The NBA’s summer trade season always starts sometime close to the league’s draft in late June, and here’s a look at each trade that has been reported.
The day before the draft, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Detroit Pistons are trading forward Jerami Grant to the Portland Trail Blazers.
According to Wojnarowski, the details of the deal, which mostly involves draft picks, are as follows:
- The Blazers will send a 2025 first-round pick that originally belonged to the Milwaukee Bucks.
- The teams will swap second-round picks in Thursday’s draft, with Detroit now getting the 36th pick and Portland getting the 46th selection.
- Detroit will also get a 2025 second-round pick from Portland, and Portland will send a 2026 second-round pick to Detroit.
Wojnarowski reported that Detroit will send Grant into a $21 million trade exception, and Detroit now has $43 million in cap space this summer.
Grant has long been seen as a player many contenders wanted because of his defensive and shooting abilities at the 4 position, and due to the idea that the Pistons are in rebuild mode, he has been seen as a very logical trade candidate.
The Blazers have been seen as a potential trade destination for Grant recently, although many wondered if Portland would have to send Detroit the seventh pick in Thursday’s draft as opposed to a pick that, it stands to reason, could be a late first-rounder from Milwaukee in 2025.
Portland acquiring Grant seemingly sends the message that they want to retool around Damian Lillard. That was seen as likely, but there was some talk that the Blazers could use the draft to acquire young players.
Will this motivate Portland to trade the seventh pick for another more proven commodity, or will the Blazers use it on a young player?
June 15
On Wednesday night, multiple outlets reported that the Dallas Mavericks are acquiring big man Christian Wood from the Houston Rockets in exchange for the 26th pick in the draft and salary filler in the form of big men Boban Marjanovic and Marquese Chriss and guards Trey Burke and Sterling Brown.
The Mavericks entered the offseason after a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals with a need to get better in the frontcourt, and they accomplished that while maintaining the ability to have five perimeter-oriented players on offense.
Last season, Wood averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
For the Rockets, they acquire a first-round pick in exchange for a player in Wood who wasn’t seen as a great fit in their rebuilding timeline.
June 13
Things got going Monday — 10 days before the draft — when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder have made a deal.
According to Wojnarowski, the Nuggets are sending forward JaMychal Green and a protected 2027 first-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for the 30th pick in this year’s draft and two future second-round picks.
Wojnarowski reported that the Nuggets did the deal to create some financial flexibility, while the young Thunder moved off one of their draft picks this season in exchange for future considerations but still have the No. 2, No. 12 and No. 34 picks in this year’s draft.
The Nuggets now have No. 21 and No. 30.