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As the NBA’s off-season continues for all teams except the Golden State and Boston, one of the most interesting names that appeared in early league trade chattering was the Toronto Raptors Swingman OG Anunoby.
Following a prominent season from the Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, rumors spread among rival front offices that Anunoby became dissatisfied with his role in Toronto.
Two sources with knowledge of dynamics told B / R that Anunoby was not directly dissatisfied with the Raptors situation. Perhaps the conversation around him was further facilitated by external interest in getting the services of his fifth year forward.
Back in the trade deadline, sources say the Raptors can’t touch all of their “top 6” in trade conversations, including Anunoby, Burns, Siakam, VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., and Precious Akiuwa. We are taking an attitude with the opposite team. However, Toronto is also widely known for its longing for a starting point. The Raptors first chased Jarrett Allen last summer. Then in February, Toronto flirted with Indiana about both Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, and contacted San Antonio about Jakob Poeltl. Landing in the center of that caliber will almost certainly require the Raptors to sacrifice one of those allegedly untouchable players.
If Anunoby becomes available this offseason, expect a long list of suitors of interest. Anunoby, 24, is a proven Blue Chip prospect who already has deep post-season experience. He is also playing under a value contract in the middle of a four-year $ 72 million extension (with 2024-25 player options) signed in 2020.
The two landing points already linked by league officials are Utah and Portland.
Jazz weighs the potential for trade with Rudy Gobert, a three-time defensive player of the year. There is much debate between the entire league and Utah staff whether moving Gobea, the true defensive linchpin of jazz, is the most effective way to remedy Utah’s border-defending problems. There is, but Anunoby is clearly a wing.
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Toronto adds another important deal to Anunoby’s average annual salary of $ 18 million to meet Gobea’s high salary, which ranges from $ 38.2 million to $ 46.7 million between 2022-23 and 2025-26. need to do it. Including another bidirectional boundary force, torrents, math works, but its cost can be too high for Toronto’s brass, leaving the Raptors with little-proven shooting. Early words from league officials also suggest that the Raptors value Siakam more than Gobert.
The Trail Blazers are widely expected to pursue a trade scenario with the 7th pick to add a complementary veteran alongside All-NBA guard Damian Lillard, with Anunoby alongside Jerami Grant. Is considered to be one of their main targets.
Both contracts meet Portland’s $ 20.9 million trade exception from the transaction that sent CJ McCollum to New Orleans. Portland may be trying to create a cap space for landing top-paying free agents such as Zach LaVine, but all the signs are the Blazers, which guarantees Josh Hart’s $ 12.9 million next season. is showing. The Heart Guarantee is due on June 25th, two days after the NBA Draft and almost a week before the free agent begins on July 1st.
To get Hart’s money, the Blazers need to waive the rights of free agents Jusuf Nurkić and Anfernee Simons to make room for the acquisition of major free agents like Ravine. I have. However, the most likely route for Portland to win Lillard’s flashy opponents is via trade exceptions, and Anunoby would be an addition to home runs in that scenario.
However, league officials believe that Toronto will need much more than the seventh pick to let go of Hart and Anunoby. Anunoby’s transaction value is expected to be higher than Detroit’s known grant offer price. That is, two first round picks, or the first promising rookie scale outlook.
New York Knicks Point Guard Search
League sources regularly state that New York’s main off-season focus is to improve in point guard positions, but the chances of winning another Utah all-star, Donovan Mitchell, remain very low. .. Even though Mitchell finally demanded a deal from Jazz, he still has a three-year contract before the 2025-26 player option. In addition, the best offer to Mitchell in New York is, in theory, the pursuit of other teams, such as Tyler Herro plus other salaries and potential packages from Miami centered on multiple first round picks. There is sound skepticism around the NBA to beat the NBA.
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Meanwhile, there is growing awareness among league players that Jalen Brunson will return to Dallas after the Mavericks sprint to the Western Conference Finals.Governor Mavericks Mark Cuban after Dallas loses to Golden State Reconfirm with Markstein Confidence team personnel plan to maintain Branson. Dallas can certainly offer him another fifth year, and therefore more money than any rival, especially New York. Branson’s next salary is expected to exceed $ 20 million annually, and perhaps over the last five years of John Collins, the $ 125 million extension in Atlanta is a good benchmark for Branson to stay in Dallas. Will be.
Knicks, which offers an equivalent four-year rate, requires notable cap sheet changes. They had already sent Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel by the February trading deadline and were close to liquidating Run’s salary at Branson. At this point in the NBA calendar, to eliminate unwanted contracts, league executives have traded with New York’s 11th place in the June draft or promising point guard Immanuel Quickley to rival. We believe we need to encourage the team to take on the long term. salary.
But Knicks can suggest to Branson something that Dallas can’t do. It’s an unquestionable role as a starting point guard and lead ball handler. In Dallas, he has always been Luka Doncic’s companion. The same is true for Detroit, where Piston is said to envision Branson as a counterpart similar to Cade Cunningham. If Branson wants to be the true table setter for the team’s attacks, it will look like a bird in New York’s hands.
Elsewhere in the point guard conversation, words of interest to Jaden Ivey, a sophomore at Purdue University in New York, have been frequently repeated by league officials. However, Ivey is almost certain to be selected within the first six picks of the draft, and Indiana Pacers will be considered his floor by multiple executives contacted by the B / R.
As Knicks created a list of point guard options, rival executives pointed to Minnesota Timberwolves starter D’Angelo Russell as a potential low-level trade target. The New York front office recently added Garson Rosas, a former Minnesota president of basketball operations. He once chased Russell as a free agent and later traded Andrew Wiggins to the Golden State to win creative point guards.
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Knicks isn’t expected to run in Collin Sexton, sources said. The Cavaliers are interested in keeping him, but finding a salary that extends Combo Guard’s tenure in Cleveland can be difficult. Especially after the Cavaliers’ success in 2021-22 and the increase in team caps. Indiana, Detroit and Washington are all mentioned as early potential landing sites for Sexton.
Pistons told B / R that he is expected to use the cap space to win one impact player on the front and back courts. Branson and Sexton are known as guards who are really interested in filling their backcoat slots, but Detroit is said to be looking to Mitchell Robinson at the Knicks Center, In addition to Phoenix Suns, he restricted free agent tycoon Deandre Ayton.
Charlotte Hornets Coaching Search
On the coaching side, only Charlotte has vacant seats after Sacramento Kings hired Mike Brown and the Los Angeles Lakers nominated Bucks assistant Darvin Ham as the next play caller.
Ham was the Hornets opening finalist and was scheduled to meet Charlotte this Tuesday before signing a four-year deal with the Lakers, sources said. Sit-in shows the first development in coach search since Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak spent the previous week in Los Angeles for agency training and professional days before the draft. It would have been. Capuchak’s own multi-year contract extension, which he announced during recent media availability, has two more seasons, sources told B / R.
At this point, it is widely believed that former Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni and Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson are the final names seriously being considered to replace James Bolego. .. No candidate has met Charlotte’s chief governor, Michael Jordan, according to sources, and is believed to be in the final stages of the Hornets search process. Interviews for that round could begin earlier this week after Jordan returns from an off-market vacation.
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When league officials landed in Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine, it seemed to indicate that Atkinson was gaining momentum in the Hornets search. According to sources, he called current Hornets and league staff familiar with the Charlotte organization, showing great confidence that it would eventually be his job. Atkinson has been described as a particularly thorough person, and several people close to the coach have shown that his call for research is simply a trademark of his character and approach.
D’Antoni has long been classified as a true front runner in this position. Known for his dynamic attack principles and his previous success in unlocking Steve Nash in the Phoenix and then James Harden in the Rockets, D’Antoni’s advance in LaMelo Ball as an elite point guard. Seen as an ideal coach to oversee the next step. A source with franchise knowledge told B / R that D’Antoni’s profile looks like a favorite of Charlotte’s Jordan-led group.
Atkinson’s remarkable background in player development, highlighted by his success as Brooklyn head coach, seems to be more in line with the young team hoping to get up in the postseason from the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. is.
However, figures from various leagues suggest that the similarities between Atkinson and Bolego could ultimately oppose Atkinson and lead to the adoption of D’Antoni. According to sources, the Hornets did not have a specific profile for the next head coach when he dismissed Bolego, but Charlotte Brass wanted a voice and direction that was clearly different from Bolego.
Jake Fisher covers the Bleacher Report NBA, author of Built to lose: how the NBA’s tanking era changed the league forever..
