The Golden State Warriors saw a franchise legend leave this summer, as Klay Thompson’s frustrations with his role and the team’s refusal to pay him long-term led him to seek out a deal elsewhere, ultimately landing in Dallas on a 3-year, $50 million deal.
However, the Mavs didn’t have cap space and in order to secure Thompson’s services, they needed to offer him more than the mid-level exception they had at their disposal. As a result, they worked out a sign-and-trade with the Warriors that was initially a three-team deal that sent Josh Green to Charlotte and a pair of second round picks to Golden State (along with a large trade exception).
It didn’t take the Warriors long to figure out how they wanted to use that exception, but in order to maximize their return, they opted to turn the initial three-team sign-and-trade for Thompson into a five-team extravaganza that saw three different players get signed-and-traded.
They started by bringing in Kyle Anderson on a 3-year, $27 million deal from Minnesota, sending the Wolves a future second round pick and creating a healthy trade exception for the Wolves. Two days later, they found the successor to Thompson’s role as sharp-shooter, getting Buddy Hield on a rather complicated 4-year, ~$37 million contract (with $21 million guaranteed) in a sign-and-trade with Philadelphia, moving one of the Dallas second round picks to the Sixers (and, of course, a trade exception).
By folding both of those deals into the initial Klay trade, they were able to bring in two players to build out depth at the two-guard and power forward spot for Thompson. It’s not often we get a five-team trade in the NBA, but this is also the value of doing business early in the free agency moratorium period, as you can tack things onto a trade before it becomes official on July 6 when the league year actually begins.
The full trade, now that it’s seemingly done, looks like this:
Mavericks get: Klay Thompson
Warriors get: Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield
Hornets get: Josh Green
Timberwolves get: Future second round pick, cash, trade exception
76ers get: 2031 Dallas second round pick, trade exception