Леброн Жэймс ирээдүйн багийнхаа талаар эцсийн шийдвэрээ гаргаагүй байгаа бол Оклахома Сити Тандер цалингийн цэсээ бууруулахын тулд бүрэлдэхүүндээ томоохон өөрчлөлтүүд хийлээ.
Оклахома Сити Тандер баг хоёр дахь шатны тансаг татварын хязгаараас гарахын тулд Лу Дорт, Аарон Уиггинс, Исайя Жо нарыг багаасаа явуулж, оронд нь хоёрдугаар тойргийн долоон драфтын эрхийг цуглууллаа. Энэхүү хэлэлцээрийн хүрээнд тэд Атланта Хоукс болон Даллас Маверикс багуудтай гурвалсан наймаа хийж, цалингийн ачааллаа эрс бууруулжээ. Ингэснээр ирэх улиралд Шай Гилжес-Александер тэргүүтэй гол тоглогчдынхоо гэрээг хадгалах боломжтой болсон байна.
Даллас Маверикс баг Закари Рисашерийг эгнээндээ нэгтгэсэн нь тэдний хувьд ирээдүйд чиглэсэн зоригтой алхам боллоо. Өдгөө 21 настай тоглогч нь 36 хувьтай гурван онооны шидэлт гүйцэтгэдэг бөгөөд түүнийг Купер Флаггтай хамт тоглуулж карьерийг нь сэргээхээр төлөвлөж байна. Атланта Хоукс багийн хувьд Лу Дорт, Дайсон Дэниелс, Никейл Александр-Уокер нарыг бүрэлдэхүүндээ нэгтгэснээр хамгаалалтын шугамаа ихээхэн хүчирхэгжүүллээ.
НБА-гийн түүхэн дэх солилцооны наймаануудыг эргэн харахад Миннесота Тимбервулвз болон Юта Жазз багуудын Руди Гоберттой холбоотой тохиролцоо цаг хугацааны эрхээр өөр өөр дүр төрхийг харуулах болжээ. Анх маш их шүүмжлэл дагуулж байсан энэ наймаа нь Миннесота Тимбервулвз багийг Өрнөд бүсийн финалд хоёр удаа шалгарахад гол нөлөө үзүүлсэн юм. Харин Юта Жазз баг авсан тоглогчид болон драфтын эрхүүдээ дамжуулан Жарэн Жэксон Жр-г эгнээндээ нэгтгэж, хоёр талд хоёуланд нь ашигтай байдлаар өрнөсөн байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
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No, LeBron James still hasn’t picked a new destination as we enter the fourth week of free agency. Yes, this feels very drawn out. But let me pose this question: What if he just isn’t in love with any of the options? What if he’s truly torn and doesn’t know yet because none of it feels right? What if this introduction is just a reverse jinx to see if he’ll finally announce today? If it happens, you can track it all here.
Thunder struck
OKC sheds more money with Dort deal
We had a pretty good idea that Lu Dort was not long for Oklahoma City. Though Dort was the longest-tenured member of the team, the Thunder’s second-apron salary crunch was going to be their biggest obstacle to tackle this offseason. They managed to add rookies Aday Mara (12th pick) and Bennett Stirtz (16th pick) in the draft. But the Thunder were also desperately trying to save money and dump salaries to get under the second apron this summer.
Just as a reminder, here’s how the first and second aprons restrict team roster construction.
The Thunder sent Aaron Wiggins to the Atlanta Hawks for two second-round picks earlier this summer. They also sent Isaiah Joe to the Detroit Pistons for two more second-round picks. They still needed to jettison the 27-year-old Dort (who’d been with OKC since July 6, 2019) and the $17.7 million he makes this coming season without taking back salary to get out of the second apron.
Once again, the Thunder looked to the Hawks for financial help and second-round picks. They agreed to send Dort to Atlanta in a three-team deal involving the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas received 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher. The Hawks also got Ryan Nembhard from the Mavericks, and the Thunder took three second-round picks from Atlanta.
So that’s Wiggins, Joe and Dort gone from the Thunder, with seven second-round picks coming back. In payroll and luxury tax penalties, OKC saved hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s now out of the second apron and can get under the first apron before the February trade deadline. And the Thunder hope they still have the depth to win the Western Conference back from the San Antonio Spurs.
I’d imagine Alex Caruso, Ajay Mitchell, Cason Wallace, Jared McCain, Nikola Topić and Stirtz will all step up in the absence of Dort, Wiggins and Joe. Of course, the Thunder have Wallace’s rookie extension to deal with before the start of the 2026-27 season. Otherwise, he enters restricted free agency next summer. And he’ll be massively expensive. The Thunder already have $194 million wrapped up in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein and Caruso the following season. We might see even more cost-cutting from OKC in the near future.
As for Atlanta, what an incredible acquisition. Having Dort, Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker will create a stifling perimeter defense. The Hawks still need a proper big man with good size (no offense to Onyeka Okongwu, who is very good). Nembhard could easily be one of the best backup point guards in the league pretty soon, too. It’s why I gave Atlanta an A for this deal.
Dallas will roll the dice on Risacher after just two years in the NBA. He played 886 minutes in his 36 games last season (24.6 per game) before a bone contusion knocked him out of games for about three weeks. Once he was back, the Hawks had turned things around, Trae Young was long gone, and Quin Snyder didn’t seem to trust Risacher. He played in 616 minutes in his final 31 games that season and only played in 22 minutes in three playoff games. Sixteen of those minutes were in the embarrassing 51-point blowout Game 6 loss against the Knicks.
The 21-year-old Risacher is a lanky, 6-foot-8 wing who can do a little bit of everything and is a league-average 3-point shooter (36 percent). Masai Ujiri loves wings with this build. We’ll see if putting him next to Cooper Flagg can help get his career on track. Funny enough, the Hawks and Mavs discussed an Anthony Davis trade before this year’s deadline, but including Risacher was a deal-breaker. You know how Dallas acquired Risacher? With part of the trade exception generated from the AD deal to Washington.
More on the Risacher trade after some quick links …
The last 24
🤔 Explain yourself. John Hollinger examines teams like the Raptors, Bucks and Lakers that had NBA folks at summer league asking, “What are they doing?”
🤝 L.A. signing. The Lakers have brought in some more defense. Matisse Thybulle joins on a one-year deal. Our Dan Woike breaks down everything he’s hearing about the Lakers this offseason, including their pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga.
😡 Not close. Blazers owner Tom Dundon and the city of Portland are far apart on an arena deal. Is he trying to tank this deal?
🏀 Versatility plays. Grizzlies rookie Cameron Boozer studied the Knicks’ championship run. He thinks it contains lessons for how he can impact the league.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!)and catch out-of-market games onLeague Pass.
No. 1 stunna
Risacher isn’t the fastest top pick to be traded
I was curious to learn who the No. 1 picks were that spent the least amount of time with the teams they entered the league with over the last 60 years (territorial draft rights were eliminated in 1966). While Risacher’s time with the Hawks was short, it wasn’t close to the quickness with which six other players were gone.
I even made a chart for it!
- Andrew Wiggins made his Las Vegas Summer League debut with Cleveland before being traded to the Timberwolves for Kevin Love in 2014. David Thompson was drafted by Atlanta, signed in the ABA and then entered the NBA with the Denver Nuggets from the merger. So those two cases are a little different.
- Markelle Fultz, Pervis Ellison and Greg Oden were all mostly injury-related. Fultz missed a bunch of time before the 76ers finally traded him to Orlando for an undrafted player (Jonathon Simmons). Funny that Fultz and Risacher were essentially both traded for undrafted players. Ellison missed a lot of time his first season, and then the Kings sent him to Washington over the injuries, some contract issues and also Ellison just not being very good.
- Anthony Bennett almost feels cruel to break down because he should have never been the top pick. Even in a weak class. He lasted one season before the Cavaliers cut bait as they were bringing LeBron back. Bennett was packaged with Wiggins in the Love deal. As for Chris Webber, he had massive issues with Don Nelson and the Warriors organization, so they sent him to Washington after one season.
Risacher could end up being fine in the NBA. He’ll probably never fulfill the honor of being the top pick, but there’s also no longer the pressure of doing that now that he’s in Dallas. That was an Atlanta thing. Risacher just needs to figure out his role and perform in it.
Tradeback Tuesday
Revisiting the infamous Gobert trade
Every week during the offseason, I want to get a little nostalgic with some of the biggest trades we’ve ever seen in the NBA. Sometimes we overreact to a trade early on in its existence. And then we never really revisit it all that much. It’s why I always love looking at the trade deadline one year later and re-reviewing what went down and how we feel about it with a little time lapsed.
For the first iteration of this in the newsletter, I’m jumping back to the summer of 2022 when the newly hired Tim Connelly tried to create a roster to take down Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets. Connelly had recently left Denver for Minnesota, and he knew the Nuggets were on the verge of something great. In fact, they won the championship that following season. Connelly thought bringing in a great defensive big man like Rudy Gobert would be the start of creating an antidote to Jokić and Denver.
Connelly was ready to take advantage of a Utah Jazz situation that had crumbled with Donovan Mitchell, Gobert and the organization. Utah was going to hit the reset and start rebuilding. They traded Gobert two months before they sent Mitchell to Cleveland. The haul for Gobert — then a three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner — was significant.
Minnesota sent the draft rights to Walker Kessler, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, Patrick Beverley, four first-round picks and one first-round pick swap to Utah. In their first season with Gobert, the Wolves won 42 games, after winning 46 the previous season. They ranked just 10th in defensive rating.
A big reason the Wolves took a step back was injuries. Karl-Anthony Towns missed 53 games. Gobert missed 12 but played a good portion of the season with a back injury. Meanwhile, Kessler looked great as a rookie and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Kessler was so good and the Wolves were so mediocre that it was quickly deemed one of the worst trades ever.
Things rebounded for the Wolves the next season. Gobert was excellent, winning his record-tying fourth DPOY trophy. Minnesota jumped to 56 wins and made the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2004. The next season, the Wolves won 49 games and made it back to the WCF. It was the most successful two-season run in franchise history — although that was a low bar to clear.
The Jazz were tanking hard, and Kessler was good, but he missed 42 games over his second and third seasons. Then last year, he only played in five games before the Jazz shut him down with a shoulder injury. They’ve also flipped most of the players they acquired from Minnesota for assets to move in different deals.
This is how the Gobert trade looks now with everything Utah has flipped:
The pick swap didn’t convey. Utah sent Kessler to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade earlier this month. Beasley, Vando, Will Riley (2025 pick received) and two future firsts owed by Minnesota were all flipped in one way or another to lead up to Utah’s Jaren Jackson Jr. acquisition before the 2026 trade deadline.
In a roundabout way, the Jazz flipped Gobert for Keyonte George and JJJ. It worked out for Minnesota, and it will probably work out for Utah.
Funny how a little space from the trade can change perspectives on it.
