Celtics Trade for Evan Fournier
12:27am: The Fournier trade is now official, according to an announcement from the Magic (via Twitter).
9:07pm: The draft picks headed to Orlando in the trade are the Celtics’ own 2027 second-rounder and whichever pick is the least favorable of the Celtics’ and Grizzlies’ 2025 second-rounders, reports Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
2:36pm: The Celtics will also send Jeff Teague to Orlando in their trade for Fournier, according to Josh Robbins and Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Since Teague is on a minimum-salary contract, the value of the Magic’s $17MM+ trade exception generated by moving Fournier will remain the same.
Teague has been told he doesn’t have to report to Orlando and will be released by the Magic, Robbins adds.
10:34am: The Celtics are finalizing a deal to land shooting guard Evan Fournier from the Magic in exchange for two second-round picks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Since it appears Boston isn’t sending any sizeable salaries to Orlando in return, the Celtics will use part of their $28.6MM trade exception to take on Fournier’s expiring contract.
Fournier carries a $17.15MM cap hit that will be adjusted to $17.45MM once the deal is complete, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The increase involves bonuses, as Fournier has incentives for reaching the second round of the playoffs and the conference finals, which are both now considered likely since the Celtics did so last season.
Boston doesn’t have a roster opening, so another move will be necessary before the trade can be finalized. Marks adds that the deal puts the Celtics $1.6MM over the luxury tax, so Boston could include a low-priced contract in the trade to address both issues.
The Magic would create a $17.15MM trade exception if they’re not acquiring any players in the deal (or if they only take on a minimum-salary contract).
Fournier, 28, is in his ninth NBA season and his seventh with the Magic. He’s averaging a career-best 19.7 points per game and shooting 38.8% from three-point range in advance of unrestricted free agency.
The Celtics were previously said to be in serious contention to land Aaron Gordon from Orlando in addition to Fournier, but Gordon is reportedly headed to Denver.
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Pistons, Kings Swap Delon Wright, Cory Joseph
MARCH 25: The Kings have announced that their trade to acquire Wright is now official.
MARCH 24: The Pistons will send guard Delon Wright to the Kings in exchange for guard Cory Joseph and a pair of second-round picks, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. The second-rounders in the deal are this year’s selection from the Lakers and Sacramento’s choice in 2024.
Wright, 28, was traded to Detroit in November. He took over as the Pistons’ starting point guard after an early-season injury to Killian Hayes and is averaging 10.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 35 games. Wright is under contract for one more year at $8.5MM before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2022. The Kings will be his fifth team in the last three seasons.
In Sacramento, Wright will join a backcourt rotation headed by De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. As Bobby Marks of ESPN explains (via Twitter), the Kings had hoped to improve their depth during the coming offseason, so the acquisition of Wright gives them a jump-start on that process. They’ll also create a modest $3.6MM trade exception in the deal.
Joseph, 29, was in his second season with Sacramento. He’s averaging 6.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 43 games, mostly as a reserve. Joseph is set to earn $12.6MM in 2021/22, but the contract is only partially guaranteed ($2.4MM) until August 1, so the Pistons may opt to waive him before next season to save some money.
“All I’ll say is that I really, really enjoy coaching Cory, and his spirit, his professionalism has been great to coach and great for this group,” Sacramento coach Luke Walton said. “He is a pleasure to coach and I’ll leave it at that” (Twitter link from Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee).
The pair of second-round picks headed the Pistons’ way look like the prime motivator for the club to complete the deal. Detroit had traded away several of its own second-rounders, including three of them in last November’s deal for Saddiq Bey, so this helps restock the team’s stash of picks to some extent. The Pistons now own three second-rounders in 2021 — while they’ve traded away their own pick, they’ll control the Lakers’ selection, as well as Charlotte’s and Toronto’s.
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Magic Trade Aaron Gordon To Nuggets
11:22pm: The deal is official, according to a Magic press release (via Twitter).
3:05pm: The 2025 first-round pick headed to Orlando in the trade will be top-five protected, tweets Zach Lowe of ESPN. That protection will remain the same in 2026 and 2027 if it doesn’t convey immediately.
11:24am: The Nuggets and Magic have reached an agreement on a trade that will send forward Aaron Gordon to Denver, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links) also hears that the two sides are in agreement, reporting that Denver will send Gary Harris, R.J. Hampton, and a protected 2025 first-round pick to Orlando in the deal. The Nuggets will also acquire Gary Clark in the trade, tweets Sam Amick of The Athletic.
Gordon, who has been one of the most frequently discussed trade candidates this month, was said at the start of the week to be drawing serious interest from the Rockets. The Celtics overtook Houston as the frontrunner to acquire the 25-year-old on Tuesday, with the Nuggets reportedly emerging as the favorite as of Wednesday night.
It’s the second trade agreement of the day for the Nuggets, who also struck a deal with Cleveland to acquire JaVale McGee. The moves will shore up a Denver frontcourt that was hit hard last offseason by the free agent departures of Mason Plumlee, Jerami Grant, and Torrey Craig.
While McGee will take over as Nikola Jokic‘s backup at the five, Gordon can play either forward position, and should help provide the club with some of the defensive versatility that was lost when Grant and Craig left. It’s a safe bet that Gordon will be tasked with guarding bigger forwards like LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard during the postseason.
As for the Magic, the Gordon trade is the latest in a series of deals that signal the organization’s intention to reset its roster and retool around Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac. Orlando has also agreed to send Nikola Vucevic to Chicago and Evan Fournier to Boston.
According to earlier reports, the Celtics were offering Aaron Nesmith and a first-round pick as part of a package for Gordon. During conversations with the Timberwolves, the Magic wanted rookie Jaden McDaniels, but Minnesota was reluctant to part with him, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
Instead, the Magic will get a package headlined by a future first-round pick and Hampton, who was selected with the 24th overall pick in the 2020 draft. The 20-year-old has logged mostly garbage-time minutes in his 25 NBA games so far, but is viewed as having considerable potential.
Orlando also gets Harris, who has been productive in the past but has an oversized contract, including a $19.6MM salary this season and a $20.9MM cap hit for 2021/22. He was included in the deal for salary-matching purposes.
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Heat Acquire Victor Oladipo From Rockets
10:25pm: The trade for Oladipo is now official, according to press releases from both clubs.
2:10pm: Victor Oladipo is on the move, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the Rockets have agreed to send the two-time All-Star to the Heat.
According to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link), the Rockets are acquiring Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, and a 2022 draft-pick swap. The pick swap involves first-rounders, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets.
Houston will have the ability to swap either its own 2022 first-rounder or Brooklyn’s 2022 first-rounder for Miami’s pick, MacMahon adds in another tweet.
According to David Weiner of ClutchFans (Twitter link), the 2022 first-round pick swap is lottery-protected. A separate report from ClutchFans (Twitter link) explains that if the Heat miss the playoffs next season and that protection applies, they’d instead send a ’22 second-round selection to Houston — it would be the least favorable of the Sixers’ and Nuggets’ second-rounders.
Miami’s interest in the high-scoring guard, an unrestricted free agent after the season, was well-known, as was Oladipo’s interest in playing for the Heat.
The Heat now have a formidable 1-2 punch at the wing spots in Jimmy Butler and Oladipo as they attempt to reach the NBA Finals for the second straight season. Miami also acquires Oladipo’s Bird rights, which gave the Heat added incentive to make this deal.
It appeared to be a foregone conclusion that Oladipo, who was acquired by Houston from Indiana earlier this season in the multi-team trade that sent James Harden to the Nets, would be dealt again when he turned down a two-year, $42.5MM extension offer from the Rockets last month.
He played 20 games for Houston, averaging 21.2 PPG, 5.0 APG and 4.8 RPG in 33.5 MPG.
Olynyk has an expiring $12.6MM contract and Bradley’s $5.9MM salary for next season includes a team option. Olynyk, who became expendable when Miami agreed to acquire Nemanja Bjelica from the Kings, started 38 of 43 games this season for Miami, averaging 10.0 PPG and 6.1 RPG in 26.9 MPG.
Bradley, who was signed as a free agent last offseason, has only appeared in 10 games this season due to injuries.
After a busy day on the trade market, Miami has two open roster spots. The team will sign at least one player via the buyout market, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press tweets. LaMarcus Aldridge looks like a top target for the Heat.
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Clippers, Hawks Swap Rajon Rondo, Lou Williams
8:34pm: The exchange of Williams and Rondo is now official, per press releases from the Clippers and Hawks.
“Being able to acquire a respected veteran in Lou Williams, one of the best scorers and playmakers off the bench in league history, and two second-round picks accomplished a couple of the goals we had,” Hawks team president Travis Schlenk said in a statement.
“We could not be more excited to welcome Rajon to the Clippers,” Clippers team president Lawrence Frank said. “He is a proven winner, a relentless competitor, and one of the most skilled orchestrators of his era. We believe he will elevate our group and continue to propel us forward.”
The Clippers clarified in their announcement that the 2023 second-rounder headed to Atlanta in the deal is Portland’s pick.
1:32pm: The Hawks and Clippers have reached an agreement to swap Williams and Rondo, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Atlanta will also acquire a pair of second-round picks and cash in the deal, sources tell Charania and Amick (Twitter link). It’ll be a homecoming for Williams, who won’t be flipped to a third team, tweets Charania.
According to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter link), the second-rounders going to Atlanta are 2023 and 2027 picks. That ’27 selection will be L.A.’s own. The Clippers control Portland’s 2023 second-rounder in addition to their own, so it’s not clear which of those picks the Hawks are getting.
1:30pm: Lou Williams has been discussed in the Clippers/Hawks negotiations, according to Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link), who indicate that Williams could end up in Atlanta or be re-routed to a third team.
Williams is on an $8MM expiring contract.
1:27pm: The Clippers and Hawks are engaged in serious discussions about a deal that would send Rajon Rondo back to Los Angeles, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported earlier today that the Clippers were eyeing Rondo.
Rondo, 35, signed a two-year, $15MM contract with Atlanta in the offseason after spending the previous two seasons with the Lakers, winning a championship with the team in 2020.
However, his numbers have dipped since joining the Hawks, as he’s averaged a career-low 3.9 points and 3.5 assists per game in just 14.9 minutes per contest. He has also been limited to 27 games due to injuries.
Despite his declining production, Rondo could still be an asset for a team like the Clippers that has been scouring the market for a play-making guard to complement its two star forwards, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
If the Clippers swing a deal for Rondo, they’ll have to send out some salary. As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), the point guard’s salary is $7.5MM and the Clippers have just $2.6MM in breathing room below their hard cap.
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Kings Trade Nemanja Bjelica To Heat
8:06pm: The trade for Bjelica is now official, per a Heat press release.
11:46am: The Heat and Kings are finalizing a trade that will send forward Nemanja Bjelica to Miami, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Sacramento will receive Maurice Harkless and Chris Silva in the deal, Woj adds (via Twitter).
The Heat have been linked to the stretch four for several weeks. They could have fit Bjelica’s $7.15MM salary into a $7.5MM trade exception, which expired on Monday. Instead, Heat president Pat Riley opted to send out players in order to stay below the luxury tax line. Harkless has an expiring $3.623MM contract and Silva is making $1.52MM. There’s a $1.78MM team option attached to Silva’s contract for next season.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link), Miami stays $3.3MM below the tax line and also opens up a roster spot in the two-for-one transaction. Sacramento will have to waive or trade a player to accommodate the extra incoming player.
Bjelica’s role was greatly diminished this season as the new front office and coach Luke Walton made Marvin Bagley III the starter at power forward following an injury-plagued season until he fractured his hand this month.
The 32-year-old Serbian has only appeared in 26 games this season, averaging 7.2 PPG and 3.8 RPG. He had a career year last season, averaging 11.5 PPG and 6.4 RPG in 72 games, including 67 starts. He’s a career 38.7% shooter from 3-point range.
Bjelica’s 3-point threat will likely make him a rotation player for the Heat the remainder of this season. They can then decide whether to re-sign the unrestricted free agent or let him walk to create additional cap flexibility. They’ll have his Bird rights and can go over the cap to re-sign him.
Harkless and Silva only appeared in 11 games apiece this season. They’ll get a fresh start in Sacramento, unless the Kings opt to waive one or both of them.
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Increasing Momentum Toward LaMarcus Aldridge Joining Heat
There’s “increasing momentum” toward LaMarcus Aldridge joining the Heat once he becomes a free agent, reports Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link).
Aldridge technically can’t sign anywhere until after he clears waivers on Saturday evening, but a sought-after player who has received a buyout will often reach a tentative agreement with a new team before he officially reaches the open market.
[RELATED: Spurs buy out LaMarcus Aldridge]
While there’s still a chance that Aldridge and the Heat won’t finalize a deal, many of the team’s beat reporters – including Reynolds, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald and Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (all Twitter links) – are talking as if it’s essentially a done deal.
Meanwhile, Jason Quick of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that Aldridge won’t be returning to Portland. The Trail Blazers had been viewed as one of Miami’s top competitors for the big man.
It has been an eventful day for the Heat, who reached agreements to acquire Victor Oladipo and Nemanja Bjelica in two separate trades. The team also traded for Trevor Ariza last week, and would still have one open roster spot after adding Aldridge.
While Aldridge isn’t the same player he was when he earned seven All-Star berths for Portland and San Antonio, he was still relatively productive in a part-time role with the Spurs in 2020/21, averaging 13.7 PPG and 4.5 RPG on .464/.360/.838 shooting in 21 games (25.9 MPG). Assuming he officially sign with the Heat, he’ll complement the likes of Bam Adebayo, Ariza, Bjelica, and Precious Achiuwa in the club’s frontcourt.
Sixers Acquire George Hill In Three-Team Trade
7:15pm: The trade is now official, according to press releases from the Sixers and Knicks. The deal breaks down as follows:
Sixers acquire Hill and Brazdeikis.- Thunder acquire Bradley, Rivers, the Sixers’ 2025 second-round pick, and the Sixers’ 2026 second-round pick.
- Knicks acquire Ferguson, Poirier, the Sixers’ 2021 second-round pick, the Heat’s 2024 second-round pick (top-55 protected; from Sixers), and the draft rights to Emir Preldzic (from Sixers).
The Knicks’ acquisitions of the Heat’s protected 2024 second-rounder and Preldzic’s rights weren’t reported earlier, but neither is a difference-making asset, as the pick will only be conveyed if it falls between 56-60 and Preldzic is unlikely to ever play in the NBA.
New York will waive Poirier now that the deal is official, as we relayed earlier.
11:52am: The Sixers, Thunder, and Knicks are finalizing a trade that will see George Hill land in Philadelphia, according to reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (all Twitter links).
The Thunder are receiving Tony Bradley and Austin Rivers, according to Wojnarowski, who says Philadelphia will send Terrance Ferguson to New York and will acquire Ignas Brazdeikis from the Knicks (Twitter link). Vincent Poirier will join Ferguson in heading from Philadelphia to New York, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.
The Sixers are also sending a pair of second-round picks to Oklahoma City, per Wojnarowski, who tweets that those second-rounders will be Philadelphia’s own in 2025 and 2026. Meanwhile, Steve Popper of Newsday reports (via Twitter) that the Knicks are acquiring Philadelphia’s own 2021 second-rounder.
While the 76ers were viewed as one of the top suitors for Kyle Lowry, it appears they’ve opted to go in a different – and less costly – direction, addressing the point guard position by acquiring Hill, a steady veteran who has a ton of postseason experience.
The 34-year-old Hill averaged 11.8 PPG and 3.1 APG with a .508/.386/.840 shooting line in 14 games (26.4 MPG) for the Thunder before he was sidelined by a thumb injury. It’s not clear how much more time he’ll miss, but a report this week indicated he’s out of his cast and is working toward a return. Presumably, Philadelphia is confident about his ability to contribute down the stretch.
Hill’s $10MM salary for the 2021/22 season only has a small ($1.28MM) partial guarantee, so the Sixers will have some flexibility during the offseason as they consider whether or not to hang onto him.
As for the Thunder and Knicks, the two rebuilding clubs will add to their ever-growing collections of draft picks in this deal. Ferguson and Poirier probably aren’t in New York’s plans, but the two players headed to Oklahoma City are a little more intriguing.
Bradley, who is eligible for restricted free agency, had 18 points and 11 rebounds in his final game as a Sixer on Tuesday, while Rivers has been a rotation player for playoff clubs in the past and is on a team-friendly contract, with non-guaranteed cap hits of $3.33MM in 2021/22 and $3.15MM in ’22/23.
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Celtics Trade Daniel Theis To Bulls In Three-Team Deal
6:27pm: The trade is now official, per a press release from the Wizards.
2:57pm: Ryan McDonough of Radio.com provides the full details on the trade, explaining (via Twitter) that it’ll be folded into the previously-reported Bulls/Wizards swap that involved Wagner. The breakdown is as follows, per McDonough:
- The Bulls will receive Theis, Green, Troy Brown, $1.3MM in cash from the Celtics, and $250K in cash from the Wizards.
- The Celtics will receive Kornet and Wagner.
- The Wizards will receive Daniel Gafford and Chandler Hutchison.
The C’s will end up $950K below the tax line as a result of their series of moves, tweets Marks.
2:31pm: The Celtics and Bulls have agreed to a deal that will send Daniel Theis to Chicago and Moritz Wagner to Boston, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links). K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago first reported the talks between the two teams (Twitter link).
According to Johnson and Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter links), Jeff Teague and Javonte Green were also discussed leading up to the deadline, with the possibility of a third team joining the mix. Teague will be sent to Orlando as part of the Evan Fournier trade and will subsequently be waived, per Josh Robbins and Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
It’s not clear if a third team will take on Green or if he’ll be end up going to the Bulls, but the Celtics are believed to be acquiring Luke Kornet from Chicago in the deal, tweets Murphy.
The move will get the Celtics get out of luxury tax territory following their acquisition of Fournier, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Meanwhile, it gives the Bulls a solid backup center following their earlier deal for Nikola Vucevic.
Spurs Buy Out LaMarcus Aldridge
5:33pm: The amount of Aldridge’s buyout was actually $5.8MM, per Wojnarowski (via Twitter). While that’s not quite as high as Charania’s report suggested, it’s still a significant amount, considering he only had about $8.5MM left on his deal, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
4:31pm: Aldridge gave back $7.25MM in his buyout agreement with the Spurs, tweets Charania. That’s a sizeable portion of the money that was left on his $24MM expiring salary and more than players typically give up as part of a buyout.
Charania notes that the Trail Blazers will be in the mix to sign Aldridge, though he reiterates that Miami is the frontrunner.
4:08pm: The Spurs have completed their buyout with Aldridge and have placed him on waivers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll be able to sign with a new team as of Saturday evening.
2:47pm: LaMarcus Aldridge is negotiating a buyout with the Spurs, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
San Antonio decided two weeks ago to part with the veteran big man, who is in his sixth season with the team. Aldridge lost his starting job earlier this year and saw his minutes reduced to 25.9 per game. He hasn’t played since March 1.
Aldridge will likely have to give up some of his $24MM salary to secure his freedom from the Spurs. The Heat are considered the favorites to sign Aldridge once he clears waivers, but he plans to talk with several teams before making a decision, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
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