My favorite (and least favorite) moves from a wild week

Kawhi Leonard, Ja Morant, Marcus Smart, Josh Okogie, and much more

I knew a 10-day international trip around the start of free agency was risky, but never in my wildest dreams nor worst nightmares did I expect to see so many of the league’s biggest names moving!

Japan was great fun, thanks for asking. Aside from waking up every morning to a deluge of Shams alerts, I had no interaction with the NBA besides being stuck on a purgatorially delayed plane back to the States with Onyeka Okongwu.

I talked about the fascinating LaMelo Ball deal right after disembarking from a long-ass flight, and I was thankfully around for the Giannis Antetokounmpo and Julius Randle moves. But since then, so much has happened! Taking in everything that changed is both thrilling and overwhelming.

Rather than try to catch up on every bit of old news, I’m going to run down a few of my favorite and least favorite moves from a wild week of basketball transactions.

My favorite moves

The Clippers reset

The Kawhi Leonard trade broke right as I was spooning into some breakfast miso soup, causing me to reflexively curse out loud in the middle of a pleasant Tokyo diner. (I fear I did nothing to dispel the noisy American stereotypes.)

Leonard went where? And for how much?

I don’t hate the move for the Toronto Raptors. Kawhi Leonard was one of the five best players to squeak his shoes last year, and Toronto (led by Scottie Barnes) was readier for primetime than I had expected. They desperately need a halfcourt scorer who can generate more efficient offense when their transition game breaks down. If the Raptors get 95% of what Leonard brought last year, they could make plenty of noise in the jazzed-up Eastern Conference (and they still have several first-round picks available to make future moves).

On the other hand, the Clippers were going nowhere with Leonard, as proven by their play-in bounce-out. They reset the board and enter next season with Brandon Ingram (technically an All-Star last year, even if I didn’t pick him as one), Gradey Dick, unprotected firsts in 2031 and 2033, a swap in 2027 (which seems unlikely to convey but is a nice hedge against Leonard injury), and two seconds.

That’s a pretty excellent return for a guy who just turned 35, is the league’s most infamous health risk, and is still under investigation for his starring role in the salary-cap circumvention Aspiration scandal. It’s even more impressive when you consider that Leonard is in the final year of his contract and leaked that he only wanted to play for Toronto or LA, undercutting the Clippers’ trade leverage.

Ingram is a decent offensive innings-eater. He can shoulder enough usage to make things a little easier for Darius Garland and rookie guard Keaton Wagler, but this was all about the picks. Those unprotected selections will take a while to convey, but Leonard won’t be a factor by the time they arrive. Who knows what the Raptors even look like five years from now? Given that the Clippers still don’t control any of their draft picks through this decade, adding slots in the early 2030s, when they can rebuild in earnest, makes cold, calculated sense.

Tearing things down is always easier than building something up, and the Clippers face a long road back to relevancy. This move makes that road a little bit smoother.

Josh Okogie to the Jazz

Okogie has a nose for the ball. He’s also got the elbows, fingers, and teeth for it, too.

I’ve always been partial to guys with mismatched bodies and skills, and despite his 6’4” height, Okogie might be the best inch-for-inch offensive rebounder in the NBA. Is it possible for someone’s signature move to be the baseline sneak?

Okogie has consistently posted some of the best defensive playmaking and hustle rates around, too. The Utah Jazz are hoping to make some playoff noise this season for the first time in many moons, but their roster — filled with high-octane scorers like coach Keyonte George, Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen, and exceedingly talented rookie Darryn Peterson — lacked a wild card, a f***-s***-up kind of guy. Sometimes in the NBA, you need to throw a little variability into the mix. Okogie brings the chaos like few others.

On a cheap two-year contract with a team option at the end, there’s nothing but upside here.

Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons to the 76ers

Trading Paul George and some juicy draft capital for Jaylen Brown dominated the headlines and will have massive ripple effects throughout the Eastern Conference for years to come. It’s a wonderfully complicated transaction that could go tremendously well or exceedingly poorly.¹

What’s less complicated: the surprising success Philadelphia has had filling out its depth. Losing Kelly Oubre and Quentin Grimes hurts, but the 76ers did a fantastic job landing Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons to replace them.

Wade is a defensive analytics deity and a career 36% three-point shooter. He can’t really dribble, pass, or do much of anything else, but even limited 3-and-D guys with Wade’s size (6’10” in shoes) are hard to find, much less at $10 million per year. He’ll be the perfect frontcourt complement to Brown as a capable on-ball defender who can guard one through four and an awesome off-ball team defender.

Simons, meanwhile, has never been my kind of player — largely because the price tag previously exceeded $25 million per year. I like his off-the-dribble bombing and renewed (if still lackluster) defensive efforts far more at less than a quarter of that cost ($12 million over two years). In short, Simons is an inflammable bench scorer signed to a contract that he almost can’t help but outplay.

I’ll be writing a bigger piece on Brown and the 76ers at some point this summer, but I didn’t want to let these two moderate wins slip under the radar.

Marcus Smart to Houston

On the surface, Smart doesn’t make a ton of sense on a Rockets team already brimming with defensively-minded, shaky-shooting wings like Amen Thompson and freshly re-signed Tari Eason.

But I’ve previously called the Houston Rockets an exoskeleton team — they’re completely lacking in connective tissue and heart. Smart brings those things like he’s conducting an AP Biology lab.

Although Smart is a 32% career three-point shooter, he’s certainly not afraid to take big shots. He’s a savvy passer, and while his vocal leadership has occasionally rubbed teammates the wrong way, this Houston squad desperately needs Smart’s try-hard grit. Defensively, Smart had a very strong numerical case for an All-Defensive team last season. Effort won’t be an issue with Smart on the floor, and I have no doubt he’ll worm his way back into former coach Ime Udoka’s good graces immediately.

(One potential downside? With Smart’s addition and now-healthy point guard Fred VanVleet re-entering the fold, it will be all too tempting for Udoka to go back to burying Reed Sheppard on the bench. Sheppard’s development is still critical to Houston’s present and future success.)

My least-favorite moves

The Blazers trade for Ja Morant

In most cases, I’d applaud a team for snagging a buy-low guy with star upside like Ja Morant. This isn’t most cases.

At his peak, Morant was a living paint touch, generating shots at the rim for himself and his teammates while producing some of the most live-wire highlight reels the NBA world has ever seen. He was, at worst, one of the three most exciting players in the league.

But that was several years ago, and even then, there wasn’t much evidence that his style of play led to any postseason success. The Grizzlies produced exactly one playoff series win in those days. While there are some mitigating circumstances, we simply haven’t seen Morant stay healthy and effective enough when the going gets tough.

Morant can still razzle, still dazzle. There’s a slippery creativity to his game that only true artists have:

But reality keeps intruding upon basketball fantasy. Right now, Morant is a player who can’t shoot, defend, or stay on the hardwood, and that’s not even including his various off-court troubles (which hopefully are a thing of the past, but who knows?).

Even more confusingly, the Blazers already had several good players who need time at point guard, from the stalwart Jrue Holiday to returning franchise icon Damian Lillard to rising fourth-year Scoot Henderson (who really came on defensively down the stretch). Morant could, perhaps should, be better than them. But point guard wasn’t exactly a position of need for Portland, and he won’t be spacing the floor for Deni Avdija’s steamrolling drives to the rim. I’m not sure there would be a worse-defending backcourt in the league than Lillard and Morant.

To be clear, I am jonesing to watch Morant play in Portland; like an addict, I still remember the highs. I’m just not particularly optimistic we’ll capture that feeling again.

Kevin Huerter returns to the Pistons

The Pistons retained Huerter’s services by offering him a three-year, $27 million contract. Did they not watch Huerter play basketball for them last season? Was anyone else likely to offer Huerter anywhere near this much money?

Huerter is a shooter who has forgotten how to shoot, and while he’s not as bad defensively as some other players of this archetype (like, say, teammate Duncan Robinson), he’s certainly not in the league for his lockdown capabilities.

It’s possible Huerter regains his form from a few years back, when he was buzzing around dribble-hand-offs with Domantas Sabonis, but this contract pays him like that’s a sure thing instead of a gamble. The best-case scenario here is that Huerter ends up fairly paid, while the worst is that he’s unplayable even in the regular season.

Perhaps the Pistons are so light on shooting that they felt compelled to bring back someone with even a glimmer of a hope for a three-point shot, but I’d rather give Huerter’s minutes to freshly inked sharpshooter Isaiah Joe.

The Mavericks trade for Santi Aldama

Aldama is a perfectly solid player who makes very little sense in a crowded Mavericks frontcourt.

I’ve highlighted Aldama positively several times over the last few years. He’s tall, a reasonable shooter, and has a little bit of off-the-bounce playmaking. He averaged 14 points for the Grizzlies last year as a high-level backup big capable of starting in a pinch.

But the Mavericks have so many power forwards. PJ Washington, my guy Naji Marshall, first-round pick Morez Johnson Jr., sharpshooter Klay Thompson, Caleb Martin, Max Christie… who am I forgetting? Right, budding superstar Cooper Flagg! Those are all players (of varying type and quality) who could play minutes at the four. Some of those guys can play other positions, of course, but the logjam up front doesn’t need another mouth to feed. There isn’t enough Tex-Mex for the mouths they have now!

The Mavericks didn’t give up much for Aldama, including a top-20-protected first from Golden State in 2030 (which seems likely to convey into a second-round pick the following year) and two additional seconds. But in-name-only first-round picks are still valuable trade chips. Even if we assume Dallas sends out some of the aforementioned guys, giving up anything at all for the position the Mavericks need the least help with baffles me.

The Suns trade for Miles Bridges

Baffling move from Phoenix here. Swapping two quality rotation players in Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen plus an unprotected first-round pick in 2033 for Bridges and a heavily swapped pick in 2029 (which is almost guaranteed to be bad) makes little sense.

Despite his superficial per-game box-score numbers, Bridges was arguably the weakest two-way link in the Hornets’ starting five. Bridges is a career 34% three-point shooter who doesn’t do nearly enough defensively or on the boards at the power forward position to complement Devin Booker. The shot selection will drive Suns fans wild:

Plus, you know, he’s Miles Bridges.

Bridges is a jack-of-all-trades without a standout NBA skill (besides being an excellent lob finisher). He was maximized playing in a free-flowing Hornets system that had shooting and passing at nearly every other position. Unfortunately, the Suns just traded away two of their most reliable perimeter threats, and as good as Booker is, he’s not nearly as clean a fit next to Bridges as LaMelo Ball had been.

The Suns’ delightful season last year was built on a defense-first identity and a barrage of threes from everyone around Booker. Bridges doesn’t fit that identity whatsoever. In a league where losing is finally disincentivized, Phoenix won’t find nearly as many easy wins as last year. Downgrading draft capital for an ostensibly win-now move that at best makes the team marginally better and at average eats into the team’s culture and depth is depressing as hell.

1. I am smitten with this trade. I can’t wait to see how it impacts both teams. That said, I am a little surprised at the overwhelming number of trade grades that frame this as a home-run win for Philly and a bitter defeat for Boston. While that outcome is plausible, it’s far from certain. I try my best to be both an analytics guy and an eye-test guy, and I’m excited to dig into both the new 76ers and the confusing Celtics later this summer.