NBA Free Agency Open Thread, Day 2: VanVleet cashes in with the Raptors

Welcome to the second day of 2020 NBA Free Agency! We wake up this morning, mercifully, to only a handful of deals having gone down in the wee morning hours — but a couple of them, we’ll see, involved multiple teams, players and picks. We’ll attempt to sort it out below!

For the Raptors, still no movement on any of their free agents, nor any rumours about new players they may bring in. Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol were both rumoured to be Lakers targets last night, but Los Angeles’ deal for Montrezl Harrell would seem to scuttle those talks. Where was Serge Ibaka flying to yesterday? Did he ever land? Is up there, circling, above our heads as we speak?

Then, there’s Fred VanVleet. According to multiple reports yesterday, Fred was waiting until today to take meetings in Chicago. Toronto, of course, remains in play, as do the New York Knicks. The Hawks can likely still find room for VanVleet, even with the big deal they gave Danilo Gallinari, but if they’re seriously pursuing Bogdan Bogdanovic, as Vince Carter (!?) reported, they may be out on Fred.

As always, check back regularly for updates both Raptors and non-Raptors related. And during the lulls, you can also:

• Check out what went down on Day 1
• Run back down Toronto’s options for its own players
• Refresh your Raptors salary cap knowledge for this summer and next

All right, on to Day 2!

9:00am Update

Just before 1:00 am this morning, Steven Adams’ name became linked to a deal that would send him to New Orleans. That soon expanded to become part of the Milwaukee-New Orleans deal for Jrue Holiday.

It was a mess of tweets, especially since another massive multi-team deal went down at the same time. Here’s how this one shakes out:

• Adams goes to New Orleans
• Oklahoma City gets a protected first-round pick from Denver (see next bullet), and two future second-round picks from the Pelicans
• That pick was originally Denver’s; they sent it to Milwaukee on Draft night in exchange for the 24th overall pick, RJ Hampton. Now, that pick get routed to OKC.

It’s not entirely clear what happens to the rest of the Holiday deal — including the three picks and two swaps the Bucks sent the New Orleans. We assume it remains in place as is, but we’ll update as more becomes clear.

That other big trade, which may have been done in conjunction with this trade, added Dallas and Detroit to the mix, and included two former Raptors, James Johnson and Delon Wright. When all was said and done it looked something like this:

Delon Wright and Dwane Casey reunited? Why not! Delon will have plenty of centres to pass the ball to.

Shams was still busy in the early morning hours too, and he’s got news on another player leaving the Clippers:

Green will pretty much replace Jerami Grant in Denver, who left for Detroit last night.

Next up, Denzel Valentine has decided to take Chicago’s qualifying offer and remain a Bull:

And Michael Carter-Williams has decided to run it back with Orlando:

I don’t think either of these last two deals move the needle too much.

Now it’s time to eat some breakfast while we wait for bigger names to drop!

12:00pm Update

A few more deals have materialized this morning, but first, a clarification from Woj on the Adams deal:

So Eric Bledsoe sticks with New Orleans, and George Hill heads off to OKC, where I’m sure he’ll be traded for a 2037 draft pick any moment now.

Meanwhile, Miami is filling out its roster while keeping the books clean for 2021:

That’s a good pickup that replaces most of what Derrick Jones did for them — except the dunking, of course.

Speaking of good pickups: Kris Dunn is heading to Atlanta!

That’s a guy who can help shore up that incredibly soft Hawks perimeter defence.

The Grizzlies remain home to cool players, as they’re keeping De’Anthony Melton on a four-year deal:

Not gonna lie, that seems a little rich to me, but good for Melton for cashing in.

Still no Raptors updates, but we’ve got our eyes open (and our Woj notifications on!).

4:30pm Update

OK, are we all recovered from running victory laps over the Fred VanVleet news? Freddy back! Phew.

For posterity’s sake, we’ll start there:

And again you can read all the details, including a salary dip that helps the Raptors keep cap space next summer, in our story here.

In other news, the Bucks continued to make moves:

First, they brought in Bobby Portis:

Shams went on to clarify that this is a two year deal for Portis. Portis, of course, is best known for breaking the face of Nikola Mirotic, a former Buck, when both were on the Bulls. Good times!

The Bucks also shored up the PG position behind Jrue Holiday by signing DJ Augustin:

Now, I like Augustin, and I guess Portis is fine too. But are these really the moves to put Milwaukee over the top in their championship quest (and in their quest to retain Giannis Antetokounmpo)? I think we can all agree that Holiday is an upgrade over Eric Bledsoe, but are Augustin and Portis as good as George Hill and Wes Matthews?

Elsewhere, the Wizards are hoping that by signing Raul Neto, you’ll forget that John Wall made a trade request:

That was pretty small potatoes compared this bomb drop:

Michael, wyd?? That is a lot of money for Gordon Hayward, who has not looked the same since suffering that horrific ankle injury three years ago. I mean, hey, good for him, but seriously, Michael... wyd????

Now, since the Hornets didn’t have the cap space available to sign Hayward outright, they’ve since decided to waive Nic Batum.

Unfortunately I’ve lost the tweet, but someone on Twitter pointed out — if you factor in the cost of waiving Batum, which is about $9 million, the Hornets are paying $39 million for Gordon Hayward next season. MICHAEL, WYD!?!?

Even further down South, the Heat continued to make smart moves:

I’m not an Avery Bradley guy — too many years of watching DeMar DeRozan absolutely dismantle him, I think — but it’s a good value deal for Miami, who’s looking to maintain that precious cap flexibility next summer.

The Heat, however, will lose the services of Jae Crowder, who’s going to play with the feisty Phoenix Suns:

The AP’s Tim Reynolds went on to confirm the deal is for $30 million.

Memphis continues to do fun and cool things:

What’s going in Orlando? Oh, nothing much, just running it back with the exact same team that barely made the playoffs the last two seasons:

I feel for Steve Clifford, man.

From here we got a bit of clarification on Pat Connaughton’s deal, which I know you were all anxiously awaiting:

I guess it’s decent value, but again: Is this the kinda thing that’s putting Milwaukee in the Finals. I love the Holiday move, but everything else looks seriously meh to me. Including this:

If you don’t know who Jaylen Adams is, I don't blame you: I had to Google him too. He went undrafted in 2018, signed a two-way with Atlanta, then signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Bucks last summer. They waived him but he was picked up by Portland and played a couple minutes in the bubble. We’ll see if he sticks in Milwaukee this time.

Now, as we head towards the dinner hour, some news out of Atlanta: Rajon Rondo is joining the Hawks!

He’ll provide some veteran stability in the backcourt alongside Trae Young and Kris Dunn.

That’s it for now, back with more new later as it develops.