The Waive and Stretch: Nick Richards To Phoenix And The Other Small Dollar Trade Candidates

Jan 20, 2025

Welcome back to another edition of The Waive and Stretch Newsletter. A quick shameless plug to note that I am looking to work in basketball in any capacity and would love to connect with anyone in the industry or trying to break in. Please feel free to share this with anyone who you think might find it interesting. Let's get into it!

What Caught My Attention This Week

The Suns Trade For Nick Richards and Luxury Tax Relief

We have another trade! The full details below:

Phoenix Suns Receive: Nick Richards, DEN 2025 2nd
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Josh Okogie, DEN 2026 2nd, DEN 2031 2nd, PHX 2031 2nd

I was a bit surprised to see Phoenix pull the trigger on this move so early. They did it on the very first day they could have traded Josh Okogie, January 15th. This also leaves them with just one second round pick that they can move in any more deals this season, along with their 2031 first. However, they were able to shed $20 million in their luxury tax bill for this year just by reducing their salary by $3 million. Richards gives the Suns a fourth center on the roster, along with Nurkic, Plumlee, and Ighodaro. Nurkic seems like a prime candidate to get moved in another deal, but teams could be hesitant to take on his deal with another year left at $19 million in 2025/2026. Normally, Phoenix would probably just ship out Plumlee’s minimum to save on the luxury tax bill, but they cannot send out cash in trades as a second apron team and are not about to use their last remaining second to dump him. They actually need to keep that Denver second this year so that they can add another rookie minimum guy on the roster next year for luxury tax purposes.

I thought this was a no brainer for Charlotte. They continue to accumulate draft capital after dealing PJ Washington, Terry Rozier, and Nick Richards over the last year. I would imagine that the Hornets will continue having trade discussions about guys like Cody Martin, Seth Curry and Tre Mann, and I doubt we have seen the last of their transactions this trade season. They still sit a little over $7 million under the luxury tax line, have a DPE for about $6.5 million from the Grant Williams injury, and also have $1,157,297 remaining of the Room MLE, which is coincidentally (or not) just a little bit more than the rookie minimum this year, in case they want to convert any of their two ways.

Small Dollar Trade Candidates

In the spirit of Nick Richards and his small contract being traded ($5 million per year), I wanted to identify a bunch of potential trade targets for playoff hopeful teams that are on contracts that are less than $10 million on teams that aren’t projected to be competitive to make the playoffs and could be conceivably put on the trade market by their current team.

Ayo Dosunmu, Chicago Bulls
Remaining Contract: $7,000,000 this year, $7,528,519 in 2025/2026
Why He Could Be Dealt: The Bulls have a backlog at the guard spot with Zach Lavine, Coby White, Dosunmu, Lonzo Ball, Dalen Terry, and Jevon Carter, and Dosunmu is likely the easiest to move with the most value, if they don’t want to move White.
A Deal That Makes Sense: To Milwaukee for Pat Connaughton and MIL 2031 1st (Top 14 protected that converts to a MIL 2031 2nd)
Cody Martin, Charlotte Hornets
Remaining Contract: $8,120,000 this year, $8,680,000 (Non-Guaranteed) in 2025/2026
Why He Could Be Dealt: Charlotte is still in asset acquisition mode, and is likely open to deal Martin for more draft picks.
A Deal That Makes Sense: To Cleveland for Georges Niang, DEN 2027 2nd, CLE 2029 2nd
Duop Reath, Portland Trail Blazers
Remaining Contract: $2,048,780 this year, $2,221,677 (Non-Guaranteed) in 2025/2026
Why He Could Be Dealt: Portland has four centers under contract for multiple years
A Deal That Makes Sense: To Sacramento for Doug McDermott, 2029 2nd swap (More favorable of i) SAC and ii) Least favorable of IND and WAS to POR and other to SAC)
Guerschon Yabusele, Philadelphia 76ers
Remaining Contract: $2,087,519 this year
Why He Could Be Dealt: The 76ers sit at 15-26 and are mired with injuries. They are already in the tax for 2025/2026 and likely will not be able to afford Yabusele when he hits free agency this offseason, thus they can get some draft capital for him in a lost season and reduce their tax hit.
A Deal That Makes Sense: To Detroit for a 2029 NYK 2nd
Javonte Green, New Orleans Pelicans
Remaining Contract: $2,087,519 this year
Why He Could Be Dealt: Essentially just a copy and past from Yabusele, with the Pelicans likely able to duck the tax if they were to move Green and not take a salary back.
A Deal That Makes Sense: To Detroit for a 2029 2nd (Least of DET, MIL, NYK)