Breaking down the Pre-Draft trades

The NBA offseason is in full swing so it is time for me to react to the big trades that have happened already.

Rockets acquire Kevin Durant

On the day of game 7, the Phoenix Suns finally agreed to trade Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.  In return the Suns got Jalen Green, Dillion Brooks, the 10th and 59th picks in this week’s draft and 4 future 2nd round picks.  Let’s start with the Rockets side of it because this is a grand slam for Houston.  They badly needed a player like Durant at the end of games throughout their first round series against the Warriors.  A guy who when the going gets tough late in the game, they could just get you a bucket in the halfcourt.  Even at 37-years-old, Durant is still one of the best, if not the very best, in the league at doing that.  I think Kevin Durant has somehow become underrated, he is still one of the best pure scorers our league has ever seen and is still a high level help defender.  The Rockets are built on their defense and Durant won’t hurt that by being a liability.  Having Amen Thompson and Tari Eason flying around the court on that end will help alleviate some of Durant’s responsibilities that he had as a Sun.  They kept all of their young players out of this deal, aside from Green but more on him later, so they can continue to build up their young core or make another move to improve this roster.  The team re-signed Fred VanVleet to a 2yr/$50 million deal that VanVleet can opt-out of after year one.  That is a big deal for Houston and an offense led by Durant, VanVleet and Alpren Sengun has a chance to be very good.  This deal levels up the Rockets in a real way in the Western Conference they were already the number 2 seed in and they’ll be a very fun team to watch next season.

The Suns perspective is a bit more interesting.  They clearly like this draft or else they would have taken a deal that wasn’t built around pick 10 and getting more second round equity was also important for them.  The build of the team is not perfect, they have a lot of 2 guards and small forwards.  Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Jalen Green, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, Dillon Brooks and Ryan Dunn all are guys who are either off ball guards or small wings.  They’ll decline Vasilije Micic’s team option and waive Cody Martin to get under the 2nd apron but they should also try and get off of O’Neale and Allen to clear out more money, assuming they keep Green.  I think they’ll end up keeping Green and Booker and I know there is some buzz the Suns could waive Beal but I’ll believe it when I see it.  With those three guys on the team I am not sure how they find space for Allen to be a contributor to this team.  The Suns have a lot more to do this summer with one of those being to acquire a center of some sorts.

Magic acquire Desmond Bane

It has been a week and a half and I have yet to cover this deal.  This was the type of deal that Orlando needed to make.  The deal was Desmond Bane to the Magic for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, the 16th pick, 3 future unprotected first round picks and a 2029 pick swap.  I like this deal for the Magic.  Bane is exactly the type of player that they need, an elite shooter who can put the ball on the floor and get to the cup.  He is going to slide into the starting 5, almost perfectly, with Jale Suggs, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr.  It is a very heavy price but Orlando had a huge need to add a guy who can make threes at a high clip and make them off of the bounce as well.  The Magic, like the Rockets, kept all of their young players out of the deal, which is important.  They can still use Anthony Black as a blue chip in a trade if they want to trade for a center.  Black was the 6th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and showed some flashes last season, he very well could be a key contributor to this Orlando team in the likely scenario that they keep him.  They also got off of KCP’s 2-years and $42 million left on his contract, which definitely cost them at least one pick to get off of.  I like this deal for the Magic.

I wrote a whole blog about Memphis’ offseason a few weeks ago so go check that out but this is a good trade for the Grizzlies.  The Morant, Bane, Jackson Jr. trio had run its course and they needed to re-shape the team.  They do that by getting a lot of draft capital for Bane.  They are likely going to rely on KCP hitting more threes than he did in his lone season with Orlando because the west is so deep.  It’ll be interesting to see what else comes for the Grizzlies the rest of the summer.

Celtics trade Jrue Holiday to the Blazers and Kristaps Porzingis to the Hawks

The Celtics had to get under the 2nd apron, which they had been $22 million over before these two trades.  In two moves, Boston got under the said apron.  The Celtics are likely not done, there are a lot of Jaylen Brown and Derrick White rumors out there though I don’t think those are the guys that Boston moves, but they are under the apron and that is a huge deal for them.  Anfernee Simons is interesting if the C’s elect to keep him.  A high volume shooter, Simons can make shots at a very high clip.  The defense, rebounding and effort can leave some to be desired at times but he should give the Celtics a layer they’ll need next season without Jayson Tatum.  Boston also needs a center.  If they move off of Georges Niang and/or Sam Hauser that will give them the opportunity to re-sign Luke Kornet and Al Horford.  If Boston can bring those guys back, I think they’ll have a chance to be pretty good next season, even if Jayson Tatum misses the whole season.

Jrue Holiday is going to bring a level of leadership to Portland that will help the Blazers. Their defense will be a bear to score on with Holiday, Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan out there as well.  Dumping Simons also gives them more runway to make Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe the vocal point of their offense.  Holiday should also be able to show the ropes to those guys on how to be a winner and a professional in the league.  Holiday’s contract isn’t one I would have wanted to take on, with 3yrs/$104 million left on it but there are reasons to why Portland made this move.

The Hawks getting Kristaps Porzingis while getting off of Terrence Mann’s contract in the process is good business, sure losing the 22nd pick in the draft hurts but they still have the 13th pick.  Atlanta will be an interesting team to watch next season.  A starting 5 of Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson and Porzingis has a chance to be really good.  Porzingis is different then any kind of big Young has played with as well.  His ability to pop off of screens is a dimension that the Hawks haven’t had in this era and it will be fun to see what they look like on both sides of the court next season.  Brooklyn clearly wants to move up in this draft so let’s see what happens there before we talk about them in this trade.

Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the 40th pick for C.J. McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future 2nd rounder, Wizards-Pelicans trade

This deal was very interesting and one that seems like good business for both sides.  Let’s start with the Pelicans.  Poole is just a better player than McCollum is while also being significantly younger.  Sure, Poole had 2-years left on his $30+ million deal per year as opposed to McCollum’s one but I think in this deal it is worth it.  Poole gives the Pelicans a lot more lineup flexibility and is just under 8 years younger than McCollum is.  Bey is an interesting get for the Pelicans as well.  He signed with the Wizards as a free agent last summer but did not play for Washington due to a torn ACL.  I like the player and at just $6 million on his deal for the next 2 seasons it is an interesting bet for the Pelicans to make.  This seems like a salary dump for the Wizards.  Both McCollum and Kelly Olynyk are set to be free agents at the end of the season and Washington can have as much as $100 million in cap space next summer in free agency.  They likely won’t go into the summer with that much money but it will be interesting to see what they are able to do next summer with big time cap space.

There is still a lot more to happen in the offseason and it will be fun to see how everything transpires.