Tag: NBA Trade Deadline

Doug McDermott reflects on time with Spurs after trade to Pacers

After getting traded to the Indiana Pacers, Doug McDermott reflected on his time with the San Antonio Spurs.

Though their season may not be going as well as they might have hoped, the San Antonio Spurs still have a lot to be excited about. Most notably, they have a 7-foot-4 Frenchman leading the way. Victor Wembanyama has been spectacular this year, and the team’s primary focus should be to prepare for the future with him at the center of their plans.

While they didn’t make any significant trades at the deadline this year, they did end up sending veteran forward Doug McDermott to the Indiana Pacers. In return, they got back Marcus Morris and a second-round pick. However, they are going to end up buying out Morris.

After getting traded to the Pacers, McDermott reflected on his time with the Spurs and had some very kind words for the organization.

“Couldn’t be more excited to join a place I’m familiar with in Indiana,” McDermott wrote in a text message to the San Antonio Express-News, via Tom Osborn. “To be back and playing for an organization that made me the player I am today makes this day a whole lot easier. San Antonio will always be a special place to me and I appreciate all the Spurs fans for the support through the years.”

McDermott will be heading back to the Pacers. The last season he spent there was in 2020-21, and Indiana actually traded him to the Spurs in August of 2021.

The veteran provided the Spurs with some solid floor spacing, but at 32 years old and being in the final year of his contract, he likely was never going to be a part of the team’s long-term plans.

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‘He fills every need the Thunder had’: Zach Lowe gushes over Gordon Hayward addition

‘He fills every need the Thunder had’: Zach Lowe gushes over Gordon Hayward addition.

The Oklahoma City Thunder made a splash at the NBA trade deadline by acquiring veteran wing Gordon Hayward from the Charlotte Hornets.

In exchange, OKC surrendered only Tre Mann, Davis Bertans, Vasilije Micic, two future second-round picks and cash considerations.

In 25 games with the Hornets, Hayward has averaged 14.5 points on 48.6% shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists. He has shot 36.1% from 3 on 2.4 attempts. The 33-year-old is on an expiring $31.5 million salary, so there’s no long-term commitment.

This is a massive upgrade for OKC’s bench. Hayward can serve as a great backup wing who can close games. He can shoot and create his shot. He also brings a ton of playoff experience to the young Thunder.

Hayward has had durability issues for years, and that has been the case this season. He hasn’t played since Dec. 26 due to a calf injury but was recently upgraded to questionable.

It should help that OKC likely will reduce Hayward’s role and workload, which means the amount of stress he puts on his legs will decrease. After the move was made, ESPN’s Zach Lowe gushed about it on “NBA Today,” saying it was a smart move by a smart front office.

“I want to talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder! … The top of the West — minus the Monte Morris move to Minnesota — has been pretty quiet and the Thunder just got a player in Gordon Hayward that can close games for them.

Perk mentioned Josh Giddey being up and down, Lu Dort’s been up and down. Gordon Hayward can play the three, the four, he can shoot, he can work off the dribble. He fills every need the Thunder had.

Yes, his health is a big question — I’m told he should be ready to play very soon, if not immediately for Oklahoma City. The Thunder did it! They went out and made a win-now move. Their team has earned this respect from the Thunder front office, they’ve earned a chance to really go for it.

It’s not the sexiest move but it’s a big move by their standards and the top of the West has a contender that fortified itself.”

Lowe is at the forefront of NBA media personalities, so getting his stamp of approval made Thunder fans like the move even more. There’s no real downside to this trade as the worst-case scenario is Hayward flames out and OKC has over $30 million in cap space to play with in the offseason.

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3 Buyout/waived players Spurs should target post-trade deadline

Here are three players the San Antonio Spurs could look to sign post-trade deadline.

Though the San Antonio Spurs had a relatively tame trade deadline, they did, in fact, make a move. The Spurs sent Doug McDermott to the Indiana Pacers for Marcus Morris and a second-round pick. Morris will be bought out by the Spurs, meaning he won’t end up suiting up for San Antonio this season.

Morris’ inevitable buyout in San Antonio means they will have an open roster spot and could actually look to add a buyout player themselves. The Spurs won’t be pushing for a playoff spot this season, but adding talent next to Victor Wembanyama could help his development moving forward.

With that in mind, here are three potential buyout candidates the Spurs could look to target for the final portion of the season.

Trade grades: Examining what the OKC Thunder did during 2024 deadline

Trade grades: Examining what the OKC Thunder did during 2024 deadline.

The 2024 NBA trade deadline has passed, and the Oklahoma City Thunder made a pair of moves.

The Thunder bolstered their wing depth with the addition of veteran Gordon Hayward from the Charlotte Hornets. In exchange, OKC sent Tre Mann, Davis Bertans, Vasilije Micic and two second-round picks.

The other deal the Thunder made was more about improving the quality of their draft assets without sacrificing the quantity. They traded the second-worst of their four 2024 first-round picks to the Dallas Mavericks for a 2028 first-round pick swap.

This trade deadline perfectly exemplifies how the Thunder front office runs the franchise. It made improvements on the margins with an eye on the future without sacrificing too much.

Let’s hand out trade grades for the moves Thunder general manager Sam Presti made as OKC gets ready for the stretch run of the regular season and playoffs.

Warriors struck out in pursuit of Alex Caruso at the trade deadline

The Golden State Warriors were unable to secure Alex Caruso at the trade deadline.

The Golden State Warriors endured a quiet trade deadline. The franchise reportedly had been exploring options to improve the roster following a difficult first half of the season. However, the only move was a deal that sent veteran guard Cory Joseph to the Indiana Pacers, thus opening a roster spot.

According to Shams Charania, the Warriors were negotiating to obtain Alex Caruso from the Chicago Bulls. Their attempts were unsuccessful, and the defensive-minded guard will remain in the Windy City for at least the remainder of the season.

“Sources told me that the Warriors had some conversations on Alex Caruso (Thursday),” Charania said. “That’s a player they have value for, but the Bulls have had a high asking price on him. The Bulls were at least open for conversations across their roster, including on Caruso.”

Caruso would have been a strong fit for the Warriors, either as part of their starting unit or coming off the bench. Nevertheless, Golden State’s willingness to let the trade deadline pass clearly indicates their faith in the current roster to turn the season around.

Of course, the Warriors can still look to upgrade their team via the buy-out market. Yet, as a second-apron franchise, they will be limited to adding players that were earning less than the taxpayer mid-level exception as part of the new punitive rules in the Collective Barganing Agreement.

Still, there should be multiple talents available, and it will be interesting to see how Mike Dunleavy Jr. pivots to round out the rotation.

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Bulls ripped to shreds for lack of moves at trade deadline

After not making any deals at the trade deadline, the Chicago Bulls got ripped to shreds.

Heading into the February 8 trade deadline this year, the Chicago Bulls had a ton of eyes on them. But in the end, they did nothing. A rough start to the season had many thinking they could blow up the roster at the deadline, but they bounced back, pushing up the standings into the Play-In race.

Despite that, it still seemed like the smart choice for the Bulls to sell assets and reset the roster around Coby White, Patrick Williams, and others. Nope. They decided to stand pat, not making a single move at the trade deadline. Needless to say, fans aren’t pleased.

Famous YouTuber and noted Bulls fan KOT4Q put out a video on his channel “Kenny For Real” titled “I’m done…” in which he ripped the Bulls to shreds for their lack of activity over the past few years.

Chicago held on to all their assets, and since making the moves for DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso, has made just one trade – a deal to move up in the 2023 NBA Draft and add Julian Phillips.

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Report: Spurs trade Doug McDermott to Pacers for second-round pick

The San Antonio Spurs have traded Doug McDermott to the Indiana Pacers for Marcus Morris and a second-round pick.

The San Antonio Spurs have traded veteran forward Doug McDermott to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for a future second-round pick, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. San Antonio will also receive Marcus Morris in the trade, who the Pacers received in a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers earlier in the deal.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the Spurs plan to buy out Morris, and Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports revealed that the pick heading to San Antonio will be a 2029 second-rounder (via the LA Clippers). McDermott had been playing fairly well for the Spurs, but the 32-year-old is in the final year of his contract.

So far this season, McDermott has been averaging 6.0 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 44.2% from the field and 43.9% from behind the three-point line.

Adding a second-rounder in exchange for McDermott adds a pick to their cabinet, albeit a very far-in-the-future one, to help add assets down the line.

Buying out Morris also makes sense for the Spurs, who should be focusing on a youth movement around Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio will now have an open roster spot with which they could look to bring in a project player.

One guy who immediately jumps to mind is Killian Hayes, who the Detroit Pistons waived on deadline day. He, like Wembanyama, is from France, and while his tenure in Detroit was a bust, taking a chance on a second-home player is exactly what the Spurs should be doing for the rest of the season.

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4 reasons the 2024 NBA trade deadline was mostly a snoozefest

This year’s NBA trade deadline was a whole lot of nothing. Here’s why.

Earlier this NBA season we predicted that this year’s trade deadline would be a pretty quiet one. After the Pacers moved to get Pascal Siakam, there just didn’t seem to be too many major moves left to make on the trade market.

Now, here we are on deadline day. Quiet probably isn’t quite the word to use to describe the day’s events considering that we saw the number of trades over the last 24 hours hit double-digits. With that said, deadline day definitely didn’t trigger the same sort of excitement we’ve seen over the last few years.

Last season we got the Kevin Durant deal the night before the deadline. The year before that the Domantas Sabonis trade happened. And, of course, you’ve got the James Harden trade there, too.

The 2024 NBA trade deadline lacked those big names and that excitement. There were a few reasons why.

Let’s dive into them.

OKC Thunder acquire 2028 first-round swap from Mavericks

OKC Thunder acquires 2028 first-round swap from Mavericks.

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced they had acquired a 2028 first-round pick swap from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the second-least favorable of their four 2024 first-round picks.

The four 2024 first-round selections are their own pick, the LA Clippers’ pick, the Houston Rockets’ top-four protected pick and the Utah Jazz’s top-10 protected pick.

The Mavericks sent the pick and Richaun Holmes to the Washington Wizards in exchange for forward Daniel Gafford.

This move was previously reported as a possibility for OKC. It kicks the first-round draft pick down the road. Considering how rich the Thunder are with young talent, they likely will not add several rookies to their roster this offseason, which means they have 2024 draft picks to shed.

The 2028 first-round swap could be very valuable. Who knows how the Mavericks look by then. Luka Doncic is under contract until 2027 with a $49 million player option in 2026-27. If he leaves, the pick could be a massively valuable trade asset.

OKC enriched the quality of its draft pick capital without sacrificing quantity. This is smart asset management that can pay dividends down the road.

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3 reported Warriors targets who are now off the table

Here are 3 players who were reportedly being targeted by the Golden State Warriors that have been moved at the trade deadline.

When a team is struggling to reach its potential, it’s inevitably listed among trade rumors heading into the trade deadline. The Golden State Warriors’ struggles have ensured they’ve been linked to numerous stars and role players over the past few months.

With the trade deadline just hours away, however, many of those rumored targets are off the market, having been snapped up by other teams. Some of those targets are high-end role players capable of being starters in the right situation. Others are ancillary players that strengthen a team’s rotations ahead of the second half of the season.

The chances of the Warriors making a move at the deadline are looking slimmer by the minute. However, while deals can still be made nothing should be ruled out. Still, which players are no longer on the market is worth knowing. Here are the top three rumored Warriors targets that have already changed teams on Thursday.