The NBA offseason is here, and teams are wasting no time gearing up for the upcoming season.
The first two-night NBA draft brought us plenty of trades but it was the action before the draft that got the offseason rolling. A day after the second-round of the NBA draft that brought one of the biggest deals of the early offseason as the Atlanta Hawks traded guard Dejounte Murray to New Orleans for forward Larry Nance Jr., guard Dyson Daniels, forward E.J. Liddell and two future first round picks.
One night ahead of the 2024 draft, the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks made a splash. The Nets traded forward Mikal Bridges and a 2026 second-rounder to the Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031), a 2025 protected first-rounder via the Milwaukee Bucks, a 2028 unprotected pick swap and a 2025 second-rounder, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Soon after the Bridges deal, the Houston Rockets turned a draft pick and swap into two future draft picks and two future swaps. The draft assets give the Rockets the flexibility to possibly trade for a star player to add to their young roster. The trades for both of those pre-draft deals can be found here.
Earlier in the offseason, the Chicago Bulls landed Josh Giddey from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Alex Caruso in the first trade of the offseason. Caruso is in the last year of his current deal and in six months will be eligible for a four-year, $80 million extension. The Thunder's goal in bringing Caruso in is to keep him for the long term, according to Wojnarowski.
These might be the first trades this summer, but there are plenty more to come as teams look to solidify their rosters for next season, so stay tuned as we grade them all below:
POST-DRAFT DEALS
New Orleans Pelicans get:
G Dejounte Murray
Atlanta Hawks get:
C Larry Nance Jr.
F E.J. Liddell
G Dyson Daniels
2025 first-round pick (via Lakers)
2027 first-round pick (least favorable of Milwaukee/New Orleans)
New Orleans Pelicans grade: B+
This may yet be an A trade for the Pelicans, who dramatically upgraded their shot creation without giving up any of their own future first-round picks. However, there are still questions for New Orleans to answer.
Primarily, we need to know what happens with Brandon Ingram, who no longer fits either in the Pelicans' starting five or in their salary structure. New Orleans may need to save money in an Ingram trade to avoid pushing into the luxury tax to sign a center with Nance in Atlanta and Jonas Valanciunas a free agent.
I'm also curious about the Pelicans' vision for CJ McCollum. The optimized New Orleans starting five probably has Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III on the wings flanking Murray and Zion Williamson, but coming off the bench may be a tough sell to McCollum.
That's a lot of questions, all of which New Orleans may have already answered internally. The rest of us must wait to see how this roster comes together.
Atlanta Hawks grade: B+
The Hawks had to trade one of their guards after finding last season that Murray and Trae Young were far less effective together than on their own running a team.
I would have preferred to keep Murray, who signed a below-market extension last year that pays him less than the average point guard. (Immanuel Quickley, for example, agreed to a deal Friday that will pay him more than Murray over the next four seasons.)
At the same time, other teams also have access to Atlanta's cap sheet and may have valued Murray more than Young in the trade market for the same reasoning. If the Hawks were going to deal Murray, this is strong return, netting them two first-round picks, a recent lottery pick and getting them out of the luxury tax.
Hornets get Jackson, three picks from Nuggets
Charlotte Hornets get:
G Reggie Jackson
2025 second-round pick
2029 second-round pick
2030 second-round pick
Denver Nuggets get:
TBD
Charlotte Hornets grade: A
The structure of the new NBA collective bargaining agreement gives the Hornets multiple options for how to make this trade, none of them possible until the moratorium period ends July 6. At that point, Charlotte could create cap space by renouncing the rights to free agents and waiving Davis Bertans, whose 2024-25 salary is just $5.25 million guaranteed.
The Hornets could take Jackson's salary into their cap space. Alternatively, they could become the first team to take advantage of a new provision in the collective bargaining agreement allowing teams to use their midlevel exceptions to add salary in trades. If Charlotte was to re-sign free agent Miles Bridges, the Hornets could stay over the cap and take in Jackson with the non-tax midlevel. Or the Hornets could use their cap space to sign a more expensive free agent, then deal for Jackson via the room exception.
Whatever the mechanics of this trade, Jackson probably isn't long for Charlotte. With LaMelo Ball back healthy along with Tre Mann and Vasilije Micic both as options at point guard, the Hornets may simply waive Jackson to clear a roster spot and collect the second-round picks as a strong fee for taking on just $5.25 million in salary.
It is worth noting that the 2029 and 2030 second-round picks are contingent on the Nuggets delivering the top-five-protected first-round pick they owe Oklahoma City by 2029. If not, those picks could go to the Thunder instead in a long-shot scenario.
Additionally, Charlotte will have to send something of value to complete this trade. That could be cash, a top-55-protected second-round pick or the rights to an unsigned pick.
Denver Nuggets grade: C
This trade is the costly result of the Nuggets giving Jackson a 2024-25 player option as part of the contract when he re-signed last summer. With Jackson picking up that $5.25 million option, Denver was over the lower luxury tax apron before considering re-signing starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as a free agent.
Should Caldwell-Pope return, shedding Jackson's salary gives the Nuggets a better chance of wiggling under the second luxury tax apron and avoiding having their 2032 first-round pick frozen from trade. If Caldwell-Pope leaves, Denver would comfortably have access to the projected $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel exception this summer.
Depending on how confident the Nuggets are in 2023 second-round pick Jalen Pickett as a replacement for Jackson after Pickett played just 122 minutes as a rookie, the tax midlevel might be ticketed for replacing Jackson. It wouldn't be difficult to upgrade that spot. Although Jackson played well as a starter, filling in for an injured Jamal Murray, his overall .521 true shooting percentage was inadequate for a modern point guard.
The cost for Denver was all the team's remaining second-round picks. After sending three second-round picks to the Phoenix Suns to move up from No. 28 and No. 22 in the first round in pursuit of DaRon Holmes, this trade has exhausted the Nuggets' store of second-rounders. They're also unable to trade a first-round pick outright, which will make it difficult for Denver to upgrade this group during the season. As a result, the pressure is on the Nuggets' recent draft picks to step up in pursuit of the team's second championship in three years.
Pistons get Hardaway Jr., picks from Mavericks for Grimes
Dallas Mavericks get:
G Quentin Grimes
Detroit Pistons get:
G Tim Hardaway Jr.
2025 second-round pick (via Raptors)
2028 second-round pick
2028 second-round pick (via lesser of Clippers/Hornets)