We are four days out from the NBA Draft, when a lot of trades are expected to go down — including the biggest one on the board — and just 11 days out from the start of free agency. The NBA Rumor Mill could not be spinning faster. Here are just some of the latest headlines.
It has long been assumed that Portland will end up being the third team in a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade to the Miami Heat — and that trade remains the clear frontrunner if the Bucks are going to meet co-owner Jimmy Haslam’s self-imposed deadline of having the Antetokounmpo situation wrapped up by the NBA Draft (June 23). Portland makes sense because they have some of Milwaukee’s future first-round picks that the Bucks would like back.
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However, we should “monitor” the Pistons in those talks as a third team, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line.
Detroit is on the hunt for a secondary shot creator and shooter to put next to Cade Cunningham and Tyler Herro would be a perfect fit. Herro has long been projected to head to Milwaukee in an Antetokounmpo trade. In this scenario, the Bucks would flip Herro to Detroit, and Detroit would likely send back picks and potentially players such as Ron Holland, Marcus Sasser or Caris LeVert.
Other players the Pistons might chase if they miss out on Herro (or the Lakers’ Austin Reaves, another target) are the Hornets’ Coby White, Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Joe, and Sacramento’s Zach LaVine, according to Stein.
To be clear: Miami remains the frontrunner to land Giannis Antetokounmpo if the Bucks stick to their plan to have this saga wrapped up by the draft.
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However, if the Heat strike out on the Greek Freak, keep an eye on them going after Kawhi Leonard or Ja Morant, something first reported by Jake Fischer at The Stein Line and now backed up by Sam Amick at The Athletic.
The problem here is that Kawhi Leonard isn’t available. At least not right now. Reports out of Southern California suggest team owner Steve Ballmer is opposed to trading Leonard, and owners generally get their way. Ballmer wants to work out a contract extension that keeps Leonard home in LA. That said, two things could change the dynamic. First, the findings of the Aspiration investigation might alter a lot of things around the Clippers, but we don’t yet know what they are.
Then there are contract talks. Leonard has one year at $50.3 million left on his deal, but if he wants to stay with the Clippers, he’s going to have to take a serious cut in that salary. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon laid it out in the latest The Hoop Collective podcast (hat tip Bleacher Report).
“My understanding is if there’s going to be an extension, there’s going to be some legitimate negotiations. This isn’t just, ‘Can you take a little haircut?’ He’s going to have to take a pay cut, I believe, to extend with the Clippers. So, we’ll see. I think it’s extend him with a pay cut or explore the trade market. I think those are the two real options. And obviously with this youth movement, they’ve positioned themselves to where hey, if it’s explore the trade market, they’ve already kind of started the post-Kawhi transition despite the fact that they still have some picks that they owe.”
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If Leonard became available, there would be suitors from Golden State to Miami.
Morant is available. The primary concern with him is health and availability.
Boston still comes up in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talk, although league sources speaking to NBC Sports continue to question how serious the Celtics really are in that pursuit. Boston might be down if this were a straight-up Jaylen Brown for Antetokounmpo swap, noted by Sam Amick at The Athletic, but the Bucks need more than that in a deal.
If Boston doesn’t win the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, they may turn their attention to pairing Trey Murphy with Jayson Tatum and Brown, Amick reports.
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To that end, league sources say the Celtics are among the many teams with interest in the New Orleans Pelicans’ Trey Murphy III (if they don’t land Antetokounmpo).
One other Celtics-related note from Amick: If Boston is open to trading Derrick White, coming off a season where he struggled with his shot (but helped the Celtics in a lot of other ways), the Timberwolves are interested.
Also, league sources say the Minnesota Timberwolves — whose pursuit of Antetokounmpo also appears to have cooled — have strong interest in the Celtics’ Derrick White.
White has two fully guaranteed seasons at $63 million total on his contract, plus a player-option year after that.
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“Beef Stew” available
The Detroit Pistons are making physical, elite defensive center Isaiah Stewart available this summer, reports Amick at The Athletic.
Stewart is a little undersized (6’8″), but he is incredibly physical, blocked 1.6 shots per game, held players to a league best 43.8% shooting at the rim when he was the primary defender, and scored 10 points a game on 55% shooting. He could help a lot of teams looking for rim protection and physicality in the paint.
Detroit has to pay Jalen Duren this summer and is going to trust Paul Reed as his backup and see what the market is for Stewart. What Detroit will want back in a trade is shooting and playmaking.
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Other Trade Notes
• Rui Hachimura to Spurs? With the Lakers focused on retaining Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura may be the odd man out (despite him stepping up in the playoffs and averaging 17.5 points per game while shooting 56.9% from 3-point range). The Spurs may be a team trying to swoop in and pick Hachimura up as a free agent, reports Michael C. Wright at ESPN.
San Antonio could use a backup stretch big as it reloads for next season, and a combo stretch big man who can start and possibly play alongside Wembanyama in bigger lineups such as Rui Hachimura.
• Fox is still Spurs’ starting point guard. One of the talking points during the NBA Finals was how long before Dylan Harper has to start and De’Aaron Fox gets moved to the side in San Antonio. Not so fast, my friend, reports ESPN’s Wright. He says that Fox had an All-Star season, that he settled the young team down, and that he is not losing his job, at least to start the season. If you’re thinking the Spurs should trade Fox, remember that his four-year, $229 million contract extension kicks in this season and not a lot of teams are looking to take that on.
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• Portland interested in Jaylen Brown. This is a long shot (at best), but Amick mentioned it, and we’ll throw it in here: If Boston decides to make Brown available via trade, Portland is interested. New owner Tom Dundon wants to make a bold move and announce his presence with authority, so expect the Trail Blazers to come up in a lot of rumors.
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