Month: July 2024

The Orlando Magic entered the 2024 offseason looking to bolster their young roster with some veteran talent that could help raise their profile in the playoffs, after a tough 7-game loss to the Cavs in the first round. The most glaring weakness for the Magic was their lack of three-point shooting, particularly from their backcourt as they simply did not have enough spacing for Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner to operate.

That had to be their top priority this summer, and while there were rumblings they were a suitor for Klay Thompson and even Paul George, they ultimately landed on two-time NBA champion Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who declined his player option with the Nuggets to hit the market. The Magic will give KCP a 3-year, $66 million deal (with a player option) to provide them with some playoff experience and needed shooting, while also fitting their identity as a defense-first squad.

Caldwell-Pope joined the Nuggets in a trade during the 2022 offseason and immediately became a crucial piece of the puzzle as the team finally became a champion. As a three-and-D wing who did not need to have the ball in his hands to make an impact, Caldwell-Pope was a perfect fit alongside the rest of Denver’s revered starting five, and he consistently performed on both ends of the floor during the team’s title run during the 2023 playoffs.

Last year, Caldwell-Pope averaged 10.1 points per game on 40.6 percent shooting from three, and started all 76 games in which he appeared. Now he’ll join an up-and-coming Orlando team and fill their biggest need in the backcourt, while the Nuggets will lose a key contributor for a second-consecutive year and face an uphill battle to maintain their place in the top of the West.

The 2024 edition of NBA free agency started with a whimper rather than a bang, as the first hour went by without a single deal being announced of a player agreeing to sign with a team other than their own. The league’s new rules allowing players to negotiate with their current teams once the Finals ended meant a number of top free agents already had deals done by 6 p.m. on Sunday when free agency opened.

Finally, at 7 p.m. ET, we got something in the form of an outside deal getting done, as the Philadelphia 76ers addressed their backup center need behind Joel Embiid by reaching a deal with Andre Drummond worth $10 million over two seasons. Drummond spent the first half of the 2021-22 season backing up Embiid before getting traded to the Nets and spending the last two years in Chicago. Drummond broke the news himself with a cheeky tweet about his dinner plans.

It’s a start for a Philly team that’s a blank slate at the moment, and Drummond gets something more than the vet minimum, while the Sixers get on the board but have much grander plans for their huge amount of cap space. Paul George is the big domino everyone is waiting to fall, followed by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, with the Sixers targeting both and, potentially, could look to sign together. We’ll have to wait on that, but for now we finally have a deal done that isn’t a player re-signing with his current team.

The Golden State Warriors seem headed for a dismal offseason, with Klay Thompson widely expected to depart for either Dallas or Los Angeles, Paul George no longer an option for them in trade talks with the Clippers after declining his option, and Chris Paul getting waived just prior to free agency opening for nothing.

The moves seem to indicate the goal is to simply get under the tax line so they can reset their clock on the repeater tax, which isn’t exactly an inspiring message to send to Stephen Curry or the fans. Adding to the belief that’s the plan is a report from Chris Haynes that the Warriors turned down an offer from the Bulls to flip a package centered around Andrew Wiggins and Chris Paul for Zach LaVine, with Golden State declining to engage on that offer and waiving Paul instead.

It’s not clear what else the Bulls were asking for, but considering Chicago has been almost begging teams to take LaVine, I can’t imagine they were asking for too much more in terms of real assets. Wiggins and Paul make more than LaVine, so it may have been a larger deal with Nikola Vucevic also involved, but for LaVine’s faults as a player, the Warriors are desperate for some scoring juice and he would unquestionably provide them with another high-level scorer. To completely walk away from that kind of offer (which, again, we don’t have full details on the full ask), is pretty wild, even if there was more to it, and it only further clarifies where Golden State’s priorities are this summer.