Rockets, Pistons Complete Christian Wood Sign-And-Trade
3:59pm: Bobby Marks of ESPN has the new protections on the Pistons’ first-round pick being sent to Houston in the deal. According to Marks (Twitter link), it’s top-16 protected in 2021 and 2022, top-18 in ’23 and ’24, top-13 in ’25, top-11 in ’26, and top-nine in ’27. If it still hasn’t changed hands by that point, the Rockets will get a 2027 second-round pick.
3:38pm: The Pistons and Rockets each issued press releases today to formally announce that free agent big man Christian Wood has officially been sent to Houston in a sign-and-trade deal.
The move combines Wood’s deal with the Trevor Ariza trade the two teams originally agreed to last week. The end result is as follows:
- Pistons acquire Ariza, the draft rights to Isaiah Stewart (the No. 16 pick in the draft), cash ($4.6MM), and a future Rockets second-round pick.
- Rockets acquire Wood (via sign-and-trade), the Pistons’ 2021 first-round pick (heavily protected) and the Lakers’ 2021 second-round pick.
The Pistons’ and Rockets’ official announcements offer even fewer specifics than outlined above, so we’ll have to wait for clarification on the last few aspects of the deal, such as the future second-rounder going to Detroit and the protections on the first-round pick going to Houston.
That Pistons first-rounder was initially expected to be top-16 protected for four years, but Detroit reportedly increased the protections a little further when the team agreed to accommodate Wood’s sign-and-trade. The Rockets were unable to offer Wood his three-year, $41MM deal without the Pistons’ cooperation.
Now that this deal is complete, Ariza can be traded for the third time of the offseason. The veteran forward has already been sent from Portland to Houston to Detroit and will now be rerouted to Oklahoma City as part of a three-team trade involving the Pistons, Thunder, and Mavericks.
Meanwhile, the Rockets officially add one of the top free agents of this year’s class. Wood had a breakout year in 2019/20, though his full-season stats (13.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG) don’t tell the full story — after he entered the starting lineup following the Pistons’ Andre Drummond trade, he recorded 22.8 PPG, 9.9 RPG, and 2.0 APG over his final 13 games.
Wood will join a Rockets squad that no longer seems intent on continuing the micro-ball experiment that they attempted last season after trading Clint Capela to Atlanta. Houston has also reached a deal to sign DeMarcus Cousins.
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Donovan Mitchell Signs Max Extension With Jazz
NOVEMBER 24: The Jazz have officially signed Mitchell to his new five-year extension, per the NBA’s transactions log. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), the deal features a 15% trade kicker.
NOVEMBER 22: Jazz star Donovan Mitchell will sign a maximum rookie scale extension, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal will cover five seasons, starting in 2021/22, and will include a fifth-year player option for the ’25/26 season, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).
Mitchell will be guaranteed 25% of the salary cap, which would make the total value of the deal around $163MM over five years. That figure could rise to 30% if he meets All-NBA criteria for the upcoming season, which would put the contract in the neighborhood of $195MM. Those projections rely on an annual 3% increase in the cap, so the actual value could vary.
Mitchell will earn about $5.2MM in 2020/21, the last year of his rookie contract, before the extension officially begins a year from now.
The 13th overall pick in the 2017 draft, Mitchell has become a star in Utah during his three NBA seasons and is coming off his first All-Star appearance. He averaged a career-best 24.0 points per game last season and followed that with a historic playoff performance, scoring 36.3 PPG in the seven-game loss to the Nuggets.
He has improved his averages in several key statistical categories – including points and assists per game, as well as three-point percentage – in each of his three professional seasons and is still just 24 years old.
Utah has gotten most of its offseason business out of the way during the first 48 hours of the free agency period, having agreed to re-sign Jordan Clarkson and reaching a deal to bring back Derrick Favors using their mid-level exception.
Having locked up Mitchell, the Jazz are expected to focus on a new contract for center Rudy Gobert, who is also eligible for an extension. Gobert will reach unrestricted free agency in 2021 if the two sides don’t agree to a new deal before then.
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Pelicans Sign Steven Adams To Extension
NOVEMBER 24: Now that the trade sending him to New Orleans has been completed, the Pelicans have officially announced their extension agreement with Adams.
NOVEMBER 23: As part of the trade that will send center Steven Adams from Oklahoma City to New Orleans, the Pelicans are signing Adams to a two-year contract extension worth $35MM, sources tell Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links). The deal, which will run through 2022/23, will be fully guaranteed, per the ESPN duo.
Teams are permitted to extend players as part of trades, though those deals are limited to three total years, including the ones remaining on the player’s current contract. Since Adams is on an expiring contract, the Pelicans are able to tack on two new years. Worth $17.5MM annually, the extension will represent a dip from the big man’s current $27.5MM salary.
As we relayed earlier tonight, the Pelicans reportedly pursued Adams during the 2019 offseason. Their willingness to surrender a first-round pick for him and sign him to an extension are two more signs that he’s a player they value significantly.
In 2019/20, Adams averaged 10.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG, and 2.3 APG in 63 games (26.7 MPG) as Oklahoma City’s starting center, helping to anchor the team’s defense. He’ll presumably take on a similar role in New Orleans, playing alongside Zion Williamson in the Pelicans’ starting five.
Adams is now on track to reach unrestricted free agency at age 30 in 2023.
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Jazz To Allow Fans For Home Games
The Jazz announced a plan to have a limited number of fans in Vivint Arena when the new season starts next month.
There will be a reduced seating capacity of 1,500 people in the lower bowl of the building, along with limited seating at the suite level. All seating will be socially distanced, and safety measures have been adopted throughout the arena in conjunction with the Utah Department of Health. No fans will be permitted at preseason games.
“The Jazz believe this is a responsible way to start the season from a public health and safety standpoint. Our intent is to increase the number of fans as the season unfolds in compliance with state guidelines,” said team president Jim Olson. “We want to reassure our guests that we are taking the utmost precautions to have a safe and enjoyable experience as they return. We are optimistic for the future and continue to closely monitor the public health situation with State of Utah, Salt Lake County, and Salt Lake City officials as well as the NBA.”
The team is partnering with Alsco to provide products that limit the spread of COVID-19, such as hand sanitizer dispensers, masks, gloves and hospital-grade cleaning solutions. Other safety measures will be adopted, such as mandatory face coverings, mobile entry and screening procedures at all entrances, plexiglass barriers and signs to remind fans of the need for social distancing.
Nuggets Promote Bol Bol To Standard Roster
4:22pm: The Nuggets have officially announced that they’ve signed Bol to a standard NBA contract.
10:32am: The Nuggets and young center Bol Bol have agreed to a two-year deal worth $4.2MM, his agents at CAA Sports tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bol, who spent his rookie season in 2019/20 on a two-way contract, will be promoted to Denver’s standard roster as part of the agreement.
Bol, once considered a probable 2019 lottery pick, dropped to No. 44 in last year’s draft due to health concerns. The 21-year-old was limited to seven NBA appearances and eight G League games as a rookie.
However, Bol has flashed intriguing potential as a 7’2″ center who can knock down shots from beyond the arc, and the Nuggets are excited about his development, tweets Charania. In his eight games for the Windy City Bulls last season, he averaged 12.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.1 BPG with a .364 3PT% in 19.3 minutes per contest.
Even with Mason Plumlee out of the picture for the Nuggets in 2020/21, Bol will have to compete to earn a regular role in the rotation. Isaiah Hartenstein, Paul Millsap, and Zeke Nnaji are also candidates for minutes at the five behind Nikola Jokic.
Bol will fill the roster spot previously occupied by Keita Bates-Diop, who was waived before his salary for 2020/21 became guaranteed. Mike Singer of The Denver Post previously reported that the Nuggets would promote Bol to the standard roster.
After committing most of its mid-level exception to JaMychal Green, Denver will likely use the remaining portion of that MLE to complete the Bol signing.
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Lakers Sign Marc Gasol To Two-Year Deal
NOVEMBER 24: Gasol has signed his contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that it’s a straight two-year, minimum-salary deal, with no player or team option on year two.
Gasol will earn about $2.56MM in 2020/21 and $2.69MM in ’21/22.
NOVEMBER 22: The Lakers have reached an agreement to sign free agent center Marc Gasol, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN, who first reported that the two sides were finalizing a deal, say it’ll be a two-year pact (Twitter links).
A former Defensive Player of the Year and three-time All-Star, Gasol has seen his numbers fall off significantly during the last year-and-a-half in Toronto. He averaged just 7.5 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 44 games (26.4 MPG) in 2019/20.
However, while he’s no longer as prolific a scorer as he was during his days with the Grizzlies, Gasol can still knock down three-pointers (38.5% in ’19/20) and facilitate an offense from the top of the key. He also remains a very effective defender, which will be important in Los Angeles. Montrezl Harrell, the Lakers’ other big frontcourt free agent addition, is far more effective on offense than on defense.
It appears likely that Gasol will get a minimum-salary deal from the Lakers, who are up against a hard cap. The team agreed to trade JaVale McGee to the Cavaliers, but will have to take back some salary in that deal. Plus, giving Gasol more than the minimum would require the Raptors to accommodate a sign-and-trade agreement.
Because the Lakers are offering a two-year contract, the first-year cap hit will be about $2.56MM instead of $1.62MM. The NBA partially reimburses teams for one-year minimum-salary veteran contracts, but not for two-year deals.
After completing this series of roster moves and filling out their roster with minimum-salary signings, the Lakers project to be about $1.3MM below the hard cap, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
Gasol was drafted by L.A. way back in 2007 but was traded to Memphis in a package for his brother Pau Gasol and never appeared in a game for the Lakers. Thirteen years later, he’ll finally suit up for the franchise.
Meanwhile, the Raptors – having lost both Gasol and Serge Ibaka in free agency – have pivoted by securing a commitment from free agent center Aron Baynes. The team is also re-signing RFA big man Chris Boucher.
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Four-Team Jrue Holiday, Steven Adams Trade Officially Complete
The Pelicans, Thunder, Bucks, and Nuggets have officially completed the four-team trade that will send Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee and Steven Adams to New Orleans, the Pelicans announced today in a press release.
In total, the mega-deal involves 10 players, five draft picks, and two future pick swaps. The trade breaks down as follows:
- Bucks acquire Holiday and the draft rights to Sam Merrill (No. 60 pick; from Pelicans).
- Pelicans acquire Adams, Eric Bledsoe, the Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick (unprotected), the Bucks’ 2027 first-round pick (unprotected), and the right to swap first-round picks with the Bucks in 2024 and 2026.
- Thunder acquire George Hill, Darius Miller, Kenrich Williams (sign-and-trade), Josh Gray (sign-and-trade), Zylan Cheatham (sign-and-trade), the Nuggets’ 2023 first-round pick (top-14 protected), the Wizards’ 2023 second-round pick (from Pelicans), and the Hornets’ 2024 second-round pick (from Pelicans).
- Nuggets acquire the draft rights to RJ Hampton (No. 24 pick; from Bucks).
The deal began when the Bucks and Pelicans reached an agreement on a trade sending Holiday to Milwaukee last week. From there, the Thunder got involved when New Orleans agreed to flip Hill to Oklahoma City in a trade for Adams.
A draft-night deal between the Nuggets and Pelicans that involved the Nuggets’ 2023 first-rounder and the Bucks’ No. 24 pick (sent to New Orleans as part of the original Holiday agreement) was folded in to make it a four-team trade when the Pels agreed to flip Denver’s ’23 pick to OKC as part of the Adams package.
As cap expert Albert Nahmad has pointed out (via Twitter), it’s an intricate, complex transaction that had to make use of a slew of CBA rules. The Pelicans, who are signing Adams to a two-year extension as part of the trade, needed to sign-and-trade Williams, Gray, and Cheatham to Oklahoma City and guarantee most or all of Miller’s $7MM salary in order to abide by salary-matching rules.
Meanwhile, Adams gets a trade bonus worth a little over $2MM as part of the deal, while the Thunder create the largest trade exception in NBA history, worth $27.5MM, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
Unfortunately, as Nahmad observes (via Twitter), Oklahoma City will likely have to use that massive TPE immediately to accommodate the acquisition of Al Horford. Still, as John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, the Thunder should come out of their series of transactions with a handful of usable trade exceptions, including one worth $15.4MM.
A full breakdown of this offseason’s trades – including the ones not yet made official – can be found right here.
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Suns Sign Langston Galloway
NOVEMBER 29: The move is official, according to the RealGM Transactions Page.
NOVEMBER 23: The Suns have reached a contract agreement with free agent guard Langston Galloway, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It’s a minimum-salary deal for Galloway, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (via Twitter).
Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link) reported earlier this afternoon that Phoenix had interest in signing Galloway.
Galloway flew somewhat under the radar in 2019/20 as part of a Pistons team that was never in the playoff hunt. However, he enjoyed arguably the best individual season of his career, with 10.3 PPG on .435/.399/.859 shooting in 66 games (25.8 MPG).
In Phoenix, Galloway will provide extra depth in a talented backcourt that already features Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and E’Twaun Moore. He and Moore figure to give the Suns some scoring punch off the bench.
Rockets Sign DeMarcus Cousins To One-Year Deal
DECEMBER 1: The Rockets have officially signed Cousins, the team announced today in a press release. Houston now has a full 20-man roster.
NOVEMBER 23: The Rockets and free agent center DeMarcus Cousins have agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links) first reported that the two sides were nearing a deal and says it will be non-guaranteed.
Cousins, 30, has only played in 78 games over the last three seasons – and didn’t play at all in 2019/20 – due to a series of major leg injuries, including a torn Achilles and, most recently, a torn ACL.
He reportedly received contract offers prior to the NBA’s summer restart, but turned them down in order to focus on his rehab. He’s aiming to get back to 100% before returning to action, so it’s not clear yet whether he’ll be ready to go for the start of the season.
A fully-healthy Cousins would be a tantalizing weapon for the Rockets this season. The four-time All-Star has career averages of 21.2 PPG, 10.9 RPG, and 3.2 APG in 565 games, and while he’s certainly unlikely to match those numbers, he’d be a bargain for Houston if he’s able to recapture his old form at all.
Houston’s agreement with Cousins is the latest signal that the team will be pivoting away from its micro-ball approach for 2020/21. The team also agreed to a three-year, $41MM deal with big man Christian Wood.
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Wizards’ GM: No Plans To Trade John Wall
Speaking to reporters today on a conference call, Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard said the team has no plans to trade point guard John Wall (Twitter link via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN).
Sheppard, who said he was just watching Wall work out this morning, told the media that – with Wall and Bradley Beal set to play together for the first time since 2018 – it’s a new chapter for the Wizards’ two star guards, rather than a “sequel.”
“I can’t wait to see those two together,” he added (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
A report last week indicated that Wall had made it clear he wants to be traded out of Washington. However, Sheppard, who said that he and Wall speak every other day, said the five-time All-Star has never asked him per a trade, per Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link).
“There’s no issue with John and I, with John and the Wizards,” Sheppard said (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
Even if Wall does want to be dealt, he has little leverage to force the issue. With three years and $133MM left on his deal, the 30-year-old has one of the NBA’s least team-friendly contracts. He’s also spent nearly two full years rehabbing various injuries.
While Wall has apparently looked great in workouts, per Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link), teams would be extremely wary about taking on that contract without having seen him play since 2018. In other words, it wouldn’t make sense for the Wizards to make a deal when Wall’s stock is so low.
The team plans to manage Wall’s workload this season, reducing his minutes and likely sitting him during one half of back-to-back sets.
With Wall and Beal reunited in the backcourt and Davis Bertans back in the fold, the Wizards hope to make it back to the postseason in 2021. The team also drafted Deni Avdija last week and signed veterans Robin Lopez and Raul Neto in free agency. Those newcomers will join a roster that also features Rui Hachimura, Troy Brown, and Thomas Bryant.
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