The Waive and Stretch: Trade Deadline Takeaways, Buyouts/Conversions/Extensions Coming, Cap Space Updates And More

Feb 11, 2024

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What Caught My Attention This Week

Trade Deadline Has Come And Gone
Another trade deadline is in the books. Despite some major trades having gone down earlier in the season (Harden, Siakam, Anunoby, Rozier), we still saw a flurry of action on deadline day. In total, 25 teams were involved in transactions this trade season, with Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles Lakers, and Orlando sitting it out. As the dust has settled on all this activity, lets get into some takeaways.

Clear-Cut Sellers Get Rewarded
Entering the deadline, it seemed that there were a whole lot of teams trying to buy but not many teams willing to sell. This left a window for teams like Charlotte, Memphis, Utah, and Washington to bag some serious draft capital. Charlotte was able to turn PJ Washington and an expiring Gordon Hayward into Tre Mann, Vasilije Micic, Grant Williams and a DAL 2027 first thats top two protected. Memphis squeezed out five seconds and a pick swap (along with some apron wiggle room) from dealing Steven Adams, Xavier Tillman, and David Roddy. Utah turned an expiring Kelly Olynyk and Simone Fontecchio, along with Ochai Agbaji into a first rounder (!) and a second. Washington turned rotation-level big man Daniel Gafford into a first. Even Detroit finally dealt Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, though to not land a single first from a team with plenty to spare was a little disappointing. The Pistons did land Quentin Grimes, but he is already up for an extension this offseason. Overall, it was a good deadline to be a seller.

Who Didn’t Get Dealt
Despite all the chatter leading up to the deadline, I wasn’t that surprised to see Dejounte Murray not get moved. It just never seemed like there was a deal that made sense for the Hawks to move him, especially considering the price they paid. Also, more first round picks that can be moved in a trade will free up this summer. Not moving anyone is not looking great though, as they are already backed up against next year’s luxury tax factoring the likely two first round picks they will have, with Saddiq Bey a restricted free agent. They should have considered selling high on Bogdan Bogdanovic, who probably could’ve fetched at least a first round pick.

As for Bruce Brown, it seemed Toronto was hesitant to move him for another 2024 first round pick, and so decided to roll with him into the summer. There’s some rumblings that the Raptors could look to move him around the draft, which would require them to pick up his option for next year, effectively signalling they will operate as an over-the-cap team.

I was a bit perplexed to see the Lakers not ship out Christian Wood to dip under the luxury tax line, although maybe teams were asking for real assets and not just cash to take him on since he has a player option for next year. Maybe the Lakers were always planning on using the rest of the MLE to sign a buyout (which they did with Spencer Dinwiddie), which would’ve put them back over the tax line.

The Wizards held onto Kyle Kuzma, Tyus Jones, and Delon Wright. With Kuzma under contract for 3 more years on declining money, it makes complete sense for the Wizards to hold firm to their asking price and keep Kuzma. I would expect the team will re-sign Jones this offseason to another long-term deal on declining money, something they’ve done with Kuzma and Deni Avdija. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wright ended up on the buyout market, if that is what he wants.

Use It Or Lose It Trades
As expected, we saw some of next year’s second apron teams make trades that they couldn’t have made next year. The Clipper, Bucks, Warriors, and Celtics all sent out cash in trades. The Suns aggregated and Wolves aggregated salaries. Phoenix and Boston also used TPEs that they otherwise would have lost.

$$$ Winners And Losers
Evan Fournier, Loser - Had the Knicks not traded Fournier, there was the possibility that they would’ve picked up his team option for next year, which would’ve been $19,00,000, which is surely going to be turned down in Detroit.
Jock Landale, Winner - When Landale signed that contract, I thought he was surely going to be traded by the deadline. But he remains unscathed, and the Rockets are likely to guarantee his $8,000,000 next year to roll over tradable salary.
Chris Paul, Winner - By not getting traded, Paul has a greater chance of having all or a large chunk (via trade) of his $30 million for next year guaranteed. Something that seemed highly unlikely when he was traded to the Wizards.
Gordon Hayward, Winner - Hayward is 17th all-time in on-court earnings in NBA history. He could be in line to add to his total, as OKC acquired his bird rights and could be interested in a two-year balloon payment to keep a tradable salary on the books before new deals for Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren hit in 26/27.
Buddy Hield, Loser - With Philadelphia’s cap space aspirations, this would mean that Hield would have to go out and find a cap space team if he wanted to make similar money to his current contract.

Three Things To Keep An Eye On

1. The Buyout Market
The buyout market is already in full swing, with players like Kyle Lowry (PHI), Bismack Biyombo (OKC) and Spencer Dinwiddie (LAL) already signing with new teams. We have over 30 roster spots open around the league, so expect to see a flurry of ten-days, conversions, and rest-of-season deals get done. Will be interesting to see if teams will act quickly on the players who have already been bought out (Danuel House, Joe Harris, Danilo Gallinari) or wait on the potential impact candidates that may take a bit to negotiate buyouts (Delon Wright, Evan Fournier).

2. Veteran Extensions
With the trade deadline behind us its time to re-visit veteran extension discussions with eligible players. I am very curious to see if the Clippers and Paul George are able to reach an agreement, as I’m sure Daryl Morey is too. Other names to keep an eye on include Malcolm Brogdon, where any extension would presumably keep him immediately trade eligible, and Jrue Holiday, who’s six-month restrictions are up April 1.

3. Two-Way Conversions
We have already seen a couple two-way conversions post trade deadline in GG Jackson in Memphis, Keon Ellis in Sacramento, and Lindy Waters III in Oklahoma City. With all these open roster spots across the league, I would expect more soon. Some potential conversions include Craig Porter Jr in Cleveland, Neemias Queta in Boston, Jalen Wilson in Brooklyn, Lester Quinones in Golden State, and Jontay Porter in Toronto.

2024 Post Trade Deadline Cap Space Updates

Detroit Pistons ~ $63 million
Philadelphia 76ers ~ $53 million
Utah Jazz ~ $42 million (if convey pick)
Orlando Magic ~ $31 million
San Antonio Spurs ~ $21 million