make the deal legal.
"Fake" second-round picks - second-rounders that include top-55 protection - are another type of minor asset often reported well after the fact. That was the case when the Celtics traded Xavier Tillman Sr. and $3.5MM in cash to Charlotte in a last-minute deal on Thursday. The inclusion of Tillman and the cash was reported at the same time, but it wasn't until the Hornets announced the trade about seven hours later that we learned they'd sent the Celtics a top-55 protected 2030 second-round pick to complete the transaction.
That heavily protected second-round pick didn't change our understanding of the Celtics/Hornets swap, just like the revelation that the Jazz had sent out $110K in the Ball deal didn't reshape our perception of the pros and cons of that move for Utah and Cleveland.
However, there were a couple belatedly reported trade details this week that did add new context to those relatively minor deals.
Fun and worthwhile analysis. Thanks