The NBA offseason is upon us, after the Denver Nuggets won the 2023 NBA Championship. The San Antonio Spurs have the first pick in the draft, and are almost certain to take Victor Wembanyama, who seems to be a once-in-a-generation talent.
The Phoenix Suns are finalizing a trade with the Washington Wizards for Bradley Beal, and will deal out Chris Paul in return. They may get a third team involved in order to trade Paul to a contender; I’ve heard a return to the LA Clippers might be in store for CP3. If not a trade, possibly a contract buyout for Paul.
Lou Williams, who last played in April 2022 for the Hawks, has announced his retirement after a 17-year career. He’s a three-time former Sixth Man of the Year, and holds the NBA’s record for most points scored off the bench.
The Wizards get basically nothing back for him, but at least he’s off the books. Not sure this really moves the needle all that much for Phoenix, though. Yeah, he’ll give you 20 points a night, but he’s average at best on defense and he’s constantly hurt.
That contract is still an albatross. $50M+ a year for a 2nd or 3rd scoring option that’s basically guaranteed to be hurt 25% - 40% of the season, that’s bonkers. He wasn’t worth it when he was still regularly putting up 30 point games a few years back and he’s certainly not going to be worth it in 3-4 years on the tail end of that deal.
I don’t see an NBA draft thread, so I’ll post this here. I’m not much of an NBA follower, but I thought it interesting that the 4th and 5th picks in the draft were A. Thompson from the same program (Overtime Elite.)
I think its weirder when they get drafted far apart, they are twins after all. Horace and Harvey Grant were identical twins and drafted in different years.
Wizards blow it all up, finally, and swing for the fences with Coulibaly. Maybe he’ll become Mini-Giannis, maybe he’ll play in the G-League a few years then vanish. He’s basically as much of a total unknown as there can be in the NBA draft. But it’s a direction at the very least, of which this team had no such thing a few months ago.
James Harden has opted in to his player option and will seek a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. The Los Angeles Clippers have been mentioned as a potential trade partner.