Heat Trade Dedmon, Second-Round Pick To Spurs
1:53pm: The Spurs have officially acquired Dedmon and the Heat’s 2028 second-round pick from Miami in exchange for cash considerations, they announced in a press release.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the belief is that the Heat are getting $110K, which is the minimum amount a team can send or receive in a trade.
10:25am: The Heat and Spurs have agreed to a trade that will send center Dewayne Dedmon to San Antonio along with a future second-round pick, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The second-rounder will be Miami’s 2028 pick, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link).
Dedmon, 33, re-signed with the Heat last summer and began the season as the club’s primary backup center behind Bam Adebayo. However, he lost his spot in the rotation to two-way rookie Orlando Robinson and was suspended for one game by Miami last month for a sideline outburst. The Heat had reportedly been shopping him in trade talks in recent weeks.
For the season, Dedmon has averaged 5.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in 30 appearances (11.7 MPG).
The Spurs remain well below the salary cap (and floor), giving them the ability to take on Dedmon’s $4.7MM salary without sending out any players of their own. They also have an open spot on their 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary to create room for Dedmon.
From the Spurs’ perspective, the deal essentially comes down to sacrificing some of their cap space for the rights to a future draft pick. Dedmon’s $4.3MM salary for 2023/24 is non-guaranteed, so he’s a good bet to be waived after the trade is official — San Antonio won’t owe him any money beyond this season.
For Miami, the move generates additional roster and cap flexibility. The Heat have spent the season carrying just 14 players, with a team salary about $200K below the luxury tax line. Moving Dedmon will give the team significantly more breathing room below the tax threshold to make trades or signings.
Even if the Heat don’t need that flexibility this week for a pre-deadline deal, they’ll have the ability to sign free agents to fill both their 14th and 15th roster spots without having to worry about becoming a taxpayer. Robinson is a candidate to be promoted to the standard roster to claim one of those openings.
Teams are permitted to carry below 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks at a time, so the Heat would have 14 days to add a 14th man after the trade becomes official.
To make the trade legal, the Spurs will have to send something to Miami, but since this is essentially just a salary dump, San Antonio’s outgoing piece is unlikely to be anything of real value — it could be a heavily protected draft pick, the rights to a draft-and-stash player who won’t ever play in the NBA, or a small amount of cash. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link) hears that it’ll be the latter.
The Heat will generate a trade exception worth $4.7MM (Dedmon’s salary) as a result of the deal.
Nets Trade Kyrie Irving To Mavericks
FEBRUARY 6: Despite efforts by the Nets to expand the deal and involve a third team, the trade remains a two-team swap and is now official, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The Mavericks’ PR department confirms the trade is official in a tweet.
Nets GM Sean Marks issued a statement, Chris Milholen of Nets Daily tweets, saying in part, “We’re excited to add Spencer and Dorian to our roster, while also securing draft compensation that will increase our flexibility moving forward.”
FEBRUARY 5: The Nets and Mavericks have agreed to a trade that will send point guard Kyrie Irving to Dallas, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Charania (Twitter link) and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), Brooklyn will receive guard Spencer Dinwiddie, forward Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2029 second-round pick in the swap. Those draft picks will all be the Mavericks’ own.
The Nets will also send forward Markieff Morris to the Mavs, Charania adds.
News of the agreement between the two teams comes just two days after word broke that Irving had requested a trade out of Brooklyn following failed negotiations on a contract extension. Reports at that time indicated that the All-Star guard had conveyed to the Nets that he planned to leave in free agency if he wasn’t dealt by the February 9 trade deadline.
The Nets wasted little time accommodating Irving’s request, having perhaps grown weary of the drama that has surrounded the 30-year-old since his arrival in Brooklyn in 2019. During those three-and-a-half years, Irving has missed significant time due to injuries, taken personal leaves of absence, refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 despite a New York City mandate that prevented him from playing in home games, and served a team-issued suspension for promoting an antisemitic film on social media.
On the court, Irving played at his usual high level in 143 total games as a Net, averaging 27.1 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per night with a .489/.396/.909 shooting line in 35.8 minutes per game. However, his and Kevin Durant‘s brilliance didn’t translate to much postseason success — Brooklyn has won just a single playoff series since adding the two stars in 2019.
By trading Irving for a package that includes both veteran players and future draft picks, the Nets – who currently occupy the fourth seed in the East at 32-20 – will set themselves up to remain in contention this year while also securing some assets for the future. Kyrie was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but Dinwiddie is under contract for another season and Finney-Smith’s deal runs all the way through 2025/26 (the final year is a player option).
The Mavs, meanwhile, will get the co-star they wanted for All-NBA guard Luka Doncic and their new-look backcourt should be the NBA’s most dynamic, though the move carries substantial risk. The trade will cost Dallas two of its most reliable rotation players, with Dinwiddie having averaged 17.7 PPG on .455/.405/.821 shooting and Finney-Smith handling key defensive assignments on the wing.
Additionally, while Irving could technically sign a two-year extension with the Mavs anytime before June 30, Sam Amick of The Athletic reported earlier today that Kyrie’s preference is to play out the current season and seek a longer-term maximum-salary contract as a free agent, so Dallas may have to take its chances with the mercurial star this summer. Obviously, the organization will be motivated to make it work with Irving — the front office wouldn’t have paid this price if it expected him to be a rental.
According to Marc Stein (Twitter link), the Mavericks consulted with Doncic before agreeing to trade for Irving, who is said to be “ecstatic” to join forces with Luka in Dallas, per Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Mavs president of basketball operations Nico Harrison, formerly a top Nike executive, has a long-standing relationship with Kyrie, notes Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Both the Mavericks and Nets were already on track to be taxpayers this season, but because Irving ($36.9MM) and Morris ($1.8MM) have a higher combined cap hit than Dinwiddie ($20.2MM) and Finney-Smith ($12.4MM), the move will reduce Brooklyn’s projected end-of-season tax bill by about $26.5MM and increase Dallas’ by nearly $29MM, per Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (Twitter links).
Irving and Finney-Smith have trade bonuses in their contracts. Irving’s is worth 15% of his remaining salary, while Finney-Smith’s is worth 5%. There has been no indication yet that either player will waive or reduce his bonus.
The Lakers, Clippers, and Suns were also said to have interest in Irving, so the Mavs beat out several Western Conference rivals to land him. According to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), the Lakers and Nets had several conversations about a possible deal, but Brooklyn preferred Dallas’ package that included useful present and future pieces — trade talks between the two teams accelerated today, Woj adds.
CBA Early Opt-Out Deadline Extended To March 31
5:22pm: The NBA and NBPA have agreed to extend the early opt-out deadline to March 31, the league’s PR department tweets.
10:59am: The NBA and its players union are expected to extend Wednesday’s early opt-out deadline for the collective bargaining agreement, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski also hears that the league appears willing to back away from its demand for an upper spending limit on payrolls (Twitter link). The players have been strongly opposed to that proposal, which would create a de facto hard cap in place of the current luxury tax system.
According to Wojnarowski, the NBA’s Board of Governors voted Friday to give its labor relations committee the authorization to extend the deadline again, and the league and the National Basketball Players Association appear headed in that direction.
The early opt-out deadline was originally set for December 15, but the two sides agreed to extend it until February 8. The current seven-year CBA will expire after the 2023/24 season, but the league and the players’ union hold a mutual option to terminate the agreement at the end of the current league year, which is June 30.
The extension will give negotiators more time to discuss a potential new deal without the imminent threat of an opt-out. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press reported last month that another extension appeared likely.
Wojnarowski notes that teams had been hoping for a new agreement prior to this week’s trade deadline so they could have more clarity about the league’s long-term financial structure (Twitter link).
Heat Open To Dealing Kyle Lowry
While it was previously reported that the Heat weren’t actively shopping Kyle Lowry and a deal was considered unlikely, evidently the team is now open to moving him if it receives an “advantageous” offer, according to Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
As Jackson and Chiang point out, Lowry’s list of suitors might be small. In addition to being 36 years old, he is making $28.33MM this season and $29.68MM in 2023/24.
The other issue is Lowry has been battling left knee soreness off and on since December. He had a “minor medical procedure” on the knee in mid-January, which caused him to miss four games, Jackson and Chiang report. He missed Saturday’s game as a result of the issue and plans to meet with a doctor soon.
Lowry, a six-time All-Star and 2019 NBA champion with the Raptors, has seen his production drop off in ’22/23. He’s averaging 12.0 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 5.3 APG and 1.0 SPG on .396/.333/.855 shooting through 44 games (33.3 MPG).
The Clippers are one team that has expressed interest in the veteran point guard, but others have inquired as well, per Jackson and Chiang.
In addition to Lowry, Miami is “willing to listen to offers on most players” on its roster. One player rival teams have been calling about is Max Strus, who is an impending free agent in the summer, a source tells Jackson and Chiang. The Heat would like to re-sign him, but it might be costly due to luxury tax concerns.
The Herald’s duo suggests the Heat are unlikely to trade away a first-round pick unless they can acquire a “quality starter.” The primary reason for that is the team is always on the lookout for star talent and would prefer to save its draft capital.
The Heat continue to look for frontcourt help and will attempt to unload Dewayne Dedmon‘s $4.7MM contract (his deal is non-guaranteed for ’23/24), Jackson and Chiang add.
Sixers’ Furkan Korkmaz Reportedly Requests Trade
Sixers wing Furkan Korkmaz has requested a trade and hopes to be moved before Thursday’s deadline, sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The 25-year-old told Pompey he would “not confirm nor deny” the trade request.
Korkmaz is in his sixth NBA season, all with Philadelpha. He has only appeared in 25 games for an average of 10.2 minutes per contest — the fewest minutes he’s played since his rookie season. Korkmaz makes $5MM this season and $5.37MM in 2023/24.
According to Pompey’s sources, the Sixers have informed Korkmaz that they will try to include him in a trade.
His contract would almost certainly be viewed as a negative asset due to the guaranteed money he’s owed next season, so if he’s involved in a smaller trade, it would likely be a salary-dump move to help the Sixers dip under the luxury tax line. His contract and lack of playing time has caused his name to pop in trade rumors this season, so it’s not surprising that he hopes to be moved.
As Pompey writes, this is the second time that Korkmaz has requested a trade out of Philadelphia. His previous request came back in ’18/19 due to a lack of playing time. The team declined its third-year option on the former 26th overall pick, but he wound up re-signing with the Sixers after a bump in minutes.
In 281 career games (18.0 MPG), the Turkish wing holds averages of 7.5 PPG and 2.1 RPG on .405/.354/.759 shooting. He’s averaging 3.8 PPG this season while shooting 34.3% from deep.
In another article for The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link), Pompey reports that the Sixers are looking for a “reserve center, a backup point guard, and another shooter.”
Warriors’ Ryan Rollins To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
Ryan Rollins‘ rookie season is expected to come to an early end, according to the Warriors, who announced in a press release that the first-year guard is undergoing surgery to repair a Jones fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot.
The procedure, which is scheduled to take place this Wednesday, will likely keep Rollins sidelined for the remainder of the 2022/23 season, according to the team.
The 44th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Rollins appeared in just 12 games this season for the Warriors and played a very limited role, scoring 23 points in 62 total minutes.
Rollins averaged 18.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 3.6 APG for Toledo as a sophomore last season before declaring for the draft as an early entrant. Golden State sent $2MM in cash to Atlanta during the draft to move up from No. 51 to No. 44 to nab him.
However, Rollins’ rookie season got off to an ominous start when he was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot shortly after being drafted. The injury, which was discovered during a medical evaluation that was part of Rollins’ on-boarding process, affected the same bone that he’s now undergoing surgery on.
Rollins’ three-year contract with the Warriors includes a fully guaranteed minimum salary for 2023/24, so he’s on track to remain on the club’s roster for next season.
Devin Booker Expected To Return On Tuesday
Suns star Devin Booker is expected to return to action for Tuesday’s contest in Brooklyn, head coach Monty Williams told reporters, including Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported last week that the shooting guard could return as soon as Tuesday, and barring any last-minute setbacks, it appears that will be the case.
Booker, a three-time All-Star, has been sidelined since Christmas Day due to a left groin strain, missing 21 consecutive games with the injury. The Suns were initially in a tailspin without their best player, losing nine of 11 games, but have righted the ship recently, winning eight of their past 10 contests.
Through 29 games (34.6 MPG), Booker is averaging 27.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 5.6 APG on .477/.370/.850 shooting. Phoenix is currently 29-26, the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.
Mavs Don’t Plan To Offer Irving In-Season Extension
Kyrie Irving demanded a trade when he couldn’t reach an extension agreement with the Nets. Some may assume the Mavericks, who agreed to acquire Irving on Sunday, have given the temperamental star guard some assurances that they’d sign him beyond this season.
That would be a false assumption, according to Marc Stein in his latest Substack post. League sources told Stein that Dallas has not promised Irving a new contract, since the team wants to see how Irving will mesh with franchise player Luka Doncic before making a long-term commitment.
It’s an obvious risk for the Mavericks to take that approach, even though The Athletic reported that Irving now prefers to head into unrestricted free agency with the hope that his new team, which also gains his Bird rights, will sign him to a four-year, $198MM maximum salary deal.
Dallas is counting on Irving’s relationships with coach Jason Kidd and president of basketball operations Nico Harrison, a former Nike executive, to facilitate a fruitful partnership. The Mavericks are also looking to make other moves with the aim of making a serious run at the title this season.
If the Irving gamble doesn’t pan out for Dallas, the club would have to strike gold in free agency to minimize the trade’s impact. The Mavs are giving up two solid rotation players in Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2029 second-round pick. The Nets threw forward Markieff Morris into the deal.
Stein also offers up some other interesting tidbits:
- The Mavericks initially attempted to send the Nets Christian Wood‘s expiring contract or one of their two burdensome long-term contracts — Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dāvis Bertāns. Wood, who is headed to free agency unless he signs an extension, could still be moved before the trade deadline.
- A source suggests to Stein that one of the presumed objectives of Nets owner Joe Tsai was to not trade Irving to the Lakers — his preferred destination.
- Doncic signed off on the deal, not only because he was intrigued by the prospects of playing with another star but also because he’ll no longer have to shoulder the offensive load.
- As Stein previously reported, the Clippers have shown some interest in Wood, along with Timberwolves point guard D’Angelo Russell, who is also on an expiring contract.
Suns Reportedly Offered Chris Paul, Jae Crowder For Kyrie Irving
The Suns put together a trade offer for Kyrie Irving that included Chris Paul and Jae Crowder, along with draft capital, according to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
Brooklyn also received an offer from the Lakers that included the only first-round picks left at their disposal — the ones in 2027 and 2029. Confirming a report that surfaced on Friday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports that the Lakers offered the Nets a package of Russell Westbrook and the two first-round picks but the Nets also wanted all of their young players, including Austin Reaves and Max Christie.
Charania also provided more specifics on Phoenix’s offer. The Suns were willing to give up Paul, Crowder and one first-round pick. However, the Nets wanted three first-round picks in order to take that deal. The Suns never added those picks and ultimately lost interest in pursuing a trade.
The Nets ultimately decided to go with the Mavericks‘ offer of Spencer Dinwiddie, forward Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2029 second-round pick with Markieff Morris also going to Dallas.
Despite Paul’s age, Phoenix’s willingness to give up its floor leader for the unpredictable Irving is an eye-opener. The Suns had a successful weekend, picking up victories in Boston and Detroit, and should get Devin Booker back soon from his groin injury.
However, Paul has battled heel and hip injuries that have led to questions about how his body will hold up throughout this season and the remainder of his contract. Paul is making $28.4MM this season and $30.8MM next season, though only $15.8MM is guaranteed. His $30MM salary in 2024/25 is not guaranteed.
Crowder has been sitting out all season, awaiting a trade.
Bamba, Rivers, Suggs Suspended For Fight
The NBA has announced suspensions (via Twitter) for three players involved in an altercation during Friday night’s game between the Magic and Timberwolves.
Orlando center Mohamed Bamba was suspended for four games and Minnesota guard Austin Rivers received three games for their roles in the fight. Magic guard Jalen Suggs received a one-game suspension for escalating the incident, and Wolves forward Jaden McDaniels was fined $20K for running into the fray and pushing Bamba in the back.
All four players were given technical fouls and were ejected from the game. Minnesota’s Taurean Prince was also ejected, but he wasn’t disciplined by the league.
Bamba appeared to start the fight with a comment to Rivers after his missed three-pointer late in the third quarter. Rivers took exception and challenged Bamba on Orlando’s bench. Both players threw punches, although it looked like none of them connected. Suggs tackled Rivers, and McDaniels and Prince also got involved.
The NBA’s press release states that Bamba tried to “continue to engage with Rivers in a hostile manner in the corridor outside the locker rooms where he also aggressively shoved a security representative,” which explains why he got the longest suspension.