State of the East after all those injuries

New York Times

a day ago

The market for the Warriors' restricted free agent is beginning to take shape. Meanwhile, teams are discussing a potential seven-team trade. Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images Brad Penner / Imagn
After we finished digesting the news of the three terrible Achilles tears of the playoffs, another question emerged: Which teams would rise to fill the void in the battered, miserable Eastern Conference?
Going chronologically, injuries to Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton put the immediate fates of the last two conference champions and the team with the conference's best player in doubt. Without those stars, it would be difficult for their teams to compete in 2025-26 and stay financially responsible at the same time. We've seen all three teams grapple with that in June and early July.
The offseason is not over, and neither is free agency — the likes of Josh Giddey and Jonathan Kuminga are still out there as restricted free agents, and trades could still develop. In the wake of most of the major action, it seems wise to reassess the status of the conference.
Let's get to this before a trade goes down and shakes all of this up.
Read on to see how I classified the current state of the East.
GO FURTHER
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There's nothing near the finish line on the Jonathan Kuminga front as the third night of free agency wrapped up, per league sources. There are conversations ongoing with Warriors and several teams on periphery.
The Warriors are also waiting on Al Horford's decision.
Former No. 1 overall picks from the lottery era to play for the Los Angeles Lakers: Shaquille O'Neal
Joe Smith
Kwame Brown
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Andrew Bogut
Anthony Davis
Deandre Ayton
None of them were drafted by the Lakers. Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn
Deandre Ayton was a surprise addition to this year's free agency class, negotiating a contract buyout with the Trail Blazers on Sunday night and surrendering a reported $10 million of a $34 million deal. Ayton and Luka Dončić are both represented Bill Duffy, the longtime agent who heads WME Basketball.
Dončić, according to league sources, is excited about the opportunity to play with Ayton.
The Lakers, according to team and league sources, showed serious interest in veteran center Brook Lopez, who agreed to a two-year deal with the LA Clippers on Monday. He was pegged by many around the NBA as the logical player for the Lakers this free agency cycle. Lopez, 37, is still one of the NBA's best inside-outside centers but doesn't play the kind of pick-and-roll, lob-threat style that Dončić has had the most success with in his career.
GO FURTHER
Deandre Ayton, Lakers agree to two-year deal: Sources
To add more detail to Kelly Iko's report below about an "expansive sign-and-trade" involving Houston:
League sources tell The Athletic that the Rockets and Suns are working on expanding the Kevin Durant trade into a deal that would involve a league-record seven teams. Other teams involved in negotiations at the moment include the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources say.
No trade is imminent, and details are being ironed out as of Wednesday night.
In a would-be seven-team trade, there is an unprecedented amount of detail. Unfortunately, while a seven-team trade would make for a thrilling topic at a cocktail party, there haven't been many unexpected developments in these negotiations. At least in the iterations of the deal discussed so far, most of the recognizable names are from trades that have already been agreed to and reported but not yet finalized.
The Hawks would be sending Clint Capela to the Rockets in what would become a sign-and-trade, league sources say. Durant would go to Houston. The previously reported return for him, including Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green, would go to Phoenix. Only five players who were in the NBA last season are being discussed in the current iteration of the trade, as of now: Durant, Brooks, Green, Clint Capela and Daeqwon Plowden, league sources say. The rest of the players being discussed are all from already-agreed-upon draft-night trades that are yet to be finalized and can't be until July 6.
For now, the largest trade in NBA history is the six-teamer that sent Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks last summer. Before that, it was the five-teamer in 2021, when the Lakers sent Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards.
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Dennis Schröder will be joining the Kings as part of a sign-and-trade with the Pistons, a team source tells our Sam Amick, and that improves the flexibility for both teams.
The Kings willl take Schröder into their existing $16.8 million trade exception for Kevin Huerter and thus maintain their entire $14.1 million nontaxpayer midlevel exception for other moves; Sacramento is currently $14.7 million below the first apron, where the Kings would be hard-capped as a result of the sign-and-trade.
The Pistons, meanwhile, will either generate a $14.1 million trade exception for Schröder or can take back up to $23 million in a simultaneous trade that would almost certainly involve a third team (or more). As a result of this trade, the Pistons would operate as an over-the-cap team, with Paul Reed taking the team's biannual exception and Caris LeVert taking Detroit's nontaxpayer midlevel exception.
Detroit still has $25 million in room below the tax line with three open roster spots, although one may be designated for rookie second-round pick Chaz Lanier. The Pistons are already taking on a bunch of salary in another trade, sending Simone Fontecchio out in a sign-and-trade for Duncan Robinson; it appears that Detroit will start Robinson's salary at the maximum allowable $16,865,384 (twice Fontecchio's salary plus $250,000), and then decline his salary by 5 percent each of the following two years on his three-year, $48 million deal.
It also remains possible that Detroit unites these two sign-and-trades into one big, ugly sign-and-trade, although right now it doesn't seem to generate any additional advantages versus keeping the two separate.
To further what Eric Nehm and I discussed in our story earlier today: The Bucks, after waiving Chris Livingston, can accommodate a four-year, $107 million contract for Myles Turner, provided Vasilije Micić gives back at least $5.4 million of his $8.1 million salary in a buyout with Milwaukee. If Turner's deal ends up being a sign-and-trade, however, Micić would only need to give back $5.15 million.
After an active offseason, the Atlanta Hawks' championship odds have jumped from +25000 to +2500 on BetMGM.
Trae Young remains the cornerstone, but the supporting cast looks deeper and much more talented with those three additions. Atlanta's regular starting five figures to be Trae Young, Kristaps Porziņģis, Most Improved Player Dyson Daniels, last year's No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher and Jalen Johnson, who was averaging 18.9 points, 10 rebounds and five assists before missing the second half of last season due to injury.
Add Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard to a bench unit in a depleted Eastern Conference, and it's easy to see why Atlanta surged up the odds.
GO FURTHER
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The Milwaukee Bucks have waived Chris Livingston. The Bucks selected Livingston, 21, with the final pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, but he never found his footing in the NBA.
Livingston appeared in 42 games across the last two seasons with the Bucks and played just 196 minutes. He was on a non-guaranteed contract for the 2025-26 season with a guarantee date of July 15.
I'm hearing that the Rockets, who are acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith and Clint Capela in free agency, will be expanding one of those into an expansive sign-and-trade that involves multiple teams. Houston can officially finalize those moves beginning July 6.
Purely from a standpoint of matching salaries, the Knicks could construct various types of potential trade offers for LeBron James. The most chaotic deal would be flipping All-NBA big man Karl-Anthony Towns for James, straight up — two teams betting on the other's star. Of course, this could leave the Knicks center-less, given Mitchell Robinson's injury struggles.
They could pair a couple of wings, OG Anunoby and either Josh Hart or Mikal Bridges, in a trade for James. They could piece together a trio to offer for James: Anunoby, Robinson and point guard Miles 'Deuce' McBride.
But Anunoby will make $45 million in 2027-28 and has a player option for the following season, which would eat into the Lakers' possible cap space two summers from now. Meanwhile, the Knicks — or any other team — may not want to part with three key rotation pieces (and three of their four best defenders) for a 40-year-old.
James could double as a basketball fit, as well as a giant expiring contract to avoid the second apron in 2026-27 and maybe beyond. In Los Angeles, Towns and Luka Dončić could destroy any defense they face.
But the Knicks are also made up of prime-aged contributors. This would make them older. Like in the other hypotheticals, a James trade to the Knicks, even in a world where both he and the Lakers agree it's best for the two to part ways after seven years, isn't likely. The Knicks didn't get in on the hunt for Kevin Durant. Like so many others, they could be saving up salary and assets for a guy in Milwaukee. They may not handle this hypothetical much differently.
Read on for more LeBron James trade hypotheticals.
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LeBron James trade fits: Cavs, Warriors, Mavericks and more possibilities Mike Ehrmann / USA Today Sports
The Mavericks are hiring Frank Vogel to be Jason Kidd's top assistant coach, a league source confirmed to The Athletic .
Vogel spent time around the Mavericks last season as a coaching adviser. He'll replace Sean Sweeney, who left Dallas this offseason for San Antonio, as Kidd's primary lieutenant.
Vogel was the Lakers' head coach in 2020 when they won the championship in the NBA bubble. Kidd was an assistant on that staff. Their roles are reversed now.
Dallas bringing back Dante Exum does not augur well for the future of guard Brandon Williams. His non-guaranteed contract is Dallas' 16th, and his continued presence on the roster would push Dallas into the second apron, where they are hard-capped by virtue of using the taxpayer midlevel exception on D'Angelo Russell.
If Jake LaRavia gets a flat $6 million over two years from the Lakers, as it seems he might, there is $8,104,000 left over for Ayton with their nontaxpayer midlevel exception. If that is the case, Ayton's 2026-27 salary would be $8,509,200 if he doesn't choose to hit free agency.
Portland is likely to end up with a $25.55 million cap charge on its books after buying out Ayton. If so, the Blazers are $17 million below the tax line, and Ayton would make a total of $33.7 million in 2025-26 between the two contracts.
Lakers second-round draft pick Adou Thiero won't play this summer for the Lakers as he continues with the recovery process from the left knee injury he suffered this past season at Arkansas.
He's expected to be fully cleared for training camp.
Jalen Bridges has been added to the Celtics summer league roster, I've been told, and will be going to camp with the team in the fall with a chance to make the roster.
The 24-year-old wing played for Phoenix on a two-way contract as a rookie.
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