Sixers To Trade Khyri Thomas To Detroit
10:20pm: Detroit will be sending two future second-round picks, Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press tweets.
10:14pm: The Sixers will be trading No. 38 pick Khyri Thomas to the Pistons, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets. It’s unclear what will be heading back to Philadelphia.
While Detroit could have waited and hoped for the Creighton product to be available at No. 42, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes that the Lakers would have certainly taken him at No. 39.
Thomas is a two-time Big East defensive player of the year that had first-round buzz. The 22-year-old averaged 15.1 points per game in his junior season.
Trail Blazers Acquire Gary Trent Jr. From Kings
The Trail Blazers have agreed to acquire Gary Trent Jr. in a trade with the Kings after Sacramento selected him with the 37th overall pick, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Kings will receive a pair of future second-round picks from Portland in exchange for Trent. The Blazers will also send cash to Sacramento, per the NBA’s official announcement.
Trent, 19, made an impact as a shooter during his lone season at Duke. He connected on better than 40% of his long-range shots while averaging 14.5 points per game. He could provide another weapon in an already high-scoring Blazers’ backcourt.
Hawks To Trade Pick No. 34 To Charlotte
The Hawks have agreed to trade the 34th pick to the Hornets, tweets Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. Charlotte used the pick on Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham.
The 23-year-old point guard spent four years with the Jayhawks and was named Big 12 Player of the Year as a senior. He averaged 17.3 points and 7.2 assists in leading Kansas to the conference title.
The Hornets need to find depth at point guard with back-up Michael Carter-Williams headed for free agency.
Atlanta will receive a pair of future second-rounders in return. They are due in 2019 and 2023, tweets Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer.
Mavs Acquire No. 3 Pick, Draft Luka Doncic
9:21pm: Marc Stein of The New York Times has the protection details on the 2019 first-round pick going to Atlanta in the deal. According to Stein (via Twitter), it will be top-five protected in 2019 and 2020, top-three protected in 2021 and 2022, and fully unprotected in 2023.
6:47pm: The Mavericks and Hawks agreed to a blockbuster trade involving the No. 3 pick that allowed Dallas to draft Luka Doncic.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter) that the Hawks will acquire a 2019 first-round pick in the trade, while Atlanta took Trae Young at No. 5. No veteran players are involved in the deal, Woj adds (via Twitter).
Previous versions of the trade had Kent Bazemore going to Dallas and Wesley Matthews to Atlanta, but the Hawks were reluctant to add Matthews to a young, rebuilding team. They opted for a simple swap of picks, with some light protections on the future first-rounder. Atlanta had been hoping to free up some cap room by finding a taker for Bazemore, who is owed more than $18MM next season and has a player option worth nearly $19.3MM in 2019/20.
The teams were close to a trade around 5:00pm ET, tweets ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, but fell apart until the Mavs agree to include the future pick. The pick is scheduled to transfer next season, tweets Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports and will be top-five protected (Twitter link).
A source from the Mavericks, who described the protections as minimal to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, said, “We hope it conveys next year.” (Twitter link).
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Suns Acquire Mikal Bridges From Sixers
After selecting Deandre Ayton with the first overall pick to kick off the draft, the Suns have agreed to acquire another top-10 prospect. According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), Phoenix has reached a deal with the Sixers that will send No. 10 overall pick Mikal Bridges to the Suns, with No. 16 pick Zhaire Smith heading to Philadelphia.
In addition to Smith, the Sixers will receive the Heat’s 2021 first-round pick from Phoenix, tweets Charania. The trade is now official.
The Suns were just about to select Donte DiVincenzo when a call came through from Philadelphia about a trade, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.
By moving from the 1oth pick to the 16th, the Sixers will save about $1MM in cap space, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), who notes that the extra money will be helpful if Philly decides to make a max offer in free agency.
The first-rounder from Miami will remain unprotected, according to Jake Fischer of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link). A 2021 selection could be even more valuable if the NBA does away with its one-and-done rule that year, since that year’s top high-school seniors and college freshman could both be draft-eligible for the first time.
[RELATED: NBA: Draft Eligibility Rules Could Change By 2021]
The trade puts an unexpected twist on what was nearly a storybook night for Villanova’s Bridges, who hails from the Philadelphia area. He and his mother both seemed thrilled at the prospect of having him join the Sixers. Instead, Bridges heads west to join a rebuilding franchise in Phoenix.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Clippers Acquire Shai Gilgeous-Alexander From Hornets
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came off the board at No. 11 to the Hornets, but he won’t remain with Charlotte, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Wojnarowski reports that the Clippers are sending the No. 12 pick and two second-round picks to the Hornets in exchange for Gilgeous-Alexander, Woj adds (via Twitter).
With their newly-acquired No. 12 pick, the Hornets selected Miles Bridges, per Jeff Goodman (Twitter link). The deal is now official.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who remained out of sight through most of the workout process, gets his reported wish to play in L.A. At 6’6″, his size and versatility make him attractive to NBA scouts, some of whom believe he could become the best point guard in the draft. A late bloomer at Kentucky, Gilgeous-Alexander became a starter midway through the season and averaged 14.4 points and 5.1 assists in 37 games.
Bridges failed to raise his draft status after a surprise decision to return to Michigan State for his sophomore season, but he could still be a nice pickup for the Hornets. In two years with the Spartans, he averaged 17.0 points per game and shot 38% from 3-point range.
As for the future picks changing hands in the deal, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer reports (via Twitter) that the Hornets will get second-rounders in 2020 and 2021.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Knicks’ Kyle O’Quinn Declines Player Option
Knicks center Kyle O’Quinn has declined his player option for the 2018/19 season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. O’Quinn will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Quinn, 28, enjoyed a career year with the Knicks during the 2017/18 season, averaging a career-high 7.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 18.0 minutes per game with a .598/..235/.772 shooting line.
Unlike the Hawks’ Dewayne Dedmon, who was reported to have picked up his player option at nearly the same time that news broke on O’Quinn, the Knicks’ big man was only scheduled to make $4,256,250 next season, nearly $3MM less than what Dedmon will make.
As noted by Bobby Marks of ESPN, O’Quinn’s decision to decline his option likely won’t have any impact on the Knicks’ 2018/19 cap situation unless Enes Kanter also decides to decline his $18.62MM option, as the Knicks would likely only have the ability to operate under the cap if Kanter becomes a free agent.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hawks’ Dewayne Dedmon Exercises Player Option
Hawks center Dewayne Dedmon has opted into his contract for the 2018/19 season, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. Dedmon will earn a salary of $7,200,000 next year after exercising his player option.
Dedmon, 28, enjoyed a career-best season in Atlanta during the 2017/18 campaign, averaging a career-high in points (10.0), rebounds (7.9), and assists (1.5) per game. Dedmon was even able to increase his range to the three-point line, shooting a relatively respectable 35.5% from deep on 141 attempts after only attempting one three-pointer in his entire career before this season.
Despite those improved numbers, it remained unlikely that Dedmon would have commanded a higher annual salary than the $7.2MM he will earn next season.
Meanwhile, the Hawks have openly discussed their plans to build for the future, so Dedmon’s expiring contract could potentially become a trade asset sometime in the not-so-distant future. However, given Dedmon’s production, he’s probably an unlikely candidate to be waived.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marreese Speights Close To Signing With Chinese Team
Veteran big man Marreese Speights is close to an agreement with China’s Guangzhou Long Lions, international reporter David Pick tweets.
This would be an interesting move for Speights, who is once again entering unrestricted NBA free agency next month. It suggests the offer must be substantial, since he could still fit the bill for an NBA team seeking a stretch four and veteran leadership.
Speights has bounced around the league in recent seasons and played on a veteran’s minimum contract — approximately $2.12MM — with the Magic last season. The cap hit on the contract was $1.47MM and the league paid the difference.
Speights, whose career began in 2008/09 with the Sixers, is best known for playing with the Warriors for three seasons. He won a ring in 2015.
He appeared in all 82 regular-season games with the Clippers in 2016/17, then moved on to the Magic last season. He saw action in 52 games, including three starts, and averaged 7.7 PPG and 2.6 RPG in 13.0 MPG.
The 6’10” Speights shot an above-average 36.9% from long range while taking a career-high 4.5 attempts per game.
Spurs’ Rudy Gay To Decline Player Option
Spurs forward Rudy Gay will turn down his 2018/19 player option, electing to become a free agent on July 1, reports ESPN’s Chris Haynes. The option would have paid Gay a salary of $8,826,300 for next season.
[RELATED: NBA Player Option Decisions For 2018/19]
Gay, whose 2016/17 campaign ended early due to an Achilles injury, made a speedy recovery and was ready to go for the Spurs in the fall after signing a two-year, $17.2MM deal with the club. However, he was nagged by Achilles and heel problems during the winter, limiting him to 57 regular season games — he never seemed fully like his old self.
“A lot of times, I will-powered through games, will-powered through practices,” Gay told Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News in April. “I didn’t feel like there was anything worse I can go through (than the Achilles tendon injury).”
In that conversation with McDonald earlier in the spring, the veteran reportedly sounded “genuinely torn” over whether or not to pick up his option, but it makes some sense that he’d seek a new deal on the open market. While Gay missed time with health problems and averaged a career-low 21.6 minutes per contest, his per-minute numbers were solid, as he posted 11.5 PPG and 5.1 RPG with a .471/.314/.772 shooting line for the season.
Additionally, Gay may not want to lock himself into another season with the Spurs as long as the team’s roster remains in flux. In addition to Kawhi Leonard‘s reported desire to leave San Antonio, Danny Green and Joffrey Lauvergne also have player-option decisions to make, Tony Parker and Kyle Anderson will be free agents, and Manu Ginobili is believed to be considering retirement.
Still, Gay is no lock to get a raise on his $8.8MM+ player-option salary. The mid-level exception for 2018/19 figures to be worth a little less than that, so in order to top that salary, Gay would probably have to either negotiate a new deal with San Antonio or find a team with cap room willing to make him a sizable offer.
If Gay ultimately settles for a lesser salary for next season, it would be the second consecutive summer that he has taken a pay cut. In 2017, he declined his $14MM+ option with the Kings before signing that new deal with the Spurs that paid him approximately $8.4MM in 2017/18.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.