Nearly two weeks have passed since the initial news of the Kevin Durant trade emerged, yet the future Hall of Famer`s move to the Houston Rockets has not yet been formally confirmed. This delay is strategic, occurring during the free agency moratorium, allowing for potential salary cap and luxury tax benefits by expanding the trade`s scope.
Fred Katz of The Athletic reports that the trade involving KD is set to make NBA history by growing into an unprecedented seven-team transaction. The Rockets and Suns orchestrated this expansion to bring in the Hawks, Lakers, Timberwolves, Nets, and Warriors. This broadened deal isn`t anticipated to involve significant player movements beyond those already known, but it serves to connect these teams for reasons pertaining to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and salary cap management. Jake Fischer confirmed on Thursday night that this large-scale, seven-team arrangement had received preliminary agreement and was slated for completion on Sunday.
This complex trade structure incorporates previous agreements like the Clint Capela sign-and-trade involving the Hawks, second-round draft pick exchanges between the Timberwolves, Warriors, and Nets with the Suns, and a further second-round pick trade between the Lakers and Timberwolves. While primarily dealing with intricate salary cap technicalities, the inability to finalize any of these individual transactions until July 6th provides teams with a clear motive to consolidate them into one large trade beforehand.
This kind of multi-team consolidation isn`t new; previously, the Klay Thompson sign-and-trade from the Warriors to the Mavericks set a league record as the first six-team trade, incorporating the Timberwolves, Nuggets, 76ers, and Hornets. As July 6th arrives, it`s probable that numerous individual deals will be merged. For example, the Nuggets may aim to expand the Cam Johnson and Jonas Valančiunas trades into a three-team arrangement for luxury tax considerations. The current situation sees the Rockets and Suns integrating close to a quarter of the NBA`s teams into a single transaction to facilitate KD`s move to Houston.
Jasper Hawthorne