Good morning. The NBA is about to be blown up, isn’t it?
All of the latest moves and rumors in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
Good morning. Happy NBA Draft Day! Let's basketball.
THE DRAFT IS HERE! 7:30 p.m. ET is the official start on ESPN, though there’s a half-hour of montage before that. Of course in the hours leading up to the draft we should have lots of trades and rumors like ...
GOOD CLEAN FUN: You can create your own NBA Draft scouting reports! A great way to pass the time before the event.
THE IMPORTANT QUESTION: Could Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor defeat Godzilla?
BATUM TO HORNETS, ALDRIDGE GONE? The Blazers traded Nicolas Batum to the Hornets on Wednesday, taking back Gerald Henderson (who recently opted into his deal) and Noah Vonleh. Vonleh is a decent prospect, a lottery pick from last year. But the deal saves $3 million in Portland cap space.
Rumors suggest that the trade is a sign LaMarcus Aldridge is increasingly looking like he’ll leave Portland. The Blazers are then adjusting for life after Aldridge, who is said to now be most interested in the Spurs and Lakers. To me, it seems like this move more allows Portland to be flexible with the free agencies of Aldridge, Wes Matthews and Arron Afflalo. Henderson is rather cheaper than Batum, thus allows more movement. But we’ll see.
ANOTHER HORNET MOVE: It appears the Hornets also flipped the partially guaranteed contract of Matt Barnes to Oklahoma City for Jeremy Lamb. The deal saves OKC a roster spot and some cash. It also reunites Lamb and Kemba Walker!
UGH: Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Lakers and Kings are discussing the framework of a DeMarcus Cousins deal. This after I laid out my six-point plan to fix the Kings that explicitly avoided trading Boogie!
HUH: Kevin Love officially opted out. LeBron won’t actively attempt to convince Love to re-sign with Cleveland.
KEVIN O’CONNOR’S DRAFT BIG BOARD! Check it out.
QUESTION: Is there a Nugget not on the trade block? Danilo Gallinari is the latest name.
OH DEAR: I’m an avowed fan of the new Hawks uniforms. But the team is planning to mix and match the tops and bottoms. On this, I concur with Rodger Sherman: NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
I HAD A NIGHTMARE. The Kings traded Cousins for a package centered around the No. 2 pick. Sacramento picked Frank Kaminsky No. 2 and Satnam Singh No. 6 and everything was terrible.
FROM THE AARP NEWSLETTER: David West is opting out.
WHO IS SATNAM SINGH? Glad you asked! The 7’2 Indian is a bit of a mystery. Rodger Sherman unveils all that is known. In all seriousness, good luck to the kid. I would bet a good bit of money on the Kings acquiring an early second to grab him. Vivek Ranadive is super serious about building the game in India.
JUST LIKE SOME ACTUAL NBA TEAMS: Choosing prospects based on their YouTube clips.
STEPH CURRY IS AMAZING PART 154: He’s sending a Finals-worn jersey to Drazen Petrovic’s mom.
HOW ABOUT THAT? Luke Ridnour is still in the NBA! Apparently he was under contract with the Magic. Wild! He’s been traded to the Grizzlies.
RILEY CURRY IS GOING TO WIN THE THREE-POINT SHOOTOUT: Ayesha Curry, wife of Steph, is nailing threes at 9 months pregnant.
FUNK FLEX HORN! New Bucks court design.
Have a wonderful day and join us for the draft on sbnation.com/nba and @SBNationNBA!
