Offseason adjustments are underway in the NBA.
Teams already plucked all 58 prospects from the 2024 draft, a handful of free agents have already ironed out new deals with their incumbent employers and the trade market is moving at ludicrous speed.
It’s a fun time to be a hoops fan, but it can feel a little overwhelming trying to keep up.
That’s where we come in. We’re here to round up three of the biggest trade rumors being talked about and dissect their meaning.
After a potentially active but ultimately quiet trade deadline in Atlanta, the Hawks figured to be one of this summer’s busiest teams. And they already have been. They spent the No. 1 pick on French forward Zaccharie Risacher, traded away 2022 first-round pick AJ Griffin and broke apart their big-name backcourt by sending Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans for three players and two first-round picks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Might this still only be the beginning, though?
Trae Young’s name has been talked about for months, and while the Murray trade could have taken Young off the market, that isn’t how this is guaranteed to go down. Remember, NBA insider Marc Stein relayed in April there was a “growing belief in many corners of the league” that Atlanta preferred to trade Young over Murray. This feels like a situation still worth watching, at the very least.
Young isn’t the only remaining trade candidate in Atlanta, either. Both Clint Capela and De’Andre Hunter have been rumor-mill residents for quite some time, though The Athletic’s John Hollinger reported the prevailing belief is “the Hawks can’t get any meaningful return for them.” It only takes one suitor to change that, though, so this is another item to monitor.
Brandon Ingram, a former No. 2 pick and one-time All-Star selection, needs a new contract between now and next summer. The New Orleans Pelicans, his employer for the past five seasons, perhaps aren’t super jazzed about the idea of paying that premium.
So, the ingredients could be in place for the second major trade of his career. (Ingram once helped anchor the package New Orleans received in the 2019 trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers.)
Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer reported Ingram “is expected to become available for trade in New Orleans.” Fischer included the caveat that this would only happen “should Ingram’s representation and the Pelicans’ front office come short of finding a long-term extension agreement,” but it certainly seems like that’s where things are headed. The Athletic’s William Guillory previously reported the Pelicans were “unlikely” to offer Ingram a max extension.
Ingram isn’t quite a tier-one star, but the Most Improved Player of the 2019-20 campaign is on a five-year run of averaging at least 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. To put that production in context, only nine other players have hit those marks in each of the past five seasons, per StatHead Basketball.
Ingram will have suitors, in other words, and Fischer mentioned the Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings as either being talked about as possible landing spots or ones “to monitor” in the Ingram market.
With 74 losses and just a single playoff series win to show for the past two seasons, the Golden State Warriors need a transformational summer to get back into the championship race.
They seemingly have a clear—if ambitious—idea of how to make that happen.
The Warriors, per NBA insider Marc Stein, have “prioritized” pursuing Los Angeles Clippers swingman (and nine-time All-Star) Paul George, along with other targets, over negotiating with free agent and franchise mainstay Klay Thompson. George must decide by today whether to pick up his $48.8 million player option, and there has already been talk that he could opt into his deal and then seek a trade out of L.A.
While one could debate whether the Warriors have more to offer than the (perpetually when-healthy asterisked) Clippers do on the court, but Golden State’s reported willingness to give George the kind of coin he wants might make that a moot point. Plus, there are worse ways to spend an NBA career than side-kicking with Steph Curry and helping the franchise chase what would be its fifth title since 2015.
The Warriors, meanwhile, need a difference-maker to rejoin the championship race, and George might be the best option among realistically available targets. A deal might take a huge chunk out of the organization’s asset collection, but if Golden State sees him as its proverbial missing piece, that’s a sacrifice worth making.