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Spurs

The Atlanta Hawks had to face the burden of expectations in 2021-22.&nbsp;
Fresh off a surprise trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, Atlanta entered the season as a picturesque franchise with a mixture of realized star power and unrealized potential. Unfortunately, not every young team progresses linearly.&nbsp;
On Jan. 14, the Hawks were seven games under .500. As late as Jan. 27, they were 11th in the Eastern Conference standings. And despite a spectacular rally to 43-39 and a successful Play-In Tournament run, Atlanta still looked hopeless for most of its first-round series against the Miami Heat.
And yet, the Hawks still finished with the second-best Offensive Rating in basketball, per Cleaning the Glass. Trae Young took the next step as a bona fide superstar. Onyeka Okongwu arrived after an injury-plagued rookie year. Even though Atlanta did underachieve, they still have several talented young players with room to grow. So how can the franchise get back on the right track?
Hawks principal owner <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/hawks-owner-ressler-says-team-wont-stand-pat-this-offseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tony Ressler has hinted at a possible offseason overhaul</a>.
&ldquo;I think if you asked our front office they would say that we thought based on last season&rsquo;s visit to the Eastern Conference finals, that we could bring back predominantly the same team and get better and expect it to be better,&rdquo; Ressler said. "I don&rsquo;t think that worked out the way we thought.
"So yes, I think we should have tried to get better rather than bring back what we had. That won&rsquo;t happen again, by the way. It was a mistake, in my opinion."
Atlanta first has to answer The John Collins Question.&nbsp;
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The Hawks signed Collins to a massive five-year, $125 million contract extension last summer, essentially locking him in as Young's partner in crime. His first year under the new deal went woefully off-script.
The 24-year-old appeared in just 54 games this past season, and just four after the All-Star break, due to injuries. He posted the worst True Shooting percentage of his career (still a pretty nice 61.0%) and saw his lowest usage rate in four seasons. In January, Collins went on record voicing his displeasure about his role, and as of that moment, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/stats-notebook-has-john-collins-role-with-the-hawks-really-changed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he had statistical evidence to back him up.</a>
Collins possesses undeniable on-court synergy with Young, but is that enough for him to want him to stay, and for the front office to keep faith?
Ressler also made two other notable comments that could pertain to Collins. One is that he's not afraid of spending into the luxury tax to make the Hawks a championship contender. Perhaps this means Atlanta values Collins regardless of his salary and wants to fortify other areas. But Ressler also added:&nbsp;"I think every team in the NBA should add a superstar whenever they can, and I promise you we&rsquo;re no exception.&rdquo;
Collins would surely help Atlanta chase a superstar if he were included in a trade. We'll see if he's on the table for Atlanta.
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The Hawks don't have many major in-house free agency questions to address. Their most notable upcoming free agent is probably Delon Wright, who assumed duties as a backup point guard as the season went on and provided solid play on low usage. Other free agents who did not lock down a rotation spot include: Lou Williams, Kevin Knox, Gorgui Dieng, Skylar Mays and Sharife Cooper.
Cooper should expectedly be re-signed. The rookie point guard was one of the surprise fallers of the 2021 NBA Draft and showed promise in the G League, averaging 16.3 points and 6.7 assists per game with the College Park Skyhawks.
The relative roster security does mean, however, that Atlanta is strapped for cap space. Spotrac estimates that the franchise won't even come close to achieving any sort of practical cap space for the summer with Young, Collins, Danilo Gallinari, Clint Capela and Bogdan Bogdanovic each making more than $18 million next season. The best they'll have to work with is the taxpayer mid-level exception, valued at about $6.3 million. Any significant addition will have to be via trade.
Atlanta will also have just its own draft picks at Nos. 16 and 44. These are quality chances for the Hawks to beef up their bench or add a defense-first piece, and as they know from last year with Cooper, there's always a chance to grab a steal in the second round.
Our Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock projects the Hawks to select Ohio State wing Malaki Branham with the 16th pick in his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest NBA Mock Draft</a>. Branham is a dynamic scorer already as a freshman and could pack a punch off the bench with his ability to pull up and get to the rim. At No. 44, Atlanta is projected to select Wake Forest's Jake LaRavia, who has been a recent draft riser (at least in the podcasts I listen to!).
Whatever moves the Hawks decide to make, they need to positively impact the defense. Atlanta ranked 26th in Defensive Rating this season and was abjectly awful for most of the year. De'Andre Hunter only appeared in 53 games due to injuries, but his presence can't be the sole supporting beam for the perimeter defense.&nbsp;
With an owner itching to make trades and a roster still full of optimism and question marks, the Hawks should be a must-watch team as the offseason approaches.
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The Hawks underachieved in 2021-22, setting the stage for some major potential offseason moves.

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Atlanta Hawks?

Bogdan Bogdanovic's 3-pointer with 1:41 left gave Atlanta the lead and Trae Young scored 39 points in the Hawks' 130-124 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night.
After Bogdanovic's 3 made it 119-118, Chicago's DeMar DeRozan's had a turnover, and Young padded the advantage with two 3s in the final 1:12.
Young had 13 assists and made 7 of 10 3s and all 10 of his free throws. Bogdanovic had 20 points.
The Hawks denied the Bulls' bid to complete a four-game sweep of the season series.
Chicago, fighting for the Eastern Conference lead, suffered its third consecutive loss.
DeRozan and Zach LaVine each had 22 points for the Bulls. Nikola Vucevic had 21 points and 11 rebounds.
LaVine blocked Young's last jumper of the first half, leaving the Bulls with a 63-56 halftime lead.
When LaVine opened the second half with a 3-pointer for a 66-56 lead, the Bulls were 10 of 19 and on pace to match their season high for 3s.
The Hawks then found their long-distance shot and began outworking the Bulls under the basket. DeAndre Hunter, who had 18 points, grabbed a rebound of his own miss and scored for a 72-70 Atlanta lead.
Clint Capela scored off an offensive rebound minutes later to spark a 10-2 run that gave the Hawks an 84-76 advantage. DeRozan's last-second jumper gave the Bulls a 92-90 advantage entering the final period.
TIP-INS
Bulls: Vucevic had been 0 for 10 on 3-pointers in his last three games before making his first long-range attempt of the game in the second period. ... Coach Billy Donovan said he expects LaVine to be available for the second of back-to-back games against Milwaukee on Friday night. LaVine has been slowed by periodic soreness in his surgically repaired left knee. Donovan said before the game LaVine &ldquo;feels really good&rdquo; before adding &ldquo;That's today. ... No question, after tonight, tomorrow check with him. I would say it's more likely he'll be playing.&rdquo;
Hawks: F John Collins (right foot strain) missed his sixth consecutive game and may be moving closer to a return. &ldquo;He is getting better,&rdquo; coach Nate McMillan said. ... C Onyeka Okongwu (concussion protocol) did not play. ... Gorgui Dieng moved into a more prominent role behind C Clint Capela and F Danilo Gallinari. ... Young (left ankle sprain) and G Lou Williams (left hip discomfort) were cleared after pregame warmups.
UP NEXT
Bulls: Host Milwaukee on Friday night
Hawks: At Washington on Friday night.

Bogdan Bogdanovic's 3-pointer with 1:41 left gave Atlanta the lead and Trae Young scored 39 points in the Hawks' 130-124 victory.

Hawks surge late, Young scores 39 points in win over Bulls

Nate McMillan when [Chris Vivlamore asked (again) if NBA should pause: &ldquo;Of course I think that way, but it&rsquo;s not up to me. The league is trying to keep this season going. Of course it&rsquo;s really frustrating for us and a lot of other teams."
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/CVivlamoreAJC/status/1475883185984708617" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Vivlamore/Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a>
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;This is a strong statement from an NBA head coach whose team has been ravaged by COVID-19-related absences. Atlanta is missing more than 10 pldayers due to league protocols and cancelled practice today, per Vivlamore. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Gorgui Dieng and Malik Ellison are the latest to join the list.

Three more Hawks players entered league health and safety protocols today.

Nate McMillan: 'Of course I think' NBA should pause season

Earlier this week, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/celtics-expected-to-listen-to-trade-talks-surrounding-dennis-schrder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shams Charania reported</a> that the Boston Celtics are expected to listen to trade discussions surrounding Dennis Schr&ouml;der.
It makes sense. Schr&ouml;der is entering the prime of his career and producing with the Celtics to the tune of 17.5 points, 4.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game. He also signed a one-year contract in the offseason for just $5.89 million, and logic signals that he's intending to turn that into a much larger payday next summer.&nbsp;
Dealing Schr&ouml;der while his value is high before he could leave next offseason seems like proper asset management for Boston. And though I think Schr&ouml;der provides a unique flavor with his rim pressure and pure speed, I get the reality that, with the Celtics likely not on the path to title contention this season, there's a good chance Schr&ouml;der gets thrown into the trade carousel.&nbsp;
The questions to ask: What teams could use a potential one-season rental, and what would the Celtics want back? To answer these, let's quickly log Schr&ouml;der's primary skills shown this season.
The 28-year-old has shifted between a high-usage bench role and a starter for Boston as the team deals with injuries. Schr&ouml;der can get downhill with impressive burst when he wants to. Per Cleaning the Glass, he's making 64% of his at-rim attempts, in the 78th percentile at his position.
Schr&ouml;der has also canned an impressive 56% of his corner threes and been a better off-ball option than I initially anticipated. He still seems more comfortable on the ball, where he can dictate the pace and facilitate. Schr&ouml;der is hitting 33.6% of his overall threes this season, which is right at his career average. He's a streaky but capable long-range shooter who can also pull up in the mid-range with some success. Ultimately, the speed and finishing ability are his signature skills.
In this situation, Schr&ouml;der is one of the perfect acquisitions for a team needing that last piece to push for a title or get over the hump into the playoffs. But the Celtics are in this weird middle ground; they have plenty of intriguing young players and a first-year head coach, but also plenty of veterans who can support a win-now run... Except they aren't doing enough of the "winning now" part.&nbsp;
What does Boston want back in a trade in general? They could opt to add to their pool of prospects or find more experienced players to fill needs. I truly don't know the best route, so I've chosen a few of each. Below are five trades that make sense for the Celtics, the hypothetic partner and Schr&ouml;der himself.
<a href="https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">All are NBA Trade Machine-approved</a>.
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UTAH JAZZ
Celtics receive: Royce O'Neale, Jared Butler
Jazz receive: Dennis Schr&ouml;der
In this scenario, the Celtics return a low-usage 3-and-D player, which fills a shooting need and takes pressure off of Ime Udoka to put too much responsibility on Aaron Nesmith. O'Neale would be an excellent fit in Udoka's switch-heavy defense as a 6-foot-6 wing, and he's currently knocking down over 40% of his three-pointers. Perhaps the Celtics can get an intriguing guard prospect like Butler out of this too since Utah won't be slotting him in the rotation this season.
For the Jazz, it's all about pushing for a title. They're on the cusp, and Schr&ouml;der could benefit from playing next to or behind Donovan Mitchell. He wouldn't need to be a defensive fulcrum, and could slot in as the primary facilitator off the bench. That would make life much easier for a currently struggling Jordan Clarkson.
ATLANTA HAWKS
Celtics receive: Cam Reddish, Gorgui Dieng, 2022 second-round pick
Hawks receive: Dennis Schr&ouml;der, 2022 first-round pick (lottery-protected)
It's pretty ironic that the Hawks' search for a backup point guard could take things back to where they all began with Schr&ouml;der. Under a new regime, maybe it makes sense for Schr&ouml;der to try again. He'd instantly be second on the depth chart behind Trae Young. The Hawks are 24th in rim frequency and 18th in accuracy, so Schr&ouml;der can absolutely help collapse the defense.
It's been reported that the Hawks want to move Reddish in exchange for a first-round pick, and they can do so here. The Celtics can take a swing on a high-upside prospect who is only 22 in Reddish while maintaining a team option for the following season. They also get back Gorgui Dieng, who I've always been a personal fan of, to slot in as a sensible third big man.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
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Celtics receive: Pat Connaughton
Bucks receive: Dennis Schr&ouml;der
The second George Hill era has not been as kind in Milwaukee. Hill, at age-35, is shooting just 32.4% from long range and has missed time due to injuries. With Donte DiVincenzo on his way back, Grayson Allen shooting the lights out and Jordan Nwora waiting for more minutes, Milwaukee has a plethora of sharpshooting guard/wing hybrids to work with. They can give one up in exchange for some added rim pressure off the bench.
Boston takes on Connaughton, who can operate as a mircowave scorer and cutter while fitting better with Marcus Smart should the two share the backcourt. Connaughton also graduated from St. John's Prep in Massachusetts, so you have some nice local ties there. He's making $5.3 million over the next two seasons.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
Celtics receive: Garrett Temple, Naji Marshall, 2023 first-round pick (via Lakers)
Pelicans receive: Dennis Schr&ouml;der
The Pelicans are reportedly going to be buyers this trade season, which is... something. But if that's true, Schr&ouml;der is a good bet for them as a team whose guard signings have largely underwhelmed (and who just lost Kira Lewis Jr. for the season due to a torn ACL). Schr&ouml;der could start for this team and be the downhill threat missing from the current rotation.
Naji Marshall still doesn't get nearly enough love from the Pelicans, so he hopefully would in Boston. The Celtics also add a likely late first-rounder in a draft that could be loaded, and acquire a rock-solid veteran in Temple. None of this severely impacts the all-powerful cap flexibility Brad Stevens is likely hoping to preserve.
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INDIANA PACERS
Celtics receive: Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday
Pacers receive: Dennis Schr&ouml;der, Romeo Langford, Robert Williams III, Josh Richardson, 2022 first-round pick (top-10-protected)
Our Nekias Duncan labeled the Celtics as an intriguing fit in his piece on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/exploring-trade-destinations-for-domantas-sabonis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">potential destinations for Domantas Sabonis</a>. This is my best attempt at formulating a Sabonis trade without including Jaylen Brown. Boston would certainly love this; it gets a third star-caliber player and ball-moving center, plus a low-usage complementary wing I love in Holiday.
It's trickier to sell this for the Pacers. Part of the appeal is flipping Schr&ouml;der or Richardson for more prospect pieces. But neither of them comes with significant long-term cap hits, which is a plus. Should Indiana opt for the competitive pseudo-rebuild, both veterans are at least capable rotation pieces.
Romeo Langford is an awesome young player and an Indiana native, and Robert Williams (note: he cannot be traded until after Jan. 30) is another awesome young player on a steal of a contract. Maybe some additional draft capital gets this done.

With the Celtics reportedly expected to field offers for Dennis Schröder, where could the speedy point guard end up?

Examining potential trade destinations for Dennis Schröder

Once Nate McMillan moved over to the head coach&rsquo;s chair in place of Lloyd Pierce, who was fired after a 14-20 start, the Atlanta Hawks soared the rest of the season, finishing 27-11.
With an immense amount of youthful talent spearheaded by superstar point guard Trae Young, who continues to take leaps every year of his career, Atlanta finally saw everything click together for a magical run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
There was urgency within the Hawks&rsquo; front office to have the 2020-21 season see real improvements, which included making offseason splashes with Bogdan Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari, and acquiring Clint Capela at the trade deadline beforehand. With the perfect blend of win-now veterans, ascending young prospects and a head coach providing accountability and structure, Atlanta&rsquo;s expectations for this season are sky-high.
Although the East saw vast improvements across the board, Atlanta nestles in nicely within the middle tier. Atlanta won&rsquo;t be challenging the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks or star-studded Brooklyn Nets, but there&rsquo;s some potential for them to push division-rival Miami Heat to the brink for the No. 3 seed.
The Hawks are now ahead of schedule in their rebuild, and a lot of it is due to how they have built splendidly around their point guard. Young is already one of the best pure players for his position in the Association, dicing up defenses as a scorer and facilitator. The soon-to-be fourth-year lead guard has always showcased his special talents &mdash; he broke out in 2019-20, averaging 29.6 points per game &mdash; however, the wins weren&rsquo;t stacking up before. It was a totally different story once the coaching change occurred. Atlanta rattled off wins thanks to its depth and starpower encompassed from Young.
Over the last two seasons, Young has emerged to true elite status in the NBA. He's averaged 27.5 points, 9.4 assists, 9.1 free throw attempts and 4.1 assists on an outstanding 59.2% True Shooting percentage. Only five players over that span joined Young, who amassed at least 27 points per game on a a 59+ TS%: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard. That&rsquo;s an All-NBA, MVP-contender realm Young has thrusted himself into this early in his career. Now entering his age-24 season, Young could soon become a dark-horse contender to become an MVP, especially if the Hawks continue their sudden rise as a legitimate contender.
Outside of Young, Atlanta has done a fantastic job insulating their star&rsquo;s biggest strengths on top of fielding a well-balanced rotation. Since beginning their rebuild attempt around Young, Atlanta has added all of the following players via the draft: Kevin Huerter, De&rsquo;Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Onyeka Okungwu, Jalen Johnson and Sharife Cooper. There&rsquo;s not been one miss (yet) on that list. Obviously, we need to see Johnson and Cooper on the floor, which might not happen early on with Atlanta&rsquo;s depth, but Huerter and Hunter (and Reddish) have already proven themselves. On top of that, the Hawks have Okungwu, who figures to be an integral piece to the Hawks&rsquo; long-term puzzle once he recovers from labrum surgery.
Continuing to stockpile ample perimeter shooting and defensive versatility, Atlanta has the ideal archetype in place to continue realizing its upward trajectory. Young can carry a team on his own, which has been proven over the last two seasons, but how general manager Travis Schlenk has gone about building everything else around his star guard has been nothing short of fantastic.
When an organization presses all the right buttons via every acquisition avenue, success will soon follow. That&rsquo;s exactly what happened with Atlanta, who now has the pillars in place to build a sustainable winner upon.
Now with a budding superstar, high-upside prospects, proven veteran pieces, a capable head coach &mdash; plus a front office willing to take risks when necessary &mdash; the Hawks aren&rsquo;t going anywhere. How do they stack up for the 2021-22 campaign, though? Let&rsquo;s take a peek at their projected rotation:
Starters: Trae Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic, De&rsquo;Andre Hunter, John Collins, Clint Capela
Second Unit: Delon Wright, Lou Williams, Kevin Huerter, Cam Reddish, Danilo Gallinari, Gorgui Dieng
After McMillan took over, incredibly enough, the Hawks&rsquo; starters played zero minutes together until their deep playoff run. Even then, they only played five games together, spanning 98 total minutes due to Hunter&rsquo;s meniscus tear. Looking ahead to a full 82-game slate, the results look outstanding (health permitting) because Atlanta outscored its opponents by nearly 16 points per 100 possessions with that five-man unit (113.9 ORTG, 98.0 DRTG).
The bench is loaded to the gills with proven pieces as well, which doesn&rsquo;t even include Okungwu&rsquo;s looming return and two first-round rookies (Johnson and Cooper), plus veteran wing Solomon Hill. Atlanta&rsquo;s roster is capable of allowing every player to log minutes, which shows how well the team has done at building up their rotation. You will be hard-pressed to find many teams around the NBA who have a deeper roster than Atlanta&rsquo;s, which forecasts a rosy outlook for this upcoming season.
Will the Hawks be able to build off their shocking rise, or fall back down to Earth with disappointing results? I&rsquo;m betting on the former, because how the roster is built gives them ample leeway to survive the rigors of a full regular season.
The Hawks have a team capable of finishing, once again, with a top-five seed in the East. Now, with an offseason where they lost no key contributors elsewhere, all the ingredients are in place for a potential 50-win campaign.
Buy stock on the Hawks while you can &mdash; this is just the beginning for this organization returning to the ranks of contender status.

After a quick rise last season, the Hawks have the building blocks in place to realize their new status as a sustainable contender.

Hawks' well-balanced roster forecasts a real contender

Much like NBA Summer League, preseason basketball is not meant for firm conclusions.&nbsp;
If anything, they're trial runs. Teams are trying to get their guys into shape, build on-court chemistry and experiment with lineups. But to roll with the summer league analogy, there are usually nuggets &mdash; small ones, but nuggets nonetheless &mdash; that you can hang onto within these exhibitions.
For young players, it may be a flash of a skill set. For veterans, particularly ones on new teams, you'll get the outline of what they're bringing to their new homes.
So no, you probably shouldn't start looking at Miami flight and hotel prices in preparation for a title parade based on the Heat's 125-99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.&nbsp;
(Look at those prices for other reasons that won't be detailed here. *Generic smile emoji*)
If there's a takeaway from the Heat side, however, it's that Kyle Lowry will absolutely change how the Heat do things &mdash; on both ends of the floor.
Lowry only played the first half of the game, mostly because things were out of hand by the time the second-quarter buzzer sounded. His line in 14 minutes of action: 5 points (1-of-4 shooting, 2-of-2 from the line) 4 rebounds, 7 assists (one turnover). The Heat outscored the Hawks by 10 points in Lowry's minutes, if you're into preseason plus-minus.
(You probably shouldn't be into preseason plus-minus.)
Here's another number that requires the "it's preseason" disclaimer, but is still noteworthy: the <a href="https://go.nba.com/gn16" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first-half pace</a> of this game was 109.0, nearly 12 possessions faster than the Heat's 29th-ranked number (97.09) from last season.&nbsp;
As previously mentioned <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-kyle-lowry-brings-to-the-miami-heat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in this space</a>, Lowry's ability to mash the accelerator was a much-needed shot in the arm for a Heat team that was stuck in the mud far too often. The Hawks helped juice the Heat's attack with a bevy of turnovers, but there was a level of intention from Lowry that should carry over into the games that matter.
Lowry's first bucket of the night came in transition. He was off the ball in this rep &mdash; newly-acquired PJ Tucker grabbed a board and pushed the break &mdash; but he was able to use Bam Adebayo as a lead blocker to flow into his patented early-clock, pull-up triple.
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There were instances in which Lowry took matters into his own hands on the pace front. He grabbed three defensive rebounds in this game; they led to a Tyler Herro triple (miss) with 19 seconds on the shot clock, an Adebayo drawn foul with 14 on the clock and a Tucker triple (make) with 17 on the clock.
That's a rough average of eight seconds per possession after those defensive rebounds, over three full seconds faster than their average from last season, per <a href="http://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/ssnTeamPoss.php?season=2020&amp;po=0&amp;frdt=2020-12-22&amp;todt=2021-07-20&amp;view=off&amp;sort=aotopdr&amp;order=DESC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tracking data at Inpredictable</a>.
Even when Lowry wasn't the one to jumpstart the action with grab-and-go sequences, he made quick decisions after receiving outlets from others. The quick processing from Lowry benefited Adebayo, most notably getting him a pair of dunks on the break.
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While Lowry's presence allowed the Heat to do more offensively (and do so more quickly), his presence defensively allowed them to do less.
Few teams switched at a higher rate than the Heat did last season. That's a luxury afforded to you by having an All-World big in Adebayo, but it also felt like the Heat had&nbsp;to switch to a certain extent. Screen navigation at the point of attack was an issue, with Goran Dragic and Kendrick Nunn taking turns falling behind twitchy ball-handlers in ball screens.
Switching was a way for the Heat to keep the ball in front, though it led to issues elsewhere; they ranked 19th in defensive-rebound rate after finishing No. 3 the year prior.
Lowry isn't the 2017 version of himself. He's easily a better defender than Dragic and Nunn though, even at this stage of his career. It was refreshing to see plays like this one.
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Last season, that's likely a switch from Adebayo. A small, either Nunn or Dragic, would be on Gorgui Dieng until they were "scrammed" out of there by a larger teammate nearby. With Lowry, he's tasked with fighting over the screen. That allows Adebayo to stay in a drop, preventing a clear path for a roll and putting him in better position for a defensive rebound had Trae Young went up for the three-ball.&nbsp;
Lowry checked the boxes you wanted to see in his Heat debut. He improved the pace, generated open shots with his playmaking ability and helped the Heat maintain their base defensively. In other words, he made life easier for everyone around him.
It's almost like he's been doing it for a decade or something.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan breaks down Kyle Lowry's Heat debut, specifically the parts that should carry over into the regular season.

Kyle Lowry makes life easier for Miami in preseason Heat debut

Gorgui Dieng has generated interest from the Suns and Spurs at around the biannual exception amount of $3.7 million.
Source: <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2946713-nba-sources-kyle-lowry-demar-derozan-emerge-as-pivotal-dominoes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jake Fischer/Bleacher Report</a>
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;Dieng has carved out a solid career as a rotation-caliber center. The 31-year-old played his first six seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves before being traded to Memphis in 2019-20. He was bought out by Memphis this past spring before playing in 16 games for the Spurs.

Dieng spent last season with the Spurs after being bought out by Memphis.

Gorgui Dieng generating free-agent interest from Suns and Spurs

As things currently stand, the Detroit Pistons will shell out their biggest player paycheck for 2021-22 to someone who isn't on the roster. The Portland Trail Blazers owe money to one player through 2024, even though he never played a game for the team. The Indiana Pacers are still paying Monta Ellis.
In the complex world of the NBA salary cap, "dead money" is one oft-forgotten consequence of buyouts and cuts around the league. These situations happen when a player is released with guaranteed money left on his contract. The team has to pay the rest of the salary, so they'll either foot the bill as the contract originally stated, or stretch the remaining salary over a longer period to make the payments more manageable per-year. These still count against the team's salary cap (<a href="https://www.slamonline.com/nba/cba-explained-the-stretch-provision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here's a good explainer</a>).
In many cases, the cap and financial impacts look insignificant on their own. But dead money can range from a nuisance to a handicap for franchises that often brush right up against salary-cap constraints.
When the league calendar flips in August, half of the NBA will be completely free of dead money, according to salary figures provided by <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotrac</a> and <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Basketball Reference</a>. The Memphis Grizzlies, for example, had over $29 million tied to Gorgui Dieng and Dion Waiters through this past season.
However, half of the league remains tethered to players and cap holds. A browse though the books reveals some surprising names still on NBA payrolls.&nbsp;
Let's start with the Pistons, who are far and away the most hamstrung organization. They'll be paying Blake Griffin approximately $29.8 million next season, easily the highest dead-money total in the NBA. Unless the franchise makes a major splash in the offseason, that number shatters the $20 million owed to Detroit's highest-paid active player, Jerami Grant.&nbsp;
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Griffin isn't alone on the payroll. Former 2018 first-round pick Zhaire Smith is owed $1.068 million and change into the 2022-23 season. Then there's Dewayne Dedmon, who checks in as one of my favorite players in this unique circumstance.
The Pistons acquired Dedmon via trade from Atlanta last November and promptly waived the 31-year-old center. But they stretched the remainder of his three-year, $40 million deal&nbsp;way out. Detroit plans to pay Dedmon $2.87 million each year through the 2024-25 NBA season &mdash; without him ever suiting up for the Motor City.
Dedmon is one of two players who will assuredly get a paycheck from an NBA team without ever playing a game for them. The other is Andrew Nicholson, who has been out of the NBA since 2017. Still, the Portland Trail Blazers must pay him $2.84 million per year through the 2023-24 season. That means he'll still be cashing NBA paychecks seven years after his last game.
Most dead-contract situations are less complicated than Detroit's traffic jam. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the only other franchise with three players in dead-money territory. But the penalties are much less severe; Admiral Schofield will receive $300,000 next season, Patrick Patterson will make $737,066 next year, and Kyle Singler (inactive since 2018) will earn $999,200 per year through 2022-23.
Aside from Griffin, Nicolas Batum wields the largest single dead-cap hold. When the Charlotte Hornets waived him last November, they stretched the rest of his five-year, $120 million deal. The franchise owes Batum a bit over $9 million through 2022-23.
Including Batum, most of the biggest dead-cap condundrums stem from the lucrative 2016 free-agency period. It resulted in a ton of eye-popping deals for players, and even after things went south with the respective teams, they're still making money from that fateful July.
Batum, Joakim Noah (tied to the Knicks), Ryan Anderson (Heat) and Luol Deng (Lakers) are all making at least $5 million in 2021-22 because of contracts they signed in 2016.
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How are other contenders doing in the dead-money department? Ten of the 2021 playoff squads are free of dead-cap hits. The Golden State Warriors owe $666,667 to Shaun Livingston next season, while the Boston Celtics owe just under $1.2 million combined to Guerschon Yabusele and Demetrius Jackson.
The Milwaukee Bucks join the aforementioned three franchises with a notable chunk of dead money; they're giving up over $5 million to the duo of Jon Leuer and Larry Sanders. Five million dollars may not seem like a ton in the grand scheme of NBA money-spending. But during the quest for an NBA title, droplets of cap space matter as teams try to facilitate trades, make small additions and even avoid the luxury tax.
So next time you hear a buyout rumor, think about the potential dead-money impact. One case on the horizon could involve Kevin Love. According to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle, there is "growing sentiment around the league" that Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/warriors-flirting-with-the-idea-of-acquiring-kevin-love" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could reach a buyout agreement</a>.
Love still has over $60 million left on his contract over the next two seasons. As the Cavs eventually try to move from rebuilder to contender, do they want that kind of money on their books over the next two seasons? Or, if they waive and stretch Love, how would the stretched contract affect their cap standing over the next decade?
It's a tricky space to navigate, and only one of the many challenges on the plates of every NBA front office.

When a guaranteed-contract player is cut, their salary becomes dead money. Which teams have the most dead money on their books?

As NBA offseason nears, which teams are in the dead money doldrums?

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; After relying heavily on veterans for two decades, the San Antonio Spurs are having growing pains in their transformation to a younger roster.
For the first time, San Antonio missed the playoffs for a second straight season after an NBA-record 22 straight appearances.
&ldquo;Unique, roller coaster, weird,&rdquo; Spurs veteran guard DeMar DeRozan said. &ldquo;I think those are three things that sum up this season.&rdquo;
The days of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili guiding a veteran roster have given way to Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Keldon Johnson and Lonnie Walker learning on the fly through injuries, little practice and a compacted schedule because ot he pandemic.
It was one of the most confounding seasons for Gregg Popovich, but also one of the most rewarding in his 25 years as Spurs coach.
&ldquo;If any team needs practices to work on consistency and execution, we did,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;(But) I don&rsquo;t know if I have ever been more proud of a team that just doesn&rsquo;t quit. No matter what the mistakes, no matter what the circumstances are, they really fight. That&rsquo;s a good base. So, I&rsquo;m really proud of the way they conducted themselves and played to win.&rdquo;
Popovich, 72, completed the first year of a three-year extension with Spurs. He will coach the U.S. team in the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
San Antonio finished 10th in the Western Conference, losing to Memphis in a play-in game. San Antonio trailed by double digits in 58% of this season&rsquo;s games, finishing 9-33 in those contests. The Spurs also led by double digits in 51% of their games, finishing 28-9.
They overcame or lost double-digit leads in multiple games.
&ldquo;Regardless of the situation, we just kept fighting,&rdquo; Johnson said.
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VETERANS
DeRozan and fellow veterans Rudy Gay, Patty Mills and Gorgui Dieng are all unrestricted free agents. San Antonio would like to have all back, but their returns are uncertain.
San Antonio should have money to spend: The Spurs are projected to be second only to the New York Knicks in available cap space this summer.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Spurs have the 10th-youngest roster in the NBA with an average age of 25.3, but that drops to a league-low 23 years old without the four 30-something veterans.
&ldquo;I think overall we can be proud of us for a big majority of our season, but we also know we have a lot that we have to improve on,&rdquo; Spurs starting center Jakob Poeltl said.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-san-antonio-spurs-derrick-white-dejounte-murray-gregg-popovich-colorado-buffaloes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">[Editor's note: Be sure to check out this exclusive interview with Derrick White by our Spencer Davies]</a>
IN AND OUT
The Spurs battled multiple injuries this season, including a series of foot and ankle injuries that forced White to miss half the season.
The team also had multiple players miss two weeks after contracting or being exposed to COVID-19. The league&rsquo;s health and safety protocols forced San Antonio to cut short their annual rodeo road trip in February. Those games were rescheduled for the second half, leading the team to essentially play every other day over the final three months.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long season,&rdquo; Walker said. &ldquo;We came out and (fought) and gave it our all despite injuries after injuries and not really having a full team. But time goes on and we&rsquo;re going to continue to work hard. We&rsquo;re going to continue to get better. I just don&rsquo;t like losing. I wanted to get to the playoffs.&rdquo;

After relying heavily on veterans for two decades, the Spurs are having growing pains in their transformation to a younger roster.

Growing pains as Spurs transition to younger roster

Devin Booker had 27 points and the Phoenix Suns maintained their hope of earning the top spot in the NBA and Western Conference with a 140-103 victory over the short-handed San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
&ldquo;It was important for us,&rdquo; Phoenix forward Dario Saric said. &ldquo;Even the game tomorrow is more important. We need to finish the regular season the right way.&rdquo;
Phoenix moved within a game of Utah. The Jazz conclude their season Sunday in Sacramento while the Suns close a two-game series in San Antonio. Phoenix swept the season series with Utah.
The Suns were without starting center Deandre Ayton due to an injury but did not rest anyone Saturday as they fight for the top seed after missing the playoffs last season.
&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve done everything we can to this point,&rdquo; Phoenix coach Monty Williams said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s hard asking our guys to rest. They all want to play. I&rsquo;m just going to do what&rsquo;s best for the team.&rdquo;
Keldon Johnson had 18 points to lead San Antonio, which previously clinched 10th in the West and will face either Memphis or Golden State on the road Wednesday.
The Suns never trailed against the Spurs and led by as many as 42 points before San Antonio&rsquo;s largest crowd of the season. The Spurs honored Tim Duncan&rsquo;s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with a series of video tributes and the unveiling of his Hall of Fame jersey in the rafters of the AT&amp;T Center.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich missed the game to attend Duncan&rsquo;s induction ceremony. It was the first time Popovich has not served as head coach since a personal matter led to his absence March 3, 2020. Duncan, who was an assistant coach at the time, was head coach in Popovich&rsquo;s absence that day. Spurs first-year assistant Mitch Johnson filled in as head coach Saturday.
San Antonio was limited to a nine-player roster with DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poeltl all sitting out for rest in addition to injuries to Derrick White, Luka Samanic and Trey Lyles.
Phoenix took advantage quickly, building a double-digit lead in the first four minutes. The advantage swelled to 21 points midway through the second quarter.
&ldquo;Phoenix was professional in their approach and that was the avalanche,&rdquo; Mitch Johnson said.
Booker had 14 points in the opening quarter on 6-for-9 shooting and closed the game shooting 10 for 18 in 27 minutes.
The Suns had eight players score at least eight points and were able to sit their starters in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;Our guys did a good job contesting shots,&rdquo; Williams said, &ldquo;And when we got the rebound, we just got out and ran.&rdquo;
Phoenix&rsquo;s Mikal Bridges had 18 points in 26 minutes and Chris Paul added 16 points and 10 assists in 25 minutes.
The Spurs were 4 for 26 on 3-pointers in suffering their third straight loss and ninth defeat in 11 games.
&ldquo;From the jump ball we had to punch them early,&rdquo; Saric said.
Gorgui Dieng had 18 points, Drew Eubanks added 15 points and Devin Vassell added 14 for the Spurs.
TIP-INS
Suns: Williams said he would likely sit some players Sunday after opting not to rest anyone Saturday. &hellip; Ayton missed his second straight game with a sore left knee. Ayton missed his first game of the season Thursday as the Suns beat the Portland Trail Blazers 118-117. He is averaging 14.4 points and 10.5 rebounds for the Suns.
Spurs: Johnson is in his first season as a full-time assistant with the Spurs after serving as an assistant for the team&rsquo;s G League affiliate. He played for Stanford and three seasons professionally in the G League and Europe. Becky Hammon, Will Hardy and Darius Songaila were Johnson&rsquo;s assistants. Popovich stated previously that in the event of his absence, the assistant coach that scouted that day&rsquo;s opponent would be the head coach. &hellip; Patty Mills made his first start of the season and 57th of his career. Mills had eight points and five assists for the Spurs.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Phoenix moved within a game of Utah with the win.

Suns rout short-handed Spurs 140-103, keep hope for top seed in West

NEW YORK (May 6, 2021) &ndash; OTE (Overtime Elite) announced today that Brandon Williams, OTE&rsquo;s EVP and Head of Basketball Operations, has made the following hires.&nbsp;
Associate Head Coach, Dave Leitao
With over three decades of leadership and coaching experience, Dave Leitao will assist head coach Kevin Ollie in OTE&rsquo;s mission to develop the whole athlete. Prior to OTE, Leitao served as head coach at DePaul University and at the University of Virginia, where he was named the 2006-07 ACC Coach of the Year. Leitao also served as head coach of Northeastern University and the Boston Celtics G-League Affiliate, the Maine Red Claws. In his 37 years of coaching experience, he has recruited, coached and developed the likes of Overtime&rsquo;s own Kevin Ollie, Hall of Famer Ray Allen, Donyell Marshall, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler, Ben Gordon, Max Strus (Miami Heat) and Paul Reed (Philadelphia 76ers).
Director of Scouting &amp; Recruiting, Tim Fuller &nbsp;
Tim Fuller will lead the strategic scouting and recruitment team and processes to secure every OTE athlete. Fuller has spent 17 years as an NCAA Assistant Coach at the University of Miami, Wake Forest University, University of Louisville and University of Missouri. He is widely recognized for evaluating, recruiting and developing elite talent including NBA players Chris Paul, Jeff Teague, Al-Farouq Aminu, Jordan Clarkson and Gorgui Dieng.
Director of Basketball Administration, Gabriela Olivares&nbsp;
Gabriela Olivares will have wide-reaching responsibilities, bringing to bear extensive project management, event operations, athlete relations and grassroots marketing experience. Olivares spent nearly 10 years at Nike elevating the profiles and supporting the performance of its world-class sponsored athletes around major competitions such as: FIFA World Cup, FIBA Basketball World Cup, Summer Olympics, and many more. In addition, Olivares led operations for Nike EYBL (Nike Elite Youth Basketball League).&nbsp;
Director of Health, Performance &amp; Development, Dr. Markus Klusemann
Markus Klusemann, a combination of sports scientist and soach, will implement a professional, process driven, evidence based and progressive approach to ensuring optimal high performance of OTE athletes. Dr. Klusemann joins OTE from Munich, Germany where he oversaw the development of elite junior basketball athletes for the Bavarian &amp; German Basketball Federations, after serving in similar positions within the Australian Institute of Sport.
Senior Strategy &amp; Research Specialist, Ivana Seric
Ivana Seric will define and implement an infrastructure that facilitates the use of data to support the processes of basketball operations across coaching, scouting and the health and performance groups. A native of Split, Croatia, Seric played for the U16 and U18 national teams before coming to the US as student-athlete studying applied mathematics at NJIT. After completing her PhD in computational fluid dynamics, she was recruited to the Philadelphia 76ers as a researcher focused on coaching strategy.
About Overtime Elite
OTE is a transformative new sports league that offers the world&rsquo;s most talented young basketball players a better pathway to becoming professional athletes. OTE provides a comprehensive accelerator for elite players&rsquo; professional careers. The league offers a year-round development program combining world-class coaching, cutting-edge sports science and performance technologies, top-notch facilities, and a rigorous, highly personalized academic program that energizes and enhances each athlete&rsquo;s journey from proficiency to pro.&nbsp;

Overtime Elite announced five new hires to its basketball operations staff, including former DePaul head coach Dave Leitao.

Former DePaul head coach Dave Leitao heads Overtime Elite's newest hires

Joel Embiid had 34 points and 12 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers held on to beat the undermanned San Antonio Spurs 113-111 in overtime Sunday night.
Ben Simmons tipped in the game-winner off a miss from Embiid as time expired. Embiid had four points in overtime, all on free throws.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The moment that sealed it, c/o of <a href="https://twitter.com/BenSimmons25?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BenSimmons25</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ULTRAMoment?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ULTRAMoment</a> <a href="https://t.co/vAkx5I4MmQ">pic.twitter.com/vAkx5I4MmQ</a>
&mdash; Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) <a href="https://twitter.com/sixers/status/1389055090951131138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Seth Curry scored 22 points and Dwight Howard added 14 as Philadelphia won its fourth straight to remain atop the Eastern Conference. Simmons finished with five points, six rebounds and five assists in 35 minutes.
Lonnie Walker IV had 23 points to lead the Spurs, who lost their third straight. Keldon Johnson added 19 points, Rudy Gay had 18 and Gorgui Dieng 17.
The Spurs were without four starters as Dejounte Murray and Derrick White missed the game due to injuries and DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl sat out for rest.
San Antonio tied the game at 102 on Gay&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 2:37 remaining in regulation. The Sixers reclaimed the lead on the ensuing possession with a 3-pointer by Curry only to watch Johnson hit another game-tying 3.
Embiid and Johnson muscled their way into the lane to keep the game tied at 107 with 1:03 remaining. After Matisse Thybulle blocked Patty Mills&rsquo; 3-point attempt, Embiid missed a fade-away jumper from 15 feet to send the game to overtime.
Both teams struggled offensively in overtime, combining to score just nine points on 3-for-11 shooting.
San Antonio employed a zone defense early to counter a stronger Philadelphia starting lineup, but Embiid ruined that strategy. The Sixers&rsquo; wings found holes in the zone and either passed to Embiid or the 76ers center gathered and followed up a missed shot. Embiid had 13 points in the first quarter, including 12 in the paint.
Philadelphia&rsquo;s reserves added to the advantage, building a 17-point lead behind Howard and former Spurs guard George Hill.
Hill finished with five points in 19 minutes.
Both teams were playing the opener of a back-to-back with the Spurs traveling to face the Utah Jazz on Monday while the 76ers play at Chicago.
IN THE MOMENT
Sunday&rsquo;s game in San Antonio was the start of five games in seven days for Philadelphia.
Even though the Spurs were missing four starters, Sixers coach Doc Rivers chose not to rest anyone. He was asked what factors into his decision to rest players and if the standings play a part.
&ldquo;Just our health,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;We want to keep guys healthy at the end of the day. We want to win games. We want to get them the proper amount of rest. We obviously have a plan on what we want to do, and so we&rsquo;ll follow it. We&rsquo;re not going to look at the standings or anything like that to decide what we&rsquo;re going to do; I can say that.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
76ers: Former Spurs guard Danny Green received a warm welcome from the limited capacity crowd. Green spent eight seasons with San Antonio beginning in 2011 before being traded to Toronto in 2018 along with Kawhi Leonard for DeRozan and Poeltl. &hellip; The Sixers had no injuries to report. &hellip; Howard had three blocks, including a pair in the first quarter were the Spurs essentially ran into his outstretched arms.
Spurs: Murray missed the game with a sore left knee. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was asked if the issue was minor, Popovich said &ldquo;I hope so and I think so.&rdquo; &hellip; Tre Jones made his first career start in his 30th appearance as a rookie. Jones entered averaging 1.9 points and 0.7 assists in 5.4 minutes per game.
UP NEXT
76ers: At the Chicago Bulls on Monday.
Spurs: At the Utah Jazz on Monday.

Ben Simmons tipped in the game-winner off a miss from Embiid as time expired. Embiid had four points in overtime.

Embiid, Sixers escape short-handed Spurs in OT with Simmons' game-winner

Referring to a contract as a "bargain" is saying that a player's talent overwhelmingly exceeds what they are paid. When you look around the NBA, plenty of these value deals exist, especially in the realm of rookie-scale contracts. But outside of that, there are teams that have gotten the best bang for their buck with the players they've signed.
Since a lot of the noise tends to be around the bigger contracts, BasketballNews.com wanted to take a different spin and look at some of the deals that teams were smart to negotiate, so we asked our staff:
 Which NBA contract is the biggest bargain?
Alex Kennedy: Back in 2019, Caris LeVert signed a three-year, $52.5 million extension with the Brooklyn Nets. That&rsquo;s why he's earning just $16,203,704 this season, despite being one of the league&rsquo;s rising stars. Eric Bledsoe, Ricky Rubio and Gorgui Dieng are some of the players who earned more than LeVert this season. Now, as our Spencer Davies noted, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-indiana-pacers-caris-levert-has-not-lost-a-single-step-after-surgery-domantas-sabonis-malcolm-brogdon-edmond-sumner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeVert is producing at a high level</a> (averaging 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.4 steals, 1.3 blocks this month) for the Indiana Pacers, who have to be thrilled about January&rsquo;s trade.
Spencer Davies: There are too many obvious rookie-scale players that come to mind for this topic, so let&rsquo;s stick to players with contracts that don&rsquo;t fall under that criteria. Even though he falls under a similar age group, Luguentz Dort went undrafted in 2019 and signed a two-way contract that summer with the Oklahoma City Thunder. From that point on, the burly guard shot up the depth chart, earned a four-year standard minimum deal in June 2020 and ended up giving James Harden all he could handle in the first round of last year&rsquo;s playoffs in the bubble. Last offseason, Dort signed a four-year, $5.4 million deal (and it was only partially guaranteed until recently!). He&rsquo;s earning $1,517,981 this season, and he'll make $1,782,621 next year. In 2022-23, he has a team option worth $1,930,681. That&rsquo;s a damn steal for an everyday starter who has made a marked improvement on the offensive side of the floor (did you *see* his career-night Tuesday?) and <a href="https://twitter.com/The_BBall_Index/status/1381766585463885827?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continues to be tasked with the most difficult assignments defensively</a>.
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Nekias Duncan: The easy answer would be someone Luka Doncic or Zion Williamson since they&rsquo;re still on their rookie contracts. That feels like cheating. Instead, I&rsquo;ll go with Julius Randle, an All-NBA caliber player this season while making a shade under $19 million.
Chris Sheridan: Easy. LeBron James. If there was not a salary cap, he would be making $150 million or more. Instead, he makes the max, just like a whole bunch of guys who have NOT been to 10 NBA Finals.
Ethan Fuller: Excluding rookie deals, I would say Jaylen Brown's four-year, $107 million contract is fantastic for the Boston Celtics. We're talking about a third overall draft pick who rapidly ascended the league's hierarchy and became a potential perennial All-Star. Brown's value as a two-way wing and long-term piece is tremendous. Most young players at his stage earn maximum rookie extensions, making this contract quite a bargain.
Mark Gunnels: If we're not including players on their rookie contract, then the obvious answer for me is Duncan Robinson. I mean, we're talking about one of the top five shooters in the world whose base salary is only $1.6 million this season. Unfortunately for the Miami Heat, Robinson is a restricted free agent this summer.
Jonathan Concool: Considering the state of today&rsquo;s NBA contracts, Jordan Clarkson gets my vote. He is making just $11.5 million this year, and he&rsquo;s having a career year with the Jazz. The current favorite to win the Sixth Man of the Year award is currently averaging 17.2 points. 3.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in just over 25 minutes per game. He&rsquo;s the second-leading scorer on the team with the best record in the NBA. Clarkson also leads the league in free-throw shooting percentage (95.5%), which is up from 78.5% last season. Tony Snell, Taurean Prince, Dion Waiters and Trevor Ariza are among the players who are currently making more money than Clarkson.
Who do you think has the NBA's biggest bargain contract? Tweet us your answer <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@basketbllnews</a>!

Which NBA contract is the biggest bargain? The BasketballNews.com staff weighs in.

Roundtable: Which NBA contract is the biggest bargain?

A bunch of really good players got traded to really good teams at the NBA trade deadline, and some of them are doing better than others.&nbsp;
Why is that?
...Dare we quote Allen Iverson?
Chatter around the NBA includes complaints that teams do not have enough time to conduct practices regularly, in part because they spend so much time adhering to COVID protocols and being tested. The condensed schedule doesn't help either.&nbsp;
NBA spokesman Tim Frank said teams have practiced anywhere from 15-to-40 times, declining to be more specific. It varies from team to team.&nbsp;
The Dallas Mavericks have practiced 25 times, spokesman Scott Tomlin said.
When asked how often the team has practice, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said, "Rarely.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Mostly because of the schedule -- 29 some games in 30 or so days is hard," Cuban added. "So any days off are needed rest days... But sometimes you have to force-fit a practice. It's not that we can't. It's just that the physical toll of the schedule and the need for recovery by players make it difficult.&rdquo;
For teams that made midseason moves, it's tougher than ever to get new players acclimated. &nbsp; The Mavs acquired JJ Redick from New Orleans, but he has not yet played for Dallas, who had won five games in a row before dropping a 102-93 decision against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
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The best player in that game was Kelly Olynyk of Houston, who was acquired from Miami and is arguably Stephen Silas&rsquo; best or second-best player these days. Olynyk has averaged 17.4 points on 59.7% shooting since the trade.
But this column is about teams that are either in the playoff picture or in the hunt, so let&rsquo;s start with the best teams (listed by winning percentage), the player(s) they acquired and how things have been going since the March 25 deadline.&nbsp;
UTAH JAZZ (39-13): Acquired Matt Thomas from Toronto for a future second-round pick, but he has only seen spot minutes in four games and has done nothing of note.
PHOENIX SUNS (36-15): Acquired Torrey Craig from Milwaukee for cash, and he has been getting regular rotation minutes off the bench and scored in double figures in three of 11 games. He shot well, but was a minus-10 in 12 minutes in the Suns&rsquo; overtime victory over Utah on Wednesday.
PHILADELPHIA 76ers (35-16): Acquired George Hill from the Thunder and Ignas Brazdeikis from the Knicks. Hill has yet to play because of a thumb injury, but conceivably will help in the playoffs; Brazdeikis was waived Thursday. He played just eight minutes in one total game and missed all three of his shots.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (35-18): Acquired Rajon Rondo from Atlanta for Lou Williams and two second-round picks. Prior to going for 15 points and nine assists (and a plus-24) in 19 minutes against Phoenix last night, he had taken seven shots in two games and made two of them. But he plays that way from time to time every regular season, and then the playoffs come -- and we all know what happens. That&rsquo;s why he is known as &ldquo;Playoff Rondo.&rdquo; Nobody ever had that nickname, not even Robert Horry, so stay tuned.
DENVER NUGGETS (33-18): Acquired Aaron Gordon and Gary Clark from the Magic for Gary Harris, R.J. Hampton and a future first-round pick; landed JaVale McGee from the Cavs for Isaiah Hartenstein and a future second-rounder. The Nuggets have not lost since Gordon arrived, and he has moved into the starting lineup in place of Paul Millsap. He has not been quite as proficient as teammate Michael Porter Jr., but he is shooting nearly 61% from the field while averaging 12.5 points. He was averaging 14.6 points in Orlando on 43.7% shooting. McGee has appeared only briefly in two games. Clark was waived on Thursday following the team's two-way contract signing of Shaq Harrison.
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MILWAUKEE BUCKS (32-18): Acquired P.J. Tucker and Rodions Kurucs from Houston for D.J. Augustin and D.J. Wilson, with some first-round picks and swaps changing hands, too. Tucker played in only three games, making one of four shots, before suffering a strained left calf that has sidelined him since March 24. Kurucs has not played.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (30-21): Acquired Norman Powell from the Portland Trail Blazers for Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood. Powell was playing like the best player on the Raptors for all intents and purposes, and with Portland, he is logging heavy minutes as a starter and had a 32-point game in a loss to the Clippers on Tuesday night. Terry Stotts has a heck of a starting lineup, but in the end, it will all come down to the Blazers&rsquo; defense, as it always does. The Jazz outscored them 40-19 in the third quarter last night.
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CHARLOTTE HORNETS (26-24): The best team that nobody ever talks about (especially given the fact that LaMelo Ball went down) acquired Brad Wanamaker from Golden State for a second-round pick, and the Danny Ainge castoff has been solid (8.2 points, 3.2 assists), if not spectacular as the backup point guard in his 20-plus minutes per game.
ATLANTA HAWKS (27-25): They are 4-1 with former Sixth Man Award winner Lou Williams coming off the bench, and he has shot 60% from three-point range in 24 minutes per game. The Hawks gave up 131 points to the Memphis Grizzlies, which is not the sign of a good defensive team, but Lou was not acquired for his &ldquo;D.&rdquo; And the Grizzlies have been playing well lately.&nbsp;
MIAMI HEAT (27-25): Acquired Victor Oladipo from Houston for Olynyk, Avery Bradley and a pick swap; landed Nemanja Bjelica from Sacramento for Moe Harkless and Chris Silva; picked up Trevor Ariza from Oklahoma City for Meyers Leonard and a second-round pick. The East&rsquo;s most confounding team not named &ldquo;Celtics&rdquo; is 5-3 since the deadline passed, having just beaten the Lakers. Oladipo has shot only 23.5% from three-point range and has contributed relatively little. Now, Oladipo will miss the Heat's four-game road trip due to a right-knee injury. Ariza has moved into the starting lineup and has been hot and cold like a leaky faucet; and Bjelica has played six games, with his best performance coming in a win over the Cavs when he had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
BOSTON CELTICS (26-26): The team that got nothing in return for Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and Al Horford picked up Evan Fournier from Orlando for Jeff Teague and two second-round picks; they also landed Moe Wagner and Luke Kornet from the Bulls for Daniel Theis and Javonte Green. The Celtics sit at seventh in the East. Fournier had an inglorious debut in green, going 0-for-10, but had a couple of very nice games since then, going a combined 11-for-16 from three in his two most recent games. He averaged 3 points in his first two games and 20 points in his next two. Kornet has proven serviceable, and Wagner has started in a game.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS (24-25): Acquired an injured Marquese Chriss from Golden State, presumably so that somebody down the line could replace LaMarcus Aldridge (who eventually was bought out and signed with the Nets). This sinking ship has lost four in a row, including a 24-point defeat at the hands of the JuggerCavs; Chriss was released to make room for Gorgui Dieng, who they signed off the buyout market.&nbsp;
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CHICAGO BULLS (22-28): Acquired Nikola Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and a pair of first-round picks; landed Daniel Theis, Javonte Green and Troy Brown Jr. from Boston and Washington in a three-team trade. These moves made Billy Donovan the winner of the &ldquo;Figure It Out On The Fly&rdquo; award. Vucevic, an All-Star, has adapted quickly, going for 32 points and 17 rebounds against the Pacers on Tuesday; Aminu and Green have not been rotation players. Theis was okay before going for 14 points and 10 rebounds on Thursday, and Brown has come off the bench and provided depth as a defense-first, playmaking forward. Arturas Karnisovas perhaps earned the &ldquo;Executive of the Year&rdquo; award for getting Vucevic, who will be the best player on the court in every play-in game he participates in.&nbsp;
Donovan will eventually have to acclimate the new Bulls with the old Bulls through practice, and it&rsquo;ll be up to him how to make that happen.
Yes, Mr. Iverson, we are talkin&rsquo; about practice. NBA teams are averaging about 1.8 practices per week this year. Last year (pre-bubble), it was 1.9, and the year before it was 2.0.
Practice makes perfect, and nobody in the NBA is unbeaten. But somebody is going to emerge as a champion by the end of the season, and how to get there is every team&rsquo;s ongoing challenge.

Chris Sheridan checks in on the players who were dealt at the NBA trade deadline and how they've performed with their new teams.

How recently-traded players on good teams are faring

It&rsquo;s been a busy weekend for bought-out big men.
LaMarcus Aldridge, former member of House Spur, is heading to the Brooklyn Nets to bolster their frontcourt depth. Former Grizzlies center Gorgui Dieng is effectively replacing Aldridge, taking his floor-spacing talents to the San Antonio Spurs. 
The domino we were waiting on was Andre Drummond. The former All-Star was excommunicated from the Cleveland Cavaliers following their acquisition of Jarrett Allen as part of the James Harden trade. It was odd to have 17 &amp; 13 just chilling on the bench; it was even more odd, on the surface at least, to have 17 &amp; 13 hit the waiver wire following a buyout.
Sure enough, Drummond is on his way back to work, electing to join the down-but-dangerous Los Angeles Lakers per ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski. Drummond is now part of a big man rotation featuring Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell. Let&rsquo;s examine how Drummond fits into their plans.
HALF-COURT USAGE
Let&rsquo;s get this out of the way: the intrigue of Drummond isn&rsquo;t -- and shouldn&rsquo;t -- be due to his scoring repertoire. Here is how Drummond has ranked in terms of post-up efficiency in his career, per Synergy:&nbsp;
2012-13: 6th percentile (worse than 94 percent of players) 2013-14: 23rd percentile 2014-15: 23rd percentile 2015-16: 27th percentile 2016-17: 19th percentile 2017-18: 40th percentile 2018-19: 29th percentile 2019-20: 49th percentile (49 games with Detroit before being traded to Cleveland), 85th percentile (eight games in Cleveland) 2020-21: 31st percentile
One season across two teams with a 57-game sample is all the evidence we have of &ldquo;maybe Drummond can do stuff in the post.&rdquo; He&rsquo;s fared much better as a roll man, though you&rsquo;d have to go back to the 2014-15 season to find an elite number (1.18 PPP, 88th percentile).&nbsp;
What do those fancy-schmancy numbers mean? In short, he can&rsquo;t be looked to as a focal point, nor is he an elite play finisher. He hasn&rsquo;t played in ideal situations -- the spacing and dynamic ball-handling around him has been scarce, to be kind -- so he probably isn&rsquo;t as bad as those numbers suggest. The kicker: the Lakers don&rsquo;t have great spacing or dynamic ball-handling either.&nbsp;
If you&rsquo;re expecting Drummond to look like the All-Star version of himself, you may need to temper your expectations.
Of course, the Lakers don&rsquo;t need him to be the All-Star version of himself. They just need him to be useful. There are pretty simple pathways to get to &ldquo;useful&rdquo; within their scheme.
It starts with inverting the offense a bit. Drummond brings some value as a handoff threat. He isn&rsquo;t a great screener, but has a margin for error due to how freakin&rsquo; massive he is. The Lakers run Chicago action -- a pindown that flows into a handoff -- just like every other team in the league. Drummond should slot in easily as the trigger man in those actions:
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Pitching it to him in early offense situations may be the best way to highlight the passing. The Lakers desperately need to inject some energy and randomness into their attack. It helps that he has the passing chops to find cutters; Dennis Schroder and Alex Caruso in particular are good at wrong-footing defenders, or simply catching them off guard with hard cuts.
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I would imagine the Lakers are going to experiment with Double AD lineups whenever Anthony Davis is back. You can expect them to hook up with high-lows, either with Davis slicing to the rim off cross screens, or more delicate actions flowing out of a HORNS alignment.
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Post-split action is available to Drummond because of the passing ability, but I wouldn&rsquo;t expect the Lakers to go to that well often. Again, the Lakers don&rsquo;t necessarily space the floor at a high level. An alternative may be pitching it to Drummond to the elbow with an empty side, and letting a guard scamper around him. The Cavs were able to get a few cheapies that way with Drummond finding Darius Garland or Collin Sexton.
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TOGGLING BETWEEN COVERAGES
The Lakers are a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/rotation-roulette-how-the-lakers-shut-down-offenses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pretty versatile group defensively</a>, able to flip between coverages on a whim based on the personnel they&rsquo;re facing. Playing against pull-up threats? The guards can fight over screens, and the bigs can &ldquo;catch&rdquo; the handle by playing a little higher up. They can switch actions on or off the ball to take away advantages. The backline help is timely, and they&rsquo;re able to &ldquo;scram&rdquo; their way out of mismatches when they happen.
Where does this leave Drummond? Frankly, I don&rsquo;t know. Going through his film, he&rsquo;s an interesting case study for the intersection of IQ, ability and effort on defense. They all matter of course, but how that pie is sliced changes by the player.
Drummond generally knows where to be, which is probably the most encouraging part of his profile. When operating in drop, he has a decent enough feel for where he should be in the gap. When playing higher up, he knows what angle he&rsquo;s supposed to take so the ball handler isn&rsquo;t able to completely turn the corner.
In terms of ability, it&rsquo;s hard to gauge. Drummond has incredible hands; he&rsquo;s typically atop the leaderboard for deflections and steals among bigs. He&rsquo;s flirted with two-block-per-game seasons a few times in his career because of his length. But there are obvious limitations to his lateral quickness, and he has a lack of vertical pop that keeps him out of the upper echelon of interior defenders.
He can survive against average -- the tools and general understanding don&rsquo;t let him fail that often.
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Bump the talent level up a notch, and those physical limitations can shine through.
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The margins are small. A little more room to navigate, the pass is a little bit higher and a deflection turns into a dunk. What complicates things beyond a scheme or talent level is the energy. From Detroit to Cleveland, we&rsquo;ve never really known which version of Drummond was going to show up. Is this Bad &lsquo;Dre, or I Don&rsquo;t Care &lsquo;Dre?&nbsp;
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It looks like the latter, and the bet -- a safe bet, in my opinion -- is that the Lakers won&rsquo;t have to worry about that version showing up since he&rsquo;s playing for a title and a new contract.&nbsp;
The other positive is that Drummond will be surrounded by the best defensive personnel of his career. Not being able to flip his hips after a hedge may not matter as much with LeBron James or Davis behind you for clean-up duty.
Ultimately, an engaged Drummond should be able to add to the center room on both ends. Invert the offense with high-post passing, clean the glass and hold water defensively. The lack of scoring equity and space navigation on defense limit his ceiling, but the Lakers can live with that.
He won&rsquo;t pull the Lakers across the finish line, but he can help them along the way.

Nekias Duncan digs into the best way the Lakers can utilize Andre Drummond's skill set on both ends.

How will the Lakers use Andre Drummond?

Gorgui Dieng intends to sign with the San Antonio Spurs once the center clears waivers.
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/1376191468608573440" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marc Stein/The New York Times</a>
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;Stein adds, "Since securing his release from Memphis, Dieng has been pursued by the Knicks, Suns, Clippers, Sixers, Raptors, Heat and Nets in addition to the Spurs, sources say." Dieng played 22 games as a bench center for the Grizzlies this season, averaging 7.9 points and 4.5 rebounds. He also is shooting a career-high 47.9 percent from long range.
According to Shams Charania, the Spurs will release Marquese Chriss, who they recently acquired at the trade deadline, to make room for Dieng.

Dieng was shooting over 47 percent on threes with the Grizzlies this season.

Gorgui Dieng intends to sign with San Antonio Spurs

While the NBA&rsquo;s trade deadline is one of the busiest days of the year, there are plenty of names that are talked about, but ultimately don&rsquo;t end up being traded. That doesn&rsquo;t mean that the player movement is done for the year. In fact, this year may see bigger names bought out and signed than you see them traded.
The buyout market often brings more hope than it does productivity. The last player to receive a buyout and then play over 100 minutes in the playoffs for a team that won a championship was Peja Stojakovic for the Dallas Mavericks all the way back in 2011. More often than not, this type of move isn&rsquo;t made for a difference-maker. But this is as abnormal of a season as we&rsquo;ve seen in the NBA, so this very well may be the year that things change.
Below are some of the players that could end up in the buyout market after the dust settles.
Andre Drummond, Center - Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers have been shopping Drummond ever since the team jumped in and acquired Jarett Allen from Brooklyn as part of the James Harden deal. The issue with shopping Drummond on the trade market was that few teams had the ability to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-deadline-rumors-houston-rockets-orlando-magic-victor-oladipo-aaron-gordon-evan-fournier-andre-drummond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">absorb his cap hit of nearly $30 million</a>. He hasn&rsquo;t played for Cleveland since the beginning of February and will be recieving a buyout. Signs seem to indicate him heading to the Los Angeles Lakers, although the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks also may have interest.
LaMarcus Aldridge, Power Forward - San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs very rarely make trades during the season, and despite publicly announcing earlier this month that the organization had agreed to part ways with Aldridge, no team traded for him and he will be bought out by the Spurs. While Aldridge isn&rsquo;t the player he once was, he still is a player that can help a winning team make a push in the playoffs. His numbers this year are the lowest since his rookie year in the NBA, but never underestimate what a change of scenery can do for a player with a desire to win. The Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns are two teams to watch here, and it&rsquo;s worth noting he did take meetings with both franchises prior to signing with the Spurs in 2015.
Austin Rivers, Guard - New York Knicks
When the New York Knicks traded for Derrick Rose earlier this season, it made Austin Rivers a very expendable player -- and one who likely won&rsquo;t finish the season in New York. If he&rsquo;s bought out, he&rsquo;s capable of providing a scoring punch off the bench for a team that needs it. The Milwaukee Bucks could be a relatively intriguing fit. Rivers was dealt to the Thunder as part of a trade that saw George Hill end up in Philadelphia, but still could be bought out.
Hassan Whiteside, Center - Sacramento Kings
Ever since signing a max deal with the Heat a few years back, Whiteside has been a bit of an afterthought in the NBA. Now, he&rsquo;s in Sacramento and not seeing the floor too often. He&rsquo;s played in 27 games off the bench for the Kings, averaging just 14.7 minutes per game. Maybe he can be an end of the bench &ldquo;break glass in case of emergency&rdquo; big man on a team that has a roster spot available.
Gorgui Dieng, Center - Memphis Grizzlies
Dieng isn&rsquo;t going to change the equation for a team that&rsquo;s vying for a championship, but he can add a bit of frontcourt depth to a team that needs it. Dieng isn&rsquo;t very mobile, but has a reliable jumper and can protect the rim at a passable level. He&rsquo;s also a good fit in almost any locker room.
Ben McLemore, Guard - Houston Rockets
The Rockets parting ways with McLemore could mean that a contender adds a depth piece in their backcourt. While McLemore hasn&rsquo;t had a great year in Houston this is a situation that could change with a new change of scenery, or serve as an insurance policy for a team with higher-end guards.
Jeff Teague, Guard - Orlando Magic
Teague was part of the trade that sent Evan Fournier to the Boston Celtics on Thursday, and was told that he will be waived and hit the open market, according to <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshuaBRobbins/status/1375168932802404354?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic</a>. Teague hasn't been very effective this season in Boston, and didn't have a great year last year between Minnesota and Atlanta. It could, however, make some sense for him to head back to the Hawks after Rajon Rondo was traded away for Lou Williams. He could provide veteran leadership to the franchise that was home to his best days.&nbsp;
Otto Porter Jr., Forward - Orlando Magic
Like Teague, the Magic acquired Porter Jr. on Thursday. Porter Jr. was sent to Orlando with Wendell Carter Jr. and a pair of first-round picks for Nikola Vucevic. It's not a certainty that Porter Jr. is bought out by Orlando, but if he is there will be interest on the open market for him. He could be a wing defender off the bench for a team like Boston, Milwaukee, or Golden State if it does happen, though.&nbsp;
Jabari Parker, Forward - Sacramento Kings
Parker hasn't lived up to the expectations that come along with being the No. 2 overall pick, as he once was. He's been on the Kings this season but has played in just three games and will be released, according to <a href="https://twitter.com/mr_jasonjones/status/1375175829081059328?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic</a>. It's tough to envision Parker making an impact on a contender right now, but he could be the ultimate buy low lottery ticket for a team should he be able to stay healthy and earn playing time.&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Danny Cunningham dives into who could hit the buyout market after this year's NBA trade deadline and where those players could land.

Buyout Watch: Players who may hit free agency following trade deadline

LaVar Ball, the boisterous father of Lonzo and LaMelo Ball, found himself in the news again.
While doing a radio interview with ESPN LA last Thursday, he was asked about Lonzo&rsquo;s play and future in New Orleans. He didn&rsquo;t hold back, <a href="https://lonzowire.usatoday.com/2021/03/18/lavar-ball-lonzo-trade-new-orleans-pelicans-rumors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expressing his displeasure</a> and ultimately stating his hopes for a trade.
To be clear, this was LaVar calling for movement, not Lonzo. But that interview did nothing but add fuel to the trade-rumor fire. Lonzo has been mentioned in the rumor mill for most of the season, and those rumblings have picked up over the past couple of weeks. Most recently, The Ringer&rsquo;s <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinOConnorNBA">Kevin O&rsquo;Connor</a> reported some of the offers the <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/3/21/22343488/nba-trade-deadline-rumors-kyle-lowry-lonzo-ball-john-collins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pelicans have received</a> for the fourth-year guard.
In a vacuum, LaVar&rsquo;s comments should be taken with a grain of salt. He doesn&rsquo;t really speak for his sons, at least not in the way that he wants to. While the &ldquo;I hope he&rsquo;s traded&rdquo; portion of his comments understandably got the most traction in the media, I do think there&rsquo;s another portion of his comments that are worth digging into.
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WHO IS LONZO BALL? 
We know what Lonzo brings on the defensive end. He&rsquo;s able to defend 1-through-3 and can wreak havoc on the weak side of actions due to his feel and length. Offensively, there seems to be a split in thinking.
&ldquo;Lonzo&rsquo;s always been a playmaker,&rdquo; LaVar said during the interview. &ldquo;Why are you trying to change him into a defensive specialist that stays in the corner and shoots threes? And you&rsquo;re trying to change Zion [Williamson] and Brandon Ingram who, all through their careers, have never been playmakers. [They&rsquo;ve always been] scorers! Now you want to put the ball in their hands and be playmakers?&rdquo;&nbsp;
The frustration makes sense on the surface. Lonzo was one of the most electrifying college guards in recent memory, flipping full-court darts, tossing lobs and making advanced reads against shifting defenses. His play style drew comparisons to Jason Kidd, though Kidd himself <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/jason-kidd-not-buying-comparisons-between-lonzo-ball-and-himself" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed back against those</a>.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s... more than fair to say that Ball isn&rsquo;t on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory right now. And there is a reason Lonzo has shifted to more of an off-ball role during his NBA career, and especially in New Orleans.
In order to earn primary initiator reps, you have to bend defenses in some way. You can stress defenses with the threat of deep pull-ups -- think Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, Trae Young. You can stress defenses with constant rim pressure -- think Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Russell Westbrook, De&rsquo;Aaron Fox. The best players in the sport can do both, but you need at least one of those skills to warrant a lead role.&nbsp;
Lonzo hasn&rsquo;t done that to this point of his career. He&rsquo;s averaging 5.8 drives per 36 minutes, according to NBA.com&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*lonzo&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;PerMode=Totals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tracking data</a>, down from his 6.5 average attempts in the same category last season. He&rsquo;s never converted higher than 37.5% of his field goal attempts on drives in a season, which is problematic for obvious reasons.
The threat of the pull-up isn&rsquo;t there yet. Though his percentages have risen over the past couple of seasons -- Lonzo ranks in the 65th percentile in dribble jumpers this season, per Synergy -- teams still largely guard him the same way, ducking under picks and daring him to shoot. It&rsquo;s a positive that he&rsquo;s gotten better at knocking those shots down, but defenses are dictating that shot for him, not the other way around.
Compare that to the growth of his off-ball shooting -- he&rsquo;s drilled 38% of his threes on nearly seven attempts over the past two seasons -- and it&rsquo;s easy to see why a secondary role makes sense for him. When you have rim threats like Zion and Ingram forcing rotations, Lonzo is able to feast on easier catch-and-shoot looks or &ldquo;one-more&rdquo; passes.
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At this point, Lonzo is more of a play connector or finisher (on the perimeter) than he is an initiator. That makes him a great fit alongside the Pelicans&rsquo; franchise pillars, but it&rsquo;s understandable for them to be a bit squeamish about paying him north of $20 million per year. Any team looking to pry Lonzo out of New Orleans will need to be willing to shell out that kind of dough, but also have a true primary guy on the roster to fully maximize what Lonzo can do.
WHO COULD USE HIM?
Per <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/3/21/22343488/nba-trade-deadline-rumors-kyle-lowry-lonzo-ball-john-collins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O&rsquo;Connor&rsquo;s report</a>, the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks have sent in offers. Both teams have a dynamic lead guard (Zach LaVine, Trae Young) that Lonzo could play off of. There are other teams that could, or at least should, toss their hats into the ring too.
The Memphis Grizzlies have the picks and young players needed to make a real run at Lonzo, though they&rsquo;d have to think pretty hard about the contract this offseason. Still, it&rsquo;s fun to imagine what a Ja Morant-Lonzo backcourt would look like. Something like De&rsquo;Anthony Melton, Gorgui Dieng (who is available, per O&rsquo;Connor), and the 2021 first-round pick they received from Utah could be a package worth building on in order to land Lonzo and JJ Redick for a playoff push.
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The Miami Heat have been linked to guards all year long. They were in the hunt for James Harden, though the seriousness of those talks has been debated. They&rsquo;ve been linked to Victor Oladipo for what feels like two years now. They&rsquo;re currently in talks with the Raptors for Kyle Lowry; heck, Yahoo&rsquo;s Chris Haynes recently reported that they could be a landing spot for Spencer Dinwiddie.
It&rsquo;s clear the Heat want to add to their guard room to complement the Jimmy Butler-Bam Adebayo duo. Why not aim for Lonzo, someone who can shoot, make quick decisions and give them more &ldquo;oomph&rdquo; at the point of attack defensively? A package headlined by Duncan Robinson, one of the NBA&rsquo;s best shooters, could be of intrigue. The Pelicans have already experimented with inverted pick-and-rolls with Zion and JJ Redick; swapping out the older (and likely to be gone at some point) Redick with Robinson would be a solid long-term play.
The Knicks have two players in Julius Randle and RJ Barrett that make their living at the rim. What the Knicks don&rsquo;t have is a multitude of spacers; Lonzo could be a fit there. They&rsquo;re also equipped with cap space to absorb Lonzo into, as well as plenty of pick capital. Tossing in one or both of the Dallas first-rounders from the Kristaps Porzingis trade -- an unprotected 2021 first and a top-10 protected 2023 first (that extends to 2025) -- could be a framework worth exploring.

Nekias Duncan looks at Lonzo Ball's season with the Pelicans to this point and where he could fit if he's traded to another team.

Where does Lonzo Ball go from here? On his development, possible destinations

The NBA trade deadline is now nine days away, and while we can safely assume that all 30 teams want to get better, we must proceed expecting two teams --the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks -- to play big roles in dictating what the market will look like.
There are lots of big men available, and anybody who tells you that Andre Drummond or Hassan Whiteside or JaVale McGee would not make a difference in an Eastern Conference playoff series has not been paying attention. Or as Gregg Popovich would say: &ldquo;Living in a phone booth.&rdquo;
Also, those who assume the Knicks (with $15.7 million in cap space) are not in win-now mode do not understand Tom Thibodeau. The guy is married to a basketball, and he is anxious to do in New York what he was unable to do in Minnesota and, to a lesser degree, in Chicago.
And then we have the Celtics, who are sitting on the largest trade exception ($28.5 million) in NBA history and are worse off that they were a year ago when they made the Eastern Conference Finals. Danny Ainge cannot stand pat and expect to get past the Nets, Sixers, Bucks or Heat.
The rumor mill will be churning between now and March 25, and every contending team in the East will be scheming to make an addition that attacks the weaknesses of Brooklyn and Philadelphia, while every Western team will try to find a way to compete with the three-point shooting of the Utah Jazz and the depth and experience of the Los Angeles Lakers.
So let&rsquo;s go through the league alphabetically and assess each team&rsquo;s needs, expectations and expendables.
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ATLANTA HAWKS: Nate McMillan is 5-0 as head coach, and the most active team in the weeks leading up to training camp remains built (if fully healthy) to advance if all of the pieces can fit together with almost zero practice time. John Collins is entering restricted free agency and is not as productive as he was a year ago, but he makes just $4.1 million. Put him in a deal with Tony Snell, though, and those combined salaries equal $16.3 million, which can get you a nice player.
BOSTON CELTICS: What made them special a year ago was the ability to get offensive production from three All-Star caliber starters: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward. But Hayward is gone, Enes Kanter is doing big things in Portland (remember how he was a game-changer for Boston in the postseason a year ago?) and Kemba Walker is shooting 38% in his 10th season. Standing pat is not an option.
BROOKLYN NETS: At some point they will need a third center to join DeAndre Jordan and Nicolas Claxton, but the buyout market or the China market (the CBA season ends before the NBA playoffs) may be the easiest way for Sean Marks to add an extra big body if they cannot get a big man whose contract fits into their $5.7 million disabled player exception. Spencer Dinwiddie is the only superfluous player on the roster, but he is out for the remainder of the season, and the Nets have no future draft picks to throw into a deal. They used them all in the Harden trade.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS: Michael Jordan&rsquo;s team is 100-1 to win the East despite having the lock for Rookie of the Year, a four-game winning streak and a roster chock full of young and hungry players who, for the most part, lack postseason experience. At a certain point, they have to realize they could have done better than Cody Zeller ($15.4 million) with the fourth pick of the 2013 draft. It might be time to sacrifice a future first-round pick or two to upgrade at center. Malik Monk has been playing well lately, otherwise, we would predict his imminent departure. The Hornets have an open roster spot and $4 million in cap room.
CHICAGO BULLS: It would be delusional of them to think they can advance beyond the first-round of the playoffs, which is why they have to consider getting a good young player from a contender in exchange for Thaddeus Young ($13.5 million), who is the leading candidate to finish a distant second to Jordan Clarkson in Sixth Man of the Year voting. &nbsp;Tomas Satoransky ($10 million this year and next year) is 29 years old and could be combined with Young to bring in a good young player. Here is an idea:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Who says no? <a href="https://t.co/Pc61DX8jQV">pic.twitter.com/Pc61DX8jQV</a>
&mdash; Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/sheridanhoops/status/1371826941804883973?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

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CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: Aside from the inevitable Drummond and McGee moves (best offers arrive at 2:59 p.m. on deadline day), Koby Altman will probably keep quiet after acquiring Jarrett Allen from the Nets and sending Kevin Porter Jr. to the Rockets. Kevin Love is going to be dead money for two more seasons and Cedi Osman is looking like he will be in the same category, though not quite as expensive. It&rsquo;ll be a long road back.
DALLAS MAVERICKS: They should be better than their record (20-18), but the West is tough. Dwight Powell ($11 million this season and the next two) is not worth what he is being paid and could be packaged with more future No. 1 picks (the Mavs can&rsquo;t trade their own first-round draft pick until 2025 because they owe the Knicks their 2021 and 2023 picks), if mortgaging the future is something Mark Cuban is cool with. Powell and James Johnson for Drummond works cap-wise.
DENVER NUGGETS: A rumor is out there that the Nuggets have spoken to the Magic about acquiring Aaron Gordon, and the price would include Bol Bol. They currently do not look like they have enough to come out of the West, and JaMychal Green has not been an adequate replacement for Jerami Grant. To a lesser degree than Boston, standing pat does not seem like the most prudent option. They have a $9.6 million trade exception, so expect them to make some sort of acquisition that improves the roster. They are one player away from being one player away.
DETROIT PISTONS: Troy Weaver might have already made his &ldquo;deadline deal&rdquo; in getting Hamidou Diallo from the Thunder. Wayne Ellington is superfluous, and one would think teams might like a 14-year veteran who shot 42% from three-point range with a manageable $1.6 million salary&hellip; But the Knicks couldn&rsquo;t find a taker for him a year ago.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: Limbo sucks, but Klay Thompson will be back next season. In the meantime, the best they can do is hope that the Wolves&rsquo; pick is not top three and they can get another high lottery pick to put next to James Wiseman for the years ahead. Kelly Oubre Jr., Kent Bazemore, Brad Wanamaker and Marquese Chriss are all on expiring contracts. Their combined salaries total $20.6 million. The Warriors can acquire a player into Thompson&rsquo;s $9.25 million disabled player exception.
HOUSTON ROCKETS: We are seeing a flurry of Victor Oladipo trade rumors, which is strange because he was the biggest piece they got in the Harden trade. If they are disappointed in him (and his expiring $21 million contract) they must not have been watching Pacers playoffs games the past few seasons. Kevin Porter Jr. was a nice pickup, and Rafael Stone is probably on the hunt for another player who has worn out his welcome for non-basketball reasons. P.J. Tucker is headed somewhere. Dante Exum (expiring $9.6 million contract) didn&rsquo;t quite work out for a fifth overall pick, eh?
INDIANA PACERS: Acquiring Caris LaVert for Oladipo as part of the Harden trade will go in Kevin Pritchard&rsquo;s trophy case, so the question now becomes &ldquo;What next?&rdquo; aside from waiting for T.J. Warren&rsquo;s broken foot to heal. They are in 10th place, which wasn&rsquo;t exactly what they had in mind for this season. Still, Indiana has a nice mix of players in their mid-to-late 20s. Doug McDermott (expiring $7.3 million) and T.J. McConnell (expiring $3.5 million) could be a useful shooter and pest duo for a playoff team willing to give up a draft pick and a matching expiring salary. Indiana is probably better off keeping both and rolling the dice in the play-in postseason.
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LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: They have everything they need except the Lou Williams they had gotten used to over the past three seasons. His scoring average is down almost six points. Serge Ibaka (scoring average down 4.5 points) is showing his age at 31 and has a 15% trade kicker. Both still have plenty of playoff experience, but Jerry West likes to make trades when he can find the right ones. The Clippers are an interesting team to watch at the deadline because they have an open roster spot, but they are also within a $500,000 of the hard cap, which limits their options.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS: They need nothing except for Anthony Davis to be healthy, so the Lakers are the winner of the &ldquo;Most Unlikely To Make A Trade&rdquo; award. They are option No. 1 for pretty much everybody getting a buyout after the deadline.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: More than a year later, we are still trying to figure out the Justise Winslow acquisition. Taylor Jenkins&rsquo; rotation goes 10 deep, not including the team&rsquo;s highest-paid player in Gorgui Dieng -- $17.2 million. They are young and they are not a good team, yet they are still in contention for a play-in spot, so that incentivizes them to get creative.
MIAMI HEAT: The rule of thumb used to be &ldquo;Pat Riley hates making midseason trades,&rdquo; but he went out and got Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder last season and built an NBA Finals team. So you would think they would be predisposed to tinker despite their recent run of 11 victories in 12 games. Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million) and Moe Harkless ($3.6 million) are on expiring deals, and Avery Bradley is gathering dust. They can take on long-term money if the incoming player is worthy of it, but that would likely involve trading a starter (Olynyk). They also have a $7.5 million trade exception but owe Oklahoma City two first-round picks.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS: Veteran Bucks writer <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-sheridan-show/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-16-gery-woelfel-on-milwaukee-bucks-chances,-possible-trade,-other-east-contender">Gery Woelful said on my most recent podcast</a> that he fully expects the Bucks to try to find an upgrade from Donte DiVincenzo at shooting guard. The salaries of DiVincenzo and D.J. Wilson add up to $7.5 million, and it is hard to see Jon Horst moving anyone else on this roster. They are not last year&rsquo;s Bucks, but they theoretically have enough to get to the NBA Finals. They are very close to the hard cap and cannot trade any more picks after using so many in the Jrue Holiday acquisition.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: The team is for sale, so do not expect Gersson Rosas to take on any long-term money. They have already changed coaches, and they have nothing anybody would want except for Karl Anthony-Towns, who isn&rsquo;t going anywhere. Okay, they have Ed Davis, who may be somebody&rsquo;s consolation prize as contending teams search for bigs. Nominations for the Dumpster Fire Award are now closed.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are not available. You can safely assume that everyone else is, and David Griffin does not need to hold anybody else up because he already did that to Horst. This was not supposed to be a throwaway season, but it is. The Pelicans would like to get J.J. Redick closer to his family, who live in Brooklyn. Exactly how close? Well, when Redick played for the Sixers, he commuted to Philadelphia. So &ldquo;close&rdquo; is a relative term. Boston is drivable from Brooklyn.
NEW YORK KNICKS: As mentioned above, they are the team to watch most closely. They can take on long-term money if the incoming player is someone who can tolerate Thibodeau&rsquo;s coaching style, and they would bring in a player on an expiring contract if they believed that player&rsquo;s Bird rights would be of value over the summer. Leon Rose is one year away from having a top-three team in the East if he plays his cards right a week from Thursday.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: Sam Presti likely has George Hill, Trevor Ariza and Mike Muscala available to the highest bidders. Hill was an important piece of the Bucks last season and could help a playoff team needing a bench shooter and veteran voice in the locker room. At a certain point, Presti is going to have to package together some of the 20 extra first and second-round picks he has accumulated through trades, but that point is probably a couple of years away as the rebuild runs its course. Important: If Houston&rsquo;s pick is in the top four, the Thunder get it. Also, Presti has three trade exceptions; the largest is $27.6 million.
ORLANDO MAGIC:&nbsp; Aaron Gordon trade rumors are everywhere, which makes sense because the time to cash in on their seven-year investment is now. They need to get younger and acquire assets to build around Markelle Fultz, Nikola Vucevic and Jonathan Isaac. Their ceiling should not be the kind of first-round exits they have been producing the past two seasons, and they have not won a single playoff series since 2009-10. So, it would be shocking to see them keep Gordon, who is only 25 years old and can bring a lot in return. Gordon is a good guy who needs a change of scenery and deserves one. Same goes for Evan Fournier.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: They wanted James Harden and did not get him, and Doc Rivers still somehow kept Ben Simmons committed to the team. That is pretty huge, because players who know they have been shopped usually resent it. They are in first place in the East and have a roster with the proper pieces to match up with Brooklyn. Mike Scott&rsquo;s expiring $5 million deal and the Knicks&rsquo; 2021 second-round pick are Elton Brand&rsquo;s most movable trade assets, but Scott has been playing well lately. Terrence Ferguson, Vincent Poirier and Tony Bradley are on expiring contracts but would bring little in return.
PHOENIX SUNS: Acquiring Chris Paul checked the &ldquo;monster trade&rdquo; box, and the NBA&rsquo;s most overachieving team will likely abide by the &ldquo;If It Ain&rsquo;t Broke, Don&rsquo;t Fix It&rdquo; rule. That being said, if an on-the-ball defender capable of defending LeBron James is out there somewhere, you kick the tires on just about anything that does not include Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton and Chris Paul. Ariza would seem to be a fit.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: Like Dallas, they should be better than their record&hellip; and would be if C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic had not gotten injured. At full strength, they are going to be a tough out in the postseason. Gary Trent Jr. is on an expiring contract and they may fear losing him, so keep that in mind with these guys. They are sleepers.
SACRAMENTO KINGS: What they can get for Whiteside will be interesting to see, because he was killing it for the Blazers last season. Then, Nurkic returned in the bubble. Whiteside does not exactly have the best reputation around the league, which is why he played in Lebanon and China before resurrecting his career. There are also a lot of Harrison Barnes rumors out there, and like the Magic and Gordon, it may be time for the Kings to cash in on the three-year investment they made in Barnes after acquiring him from Dallas. He makes $22.2 million. Does Nemanja Bjelica have any value? Same question has to be asked of Jabari Parker.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS: The LaMarcus Aldridge era is in its final days, and you have to wonder if the Patty Mills era is, too. Derrick White is signed long-term and Dejounte Murray is damn good. The expiring contracts of Aldridge and Mills add up to $37.2 million, and if you include Rudy Gay&rsquo;s expiring deal that number becomes $51.2 million. They are 20-16, yet, as currently constituted, not good enough to do much in the postseason. R.C. Buford wins the award for the league executive most overdue to make a trade.
TORONTO RAPTORS: The name that is out there now is Kyle Lowry, who has spent nine seasons of his 16-year career playing for the team that now calls Tampa its home. Having lost five in a row and sitting in 11th place in the Leastern Conference, Masai Ujiri must determine whether it is time to turn Lowry&rsquo;s expiring $30.5 million contract into something of value. At 35 years old, Lowry can still play and, percentage wise, is hitting threes, twos and free throws better than he has over the past four seasons. But this would not be a giveaway, and a sign-and-trade in the offseason is still possible.
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UTAH JAZZ: Like Phoenix, the &ldquo;If It Ain&rsquo;t Broke , Don&rsquo;t Dix It&rdquo; rule applies. They are in first place in the West, are making threes better than anybody and have Rudy Gobert finding new and incredible ways to never, ever be mentioned in the MVP debate. None of their nine rotation players is going anywhere, and no one else on the roster has either a big contract or much trade value. Still, someone on the team could be a giveaway because the Jazz are $1.9 million over the luxury tax line. They have already traded five of their next seven second-round picks (they don&rsquo;t have one until 2025).
WASHINGTON WIZARDS: You&rsquo;ve got to feel bad for Tommy Sheppard, one of the best guys and better GMs in the league -- he was able to turn John Wall into Russell Westbrook but then lost Thomas Bryant and had his team put on ice because of COVID issues. They are now playing the busiest second-half schedule of any Eastern Conference team, and they theoretically have a puncher&rsquo;s chance against practically anyone in the conference if Westbrook keeps triple-doubling (he leads the league with 11). But they have lost four in a row and rank 12th. Robin Lopez and his expiring $7.3 million contract is their best trade asset. If they combined Lopez with Ish Smith&rsquo;s expiring contract, that totals $13.3 million.

With one week before the NBA's trade deadline, Chris Sheridan previews what could be in store for all 30 of the league's teams.

What to expect from all 30 NBA teams ahead of the Trade Deadline

Things are kinda weird in Atlanta.
The Hawks currently sit with a 12-17 record, a big improvement from last season (.414 win percentage compared to .299) but one that leaves them just outside of the play-in. The growth should be viewed as a positive, but it feels a little underwhelming based on the offseason they had.
There was a clear emphasis on adding talent for a playoff push: that would help explain the several million dollars spent to bring in Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic and others. Using free-agent dollars and draft capital to juice the roster wasn&rsquo;t a surprise, but where those resources were allocated was a bit odd.&nbsp;
Atlanta&rsquo;s biggest free-agent addition (Gallinari) and prized draft pick (Onyeka Okongwu) profile as 4s right now; that just happens to be where John Collins, arguably Atlanta&rsquo;s second-best player, plays most of his minutes. With Collins up for an extension in the preseason and set to hit restricted free agency this summer, it was fair to question what those moves meant for his future.
Sure enough, Collins and the Hawks failed to agree to an extension. Two reporters from The Athletic have recently tag-teamed on reports about Collins&rsquo; future. Sam Amick reported that the Hawks were <a href="https://theathletic.com/2383620/2021/02/12/nba-trade-news-rumors-nuggets-hawks-kings/?source=emp_shared_article">willing to listen to trade offers</a> for Collins, while Shams Charania <a href="https://theathletic.com/2387459/2021/02/15/nba-trade-news-andre-drummond-to-raptors-coming-lonzo-ball-interest-and-more/">gave insight</a> on the potential asking price: a lottery-level first-round pick.
None of that means a Collins deal is imminent. It does mean the Hawks have seriously thought about -- and may end up accepting -- a long-term future without Collins on the roster.
Let&rsquo;s take a look at potential in-season trade partners, as well as teams that could use Collins&rsquo; services if he hits free agency.
Note: All trades were checked/completed on <a href="https://tradenba.com/">tradenba.com</a>, while salary figures were checked from <a href="https://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/261138/2021-NBA-Cap-Space-Projecting-All-30-Teams">realgm.com</a>.
TRADE PARTNERS
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies have one of the best young cores in the NBA, headlined by star-in-the-making Ja Morant. They&rsquo;ve mostly overachieved this season within the context of their injuries: Morant has missed a chunk of games, while Jaren Jackson Jr. has yet to play this season. Despite this, the Grizzlies are 13-13 and are firmly in the play-in mix.
They&rsquo;re not at a point in their rebuild where consolidating parts of their core for a superstar makes sense. It&rsquo;s why you didn&rsquo;t hear anything about the Grizzlies being in the mix for James Harden, and why you&rsquo;ve heard nothing on the Bradley Beal front either.
A tier below? Adding to the young core? That&rsquo;s more palatable, and why a swing for Collins could make sense.
Starter Offer: Gorgui Dieng, Jon Konchar, 2021 first-round pick via Utah (protected 1-7, 15-30 this season, 1-6 in 2022, 1-3 in 2023), 2023 first-round pick (top-10 protected)
The first via Utah will likely convey in 2022. It&rsquo;s fair to say, barring injuries, the Jazz won&rsquo;t be in the lottery that year either. That falls below the reported asking price of a lottery-level first, which is why the Grizzlies may be inclined to include a protected first of their own.
Dieng is very quietly -- too quietly, honestly -- a very good backup big. His ability to space the floor makes him an ideal partner alongside Okongwu on the second unit. Konchar can do a little bit of everything: shoot, keep the chain moving as a passer and cut, while being sound rotationally on the defensive end. There&rsquo;s a quality wing -- a fifth starter on a good team -- in there if he gets the reps.
Final Offer: Brandon Clarke, Justise Winslow, 2021 first-round pick via Utah (protected 1-7, 15-30 this season, 1-6 in 2022, 1-3 in 2023)
If the Hawks can&rsquo;t get a lottery-level first, getting a lottery-level talent who&rsquo;s still on his rookie deal seems like a fair consolation prize. Clarke has regressed some as a shooter; I&rsquo;m not quite sure what&rsquo;s going on with his shooting form. He still has fantastic touch on his floater, and he provides value as a roller, screener, off-ball mover, and a smart defender.
The theory of Winslow -- a 6&rsquo;6 playmaking wing who can puncture the rim in PnR, fire darts everywhere, and defend four positions -- is better than the reality right now. His inability to stay healthy is a red flag that he has to shake. But it&rsquo;s hard to talk yourself out of Winslow&rsquo;s talent when he is available. Even in a season debut filled with misses, he gave you flashes of his ability to get downhill and make life tough on the other end.
San Antonio Spurs
Who could&rsquo;ve expected the Spurs to be this fun this season?&nbsp;
They&rsquo;ve gone from a plodding, mid-range hunting slogfest to a turbo-charged unit led by dynamic athletes on the perimeter. The absence of LaMarcus Aldridge has only expedited this shift.
It&rsquo;s tough to imagine Aldridge being back next season; honestly, it&rsquo;s tough to imagine Aldridge being on the team past the trade deadline. There&rsquo;s room for the Spurs to add a piece to their frontcourt. Collins could either slot in at the 5 -- he&rsquo;s certainly an upgrade from Aldridge on both ends -- or at the 4 alongside Jakob Poeltl, one of the more underrated rim protectors in the league.
Starter Offer: Lonnie Walker, Trey Lyles, 2022 first-round pick (top-7 protected)
While the Spurs have a ton of young talent on the wings, that&rsquo;s kinda the thing: they have a ton of young talent on the wings. They can&rsquo;t play everybody. Looking further ahead, they certainly can&rsquo;t pay everybody. Walker could be pry-able, especially with Devin Vassell being drafted over the offseason and already showing flashes of being a defensive terror who can knock down threes at a high clip.&nbsp;
Lyles could be a short-term spot-starter alongside Clint Capela to 1) space the floor and 2) keep Gallinari in a bench role. If not, Lyles could space the floor alongside Okongwu on the second unit.
Final Offer: A whole lot of moving parts around Derrick White
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As someone who generally enjoys thinking about trades, let me tell ya: dealing with a player with a poison-pill provision absolutely stinks. A Collins-for-White package makes some roster-balancing sense, but pulling it off takes some financial gymnastics.
I settled in on this framework. White goes to Atlanta as a fun partner alongside Trae Young. Tony Snell and Darius Miller swap spots, along with a pair of second-rounders going to OKC for helping grease the wheels of a deal -- and taking on a little money in the process.
FREE-AGENT DESTINATIONS
Collins will want a max contract, which is currently projected to be in the neighborhood of a four-year, $125 million deal for non-Hawks teams. He reportedly turned down a four-year deal worth north of $90 million extension before the season. Collins&rsquo; limitations as a primary rim protector or consistent threat off the bounce -- as a driver or passer -- will likely keep him out of max territory.&nbsp;
However, he does bring enough as a pick-and-roll threat, shooter, rebounder, and weakside rim protector to warrant more than $90 million over four years. My take-with-a-grain-of-salt guess -- I emphasize &ldquo;guess&rdquo; here -- is that it would take something like a four-year, $110 million offer sheet to both land Collins and also make the Hawks uneasy about matching.
Put another way: a team looking to land Collins is going to need -- and be willing to spend -- north of $25 million in cap space. Here are the teams I feel could justify making that sort of splash:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jjjn_lg.jpg" alt="" width="751" height="AUTO" />
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks, like the teams that&rsquo;ll be mentioned after them, cleared their books so they&rsquo;d have a max slot available for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis is off the market, so the Mavs will need to pivot elswhere.&nbsp;
Luka Doncic is one of the best playmakers in the NBA. The Mavericks have wisely attempted to surround Doncic with shooters, highlighted by Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. What&rsquo;s missing in their attack is some north-south oomph; Collins could help provide that as a high-volume roller or screen slipper.
He&rsquo;s an ideal diver to complement the spacing Porzingis provides. Defensively, Collins could bring a little more size and athleticism to the backline as a weakside helper.
Miami Heat
Finding a long-term frontcourt partner for Bam Adebayo should be pretty high on the priority list for the Heat. They drafted Precious Achiuwa over the offseason, a Bam-lite athlete with flashes of defensive switchability and open floor ball-handling. The lack of a reliable jumper makes the AA frontcourt a questionable fit in the short-term; Collins would alleviate the need for that plan to be fast-tracked.
Collins has proven enough as a shooter to comfortably operate as the 4 on offense. There would still be ample roll opportunities despite Adebayo not being a true spacer yet. The Heat invert the floor by using Adebayo above the break as a handoff or screening hub, making it difficult for opposing bigs to cheat off of him at the risk of Adebayo and a shooter hooking up for some sort of two-man action off the ball.
Toronto Raptors
One of the more underrated storylines of the season has been the Raptors&rsquo; struggles at the center position. After losing Marc Gasol (and Serge Ibaka), they turned to Aron Baynes in free agency to fill the void. He&rsquo;s been mostly bad. They also signed Alex Len in November, but he struggled so much that he was waived one month into the season.
Chris Boucher has been a bright spot, firmly in the &ldquo;he won&rsquo;t win MIP but he&rsquo;s been good enough to get a nod as an honorable mention&rdquo; camp, but he&rsquo;s a bit matchup dependent because of his weight. The recent answer has been downsizing, using Pascal Siakam and even OG Anunoby at the 5 in a switch-heavy scheme.
Collins would fall somewhere in the middle -- he&rsquo;s beefier than Boucher, a better shooter and athlete than Baynes, a more dynamic vertical threat than Siakam or Anunoby, and probably worse defensively than all of them.

Is John Collins' stint with the Hawks coming to an end? Nekias Duncan breaks down five possible destinations for the big man.