NBA Daily: Who’s On The Move Next?

With NBA free agency all but closed, there are still a few names lingering waiting for deals, and a new batch of players to watch as the NBA season starts to take shape. Unlike the previous couple of seasons, the race for an NBA Championship looks to be wide, making things even more interesting.

NBA training camps open in roughly 65 days, here are some of the situations we’ll be watching:

Bradley Beal

The Washington Wizards have finally wrapped up their summer-long search process for new leadership, landing on Tommy Sheppard as their new full-time general manager. After flirting publicly with Denver’s Tim Connelly, and privately with several other candidates, Sheppard won out. His first order of business is convincing Wizards’ All-Star Bradley Beal to stay on board long enough for them to build around him.

Sheppard has been very transparent that the team will offer Beal the maximum contract extension possible on July 26th — not only hoping he’ll sign it but also showing him their convictions to remold the next iteration of the team with the sharpshooter as the centerpiece.

Beal has two fully guaranteed years and some $55.7 million left on his current deal and is eligible to tack on three more years later this week.

While it is likely Beal will turn down what’s expected to be a three-year $111 million extension offer, the Wizards feel like the respect shown in making the offer at the earliest possible moment will illustrate to Beal how much the team values him.

Unfortunately for the Wizards, the way the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement works, it is in Beal’s best financial interests to wait out next season as he can earn substantially more money if he picks up where he left off last season as an All-NBA level guard. Earning an All-NBA nod next season could trigger eligibility for a Supermax extension next summer that could push him towards a $167 million deal over five years.

Turning down the offer will open the trade rumor flood gates on Beal, and that’s not lost on the Wizards. Teams that have tried to engage Sheppard and company on Beal deals have been turned away abruptly, and Sheppard has already started telling people publicly and privately that even if Beal turns down the extension offer, the Wizards will be staying the course with Beal.

While time will tell how committed Beal really is to a rebuilding situation in Washington, for now, it seems that, with or without an extension, the Wizards plan to keep building around Beal.

That could change if he asks out, but even if he stays silent on the subject, that’s not going to stop the speculation train from picking up steam if he does as expected and passes on the extension offer.

Kevin Love

As teams started missing out on All-Star level free agents this summer, Cleveland Cavaliers’ forward Kevin Love’s name started to pop up in trade rumors. Most of the trade talk was speculation according to sources near the Cavaliers, who said there were never any real discussions on moving Love and his remaining four years and $120.4 million.

While interest in acquiring Love is lukewarm, to say the least, there is a belief that Love is obtainable from Cleveland, who have looked at moving most of their veteran players as they start to focus in on building around their youth.

Love, who will turn 31 in September, might be the most obtainable All-Star level guy in the NBA and does have a lot owed on his deal — but it is a contract that plateaus in value next season and then declines during the final year.

As of now, it seems unlikely that anything involving Love happens before training camp. Still, there is a sense in NBA circles that as the season progresses and the balance of power takes shape, Love could be a name on the move around the trade deadline; especially with so much perceived parity in both conferences after the most chaotic offseason the league has seen in years.

Kris Dunn

The Chicago Bulls were pretty active after Summer League wrapped trying to make deals to round out their roster. One name that continued to surface in trade talks was Bulls’ guard Kris Dunn. The belief in NBA circles is that the Bulls are looking to move on from Dunn and that the asking price is fairly low.

Dunn’s time in Chicago has been hot-and-cold, to say the least. He had a breakout redemption year after being traded to the Bulls as part of the Jimmy Butler trade in 2017 — but since then, Dunn has been up and down and has developed a spotty reputation inside the organization.

With the Bulls landing Coby White in the draft and having so much invested in Zach LaVine, the belief is the Bulls are seriously looking at moving on from Dunn.

In terms of easy-to-obtain guard options, Dunn seems like the most plausible starting level young guy, and it might not take much more than a protected draft pick to get it done if the asking price rumors are genuinely true.

Iman Shumpert

Rockets’ guard Iman Shumpert is still unsigned, although it seems he may stay in Houston on a one-year deal if something else doesn’t surface. The Rockets had approached Shumpert’s camp about his willingness to be included in a sign and trade deal before they obtained Russell Westbrook, and there is still talk that Shumpert could be used to bring in another high-level player.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement requires any sign and trade deal to be three years in length, but only the first season must be guaranteed. This means that the Rockets could leverage Shumpert’s Bird Rights to balloon up his first-year salary to add a significant piece to the roster.

Among the remaining unsigned free agents, Shumpert has logged the most minutes, played a solid role for the Rockets in the postseason and might be the best defender on the market.

While there isn’t much left in terms of free-agent dollars, there is still exception money out there, so the book isn’t closed yet on Shumpert’s options.

Chris Paul

When the Oklahoma City Thunder triggered the deal to swap Russell Westbrook for Rockets’ guard Chris Paul, it was assumed the Thunder would immediately flip Paul to another team and start their rebuild around the pieces that came back. The problem is that deal never materialized.

While there has been some criticism of the Thunders’ decision to move Westbrook for what might be the ugliest contract in the NBA. Sources close to the Thunder believed that keeping their word to Westbrook was worth it. When the multi-time All-Star signed his massive extension, one of the promises made by the organization was that if Westbrook were ever unhappy, the Thunder would work with him and his agents to find a suitable situation — something they felt they did with the Houston deal.

While Paul may not be the ideal player to re-build around, the Thunder entered into the deal knowing they could not offload enough of their veteran players to be bad enough to get into the top draft pick discussion, so they opted to add Paul and aim for a playoff spot.

While making the playoffs in the Western Conference might be a stretch, the Thunder have eyes on developing their young guys with Paul as a veteran mentor. There is also hope that Paul will play himself into being more desirable in trade, especially as the three remaining years and $124 million left on his deal ages away.

Basketball Insiders has been grading the offseason of every team in the NBA; if you have missed one check them out here:

New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers.

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