Update: Zach Lowe of Grantland:
Sixers will receive a protected 1st-round pick from the Kings, and swap rights w/ Sacto in the 1st round of two other drafts, sources say.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 2, 2015
This initially looked like a good trade for the 76ers. It’s actually a great trade for the 76ers.
We’ll see just how great once we learn the protections, but in one form or another, Philadelphia wins.
Brett Brown once thought the 76ers would draft Andrew Wiggins and Nik Stauskas and get good.
Instead, Philadelphia wound up with Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, neither of whom played for the team last season.
Better late than never, the 76ers are getting Stauskas. It just took taking Jason Thompson and Carl Landry as a penalty.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Sacramento is trading Jason Thompson and Carl Landry as part of a salary dump to the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2015
The Kings are sending Nik Stauskus to the 76ers as part of the deal too, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2015
Sources: 76ers sending the rights of oveseas players to Kings. Philly wanted Stauskas and will take on Thompson/Landry salaries.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2015
Landry is owed $6.5 million each of the next two seasons. A trade kicker will lift Thompson’s salary to $6,752,813 next season, and $2,650,000 of his $6,825,000 salary in 2016-17 is guaranteed.
Sacramento definitely wanted to dump those two, and Philadelphia had room to take them with minimal inconvenience. But the 76ers weren’t doing it just to be nice. They wanted Stauskas.
And the Kings wanted cap space.
Depending exactly where the salary cap falls, they could be looking at up to $25 million in space. They’ve been linked to Rajon Rondo and Monta Ellis in free agency. They could also trade for Eric Bledsoe, which would help the Suns clear space to sign LaMarcus Aldridge.
The potential definitely exists for Sacramento to significantly upgrade its roster around DeMarcus Cousins.
Of course, this being the Kings, expect them to just increase their offer to Rondo or something silly like that.