But first:<\/p>\n
Most jarring pivot: Wizards<\/p>\n
So we\u2019re not rebuilding anymore, I guess? Couldn\u2019t they have just kept Deni Avdija, who is younger and better than Trae Young and younger and healthier than Anthony Davis, and gone from there?<\/p>\n
You can rationalize the Washington Wizards\u2019 moves in a few ways. First of all, it cost them hardly anything; it\u2019s hard to imagine the Wizards coming up with a better haul with their salary-cap space this summer.<\/p>\n
Young and Davis are also highly complementary players, even if they\u2019re joining forces about five years too late; Davis is a great lob target who can cover Young\u2019s defensive porosity, a far more elite version of the prime Clint Capela who thrived next to Young; Young, meanwhile, can create the looks that Davis struggles to self-generate and prevent us from watching Davis try to iso guys from 20 feet, shoot a tough fadeaway, fall and concede a five-on-four the other way.<\/p>\n
The cost Washington paid matters if you see a stock-trading angle to this. If Washington rehabilitates their reputations at all, the Wizards could be in position to profitably flip Davis and Young a year from now.<\/p>\n
Additionally, having Young and Davis may actually help Washington\u2019s young players, if you acknowledge that none of them are anywhere near good enough to shoulder 30 percent usage rates. Having primary shot creators helps the other guys play real basketball instead of turning into Jordan Poole; even if you think Kyshawn George, Alex Sarr and Tre Johnson have long-term upside to maybe someday be high-usage offensive fulcrums, they aren\u2019t that close right now.<\/p>\n
Finally, there is only so long a team can tolerate this much suckitude (that\u2019s not a real word, but it\u2019s a real issue). Washington\u2019s internal plan was to stop the suffering once it guarded its top-eight protected pick to the New York Knicks this season, and the Wizards wanted to pivot toward something approaching respectability in 2026-27.<\/p>\n
I have major concerns, however. First, the Wizards don\u2019t know who they\u2019re drafting yet. It\u2019s a major issue, for instance, if Cameron Boozer is the best player on their board and they already have Davis and Alex Sarr; they\u2019re essentially forced to either trade one at a discount or draft a player who isn\u2019t as good.<\/p>\n
Another concern lies in what the next contracts look like for Davis and Young. If the Wizards can get them to agree to short, non-max extensions, I would feel much better about this whole process. Young\u2019s deal runs through 2027 if he picks up his player option, and Davis\u2019 through 2028; going past 2029 with either of them would be a clear mistake, as would paying them anywhere near their max. The whole reason they were so cheap in the first place is that teams looked at their current contracts and flinched. Extending them into old age at the same numbers would immediately make them negative value propositions.<\/p>\n
The other thing we might whisper about the decision to go with Young and Davis: The Wizards aren\u2019t exactly batting 1.000 on some of these draft picks. Sarr was a hit, and George was an inspired choice from a weak draft. On the other hand, Bilal Coulibaly shows flashes and then disappears for three weeks, and Tank Commander Bub Carrington leads the team minutes even though he\u2019s getting torched.<\/p>\n
A bit oddly, they\u2019ve been suppressing Justin Champagnie\u2019s minutes to develop the other guys, but he\u2019s only 24 and on a great contract and will arguably be their second-best player the rest of the way. As for the 2025 class of Johnson and Will Riley, we\u2019ve had some mildly encouraging early returns, but we\u2019ll see. (While we\u2019re here: Second-round pick Jamir Watkins is an absolute hellhound on defense, but he\u2019s 24 and a near-zero on offense; he could probably help a good team more than this one.)<\/p>\n
Washington will have one more high draft pick this June, plus some interesting pick swaps in the out years. Even with two huge salaries in Young and Davis, the other key players are on rookie deals, and the Wizards are miles from the luxury tax; they can add one more veteran with their non-taxpayer midlevel exception this summer.<\/p>\n
The good news: Basketball in D.C. will matter again next season. Did the Wizards abandon their methodical rebuild for a short-term sugar high, or is there a genuine pathway toward higher-end outcomes? What the extensions look like for Young and Davis likely holds the key to that answer.<\/p>\n
Best decisions to cut bait: Sixers<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City\u2019s trade for Jared McCain was shrewd; with a huge tax bill coming in future seasons, the Thunder needed a cost-controlled player on a rookie deal, and one who can make open shots. It\u2019s easy to imagine them putting McCain into Isaiah Joe\u2019s role as Designated Sixers Castoff Bench Shooter and moving off Joe and one or two other vets to ease their tax burden and impending roster crunch. They need spots just to absorb their future first-round picks.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Philly made the right choice. McCain\u2019s value was never going to be higher as a Sixer, because he was the fourth guard behind Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes, and even if Grimes left as a free agent, he\u2019d always be stuck behind the other two. Additionally, the league has frowned in general on smallish, combo-guard offensive players; acquiring a late first-rounder and three good seconds for McCain is a pretty solid return in that light. As long as he was in Philly, his trade value was only going to decline.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Anfernee Simons heading to Chicago was a big part of Boston\u2019s in-season cost cutting. (Maddie Meyer \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Best rappel out of luxury tax: Celtics<\/p>\n
Boston made three trades to extricate itself all the way out of the tax \u2014 the Celtics will end up clearing it by just a few dollars \u2014 including a particularly inventive one with Utah. The Celtics traded Anfernee Simons for Vu\u010devi\u0107 to cut their $12 million overage roughly in half, and that\u2019s when the real fun began. Swapping out the minimum deals of Josh Minott, Xavier Tillman and Chris Boucher weren\u2019t complicated maneuvers, but figuring out how to replace them was.<\/p>\n
The league requires teams to carry at least 12 players at all times and to have 14 for all but 14 days of the season. So the Celtics were left with three empty roster spots to fill; signing a veteran into those spots would have carried them right back over the tax. Even signing an undrafted rookie would have cost the same in the league\u2019s tax calculation.<\/p>\n
The exception, however, is something called a \u201cdraft rookie\u201d \u2014 a drafted player who is in his first season at the league minimum. Those players count against the luxury tax for barely half the amount that a veteran does. If Boston could somehow fill all three spots with \u201cdraft rookies,\u201d at least for a short time, it would just barely skirt the tax.<\/p>\n
Two of those rookies were already on hand in Amari Williams and Max Shulga, both of whom are currently on two-way deals. But Boston needed a third. Enter the trade of Boucher to Utah for the rights to two-way John Tonje, the 53rd\u00a0pick in the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n
Whether Tonje is actually any good at basketball scarcely matters; the key was that he gave the Celtics another draft rookie. It cost them a future second to unload Boucher and get Tonje back, but now Boston is out of the tax and can stay out; in fact, the Celtics can even add a veteran in the buyout market later this season once Tonje has burned some clock with a low-cost presence in that 14th spot.<\/p>\n
If Boston stays out of the luxury tax again next year, the Celtics will reset the clock on the repeater tax; even if they don\u2019t, they avoided a stiff repeater tax this year without materially impacting their basketball team.<\/p>\n
Most abrupt exit: James Harden<\/p>\n