Here's our weekly look around the NBA with a Celtics spin on the subjects
After a couple of quiet years, there was plenty of action on the superstar trade front in 2017. DeMarcus Cousins was sent packing to New Orleans by Sacramento in February for a lackluster return (Buddy Hield, 1st round pick, filler). Underwhelming supporting casts in Chicago and Indiana helped lead both squads to hit the reset button in June by dealing away Jimmy Butler and Paul George.
Kyrie Irving and Carmelo Anthony are a couple of bigger names currently available for the right price. However it’s not clear yet who might be the star next in line to join them. Most Eastern Conference teams that will be taking a step back next year (Atlanta, Chicago, Indiana) don’t have any notable players left to move (Dwyane Wade won’t be dealt due to his salary -- a buyout is much more likely). Meanwhile, the vast majority of the Western Conference is trying to win out of the gate, and the bottom-tier teams (LA Lakers, Sacramento, Phoenix) are flush with young talent they want to hold onto.
So who will be the next big name looking for a new home? We may have received a hint earlier this week when Hoopshype.com translated an interview from Marc Gasol with a Spanish media outlet. Here’s the notable remark from the exchange:
“I’m very ambitious and I’ve wanted Memphis to be a great franchise,” Gasol said. “We’ve grown a lot the last 6-7 years, but we have to keep growing. If this is not lined up, maybe we may have to revisit things.”
One look around the stacked Western Conference makes it easy to understand Gasol’s frustration with a lack of recent growth in Memphis. While mediocre teams like Denver, Minnesota and Oklahoma City made notable upgrades this offseason to their roster, a 43-win Memphis squad largely subtracted. Zach Randolph and Vince Carter were allowed to walk as unrestricted free agents. Tony Allen doesn’t look like he’ll be back either. The team’s big free agent signings were Ben McLemore and Tyreke Evans. McLemore (who just underwent foot surgery) is a guard who never lived up to the hype in Sacramento, while Evans hasn’t a healthy season since 2014-15. If you're Gasol, it's tough to expect those guys to help you compete with the likes of George, Butler and Paul Millsap.
The Grizzlies have a solid foundation in place with Gasol and Mike Conley, but there really isn’t much around them anymore. The front office swung and missed badly by maxing out Chandler Parsons last summer, who can’t stay healthy (95 games played in last two seasons). Parsons’ contract also has tied up a huge chunk of the Grizzlies’ cap space for the foreseeable future, so adding any high-priced names via free agency won’t be possible as long as Parsons, Conley and Gasol are all on the same team.
All of this is bad news for the 32-year-old Gasol, who is still under contract with Memphis for three more seasons for an average of $24 million per year (third year is a player option). It’s going to be a challenge for Memphis to even make the postseason in the next couple years with the current roster, so maybe it is fair to wonder if this is how Gasol wants to close out the final couple years of his prime?
From the Memphis standpoint, there’s no easy answer really for what’s next. It's a small market team, so the Grizzlies can’t afford to add extra salary and pay a heavy luxury tax (current payroll is $107 million). No one is going to touch that Parsons contract and you really don’t have many attractive player assets outside of Gasol and Conley. If things go south this year, the most likely path for them is hitting the reset button and finding some younger talent to put next to the 29-year-old Conley.
So if Gasol does in fact hit the trade market at some point this season or next summer, should the Celtics be interested? Yes, but it’s highly unlikely any deal could get done, just because of the money factor. Boston is over the cap now, so they would need to send enough outgoing money in a trade to match Gasol’s $22.6 million salary in 2017-18. With no players outside of Gordon Hayward and Al Horford making more than $6.7 million this season, it would take at least 3-4 players to get to the $17.6 million in salaries needed to make the money work and several important rotation and/or young pieces would have to be included to get to that figure. That’s not worth doing for a 32-year-old big man who would be a questionable fit in the frontcourt next to Horford as the league trends to smallball.
So if and when the trade rumors start to surface around Gasol later this season, don’t believe the ones that link Boston to the big man.
Leftover nuggets
- Folks in Greece aren’t happy after Giannis Antetokounmpo pulled out of the EuroBasket tournament later this month with a knee injury. The Bucks wisely are trying to protect their franchise star, but accusations have been flying around about this being an injury conspiracy overseas. They take their basketball seriously over there.
- Joakim Noah told the New York Post that he’s feeling guilty for Phil Jackson’s failure with the Knicks. Now, Noah’s contract is definitely one of the worst in the league right now, but it’s just one on a long list of miscues for Jackson during his tenure as president of basketball operations. The big man shouldn't lose any sleep over this.
- Peter Vecsey reported Saturday night the NBA is currently investigating the Lakers for tampering with Paul George after Pacers owner Herb Simon filed charges. This could add an interesting wrinkle to a George's impending free agency this summer if the Lakers are found guilty.
- Stan Van Gundy told Keith Langlois of Pistons.com that luxury tax worries wouldn’t prevent his team from retaining Avery Bradley next summer when the shooting guard becomes an unrestricted free agent. “The finances will not inhibit our ability to re-sign Avery at whatever it takes,” Van Gundy said. “If we’re in a situation where we want Avery back and Avery wants to be here, we’ll be able to bring him back.” That’s good news for Bradley, who deserves to get paid, but look for Detroit to be active this year on the trade front with their other big contracts (Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond), unless it’s a bounceback season. They shouldn't be paying big money to several pieces on this roster without it being a playoff team.
- Notable reported free agent signings around the league this week: Center Jeff Withey to Dallas, former Celtic power forward Jordan Mickey to Miami, big man Marshall Plumlee to the LA Clippers, K.J. McDaniels to the Raptors, Damien Wilkens to Indiana, Donald Sloan to Wizards. Ex-Celtics Tyler Zeller, James Young and Gerald Green remained unsigned.
