The Charlotte Hornets are the eight seed in the East but have lost their best wing player in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist for the rest of the season following another shoulder surgery.
Enter Courtney Lee.
The Hornets have acquired Lee in a three-team deal still being finalized, a trade first broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Memphis is trading Courtney Lee to Charlotte, sources tell @TheVertical
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 16, 2016
Sources: As part of Lee deal, Charlotte sending Brian Roberts, PJ Hairston and two 2nds to Memphis.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 16, 2016
Charlotte's Brian Roberts will move to Miami as part of three-team deal with Charlotte and Memphis, sources tell @TheVertical
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 16, 2016
Sources: Miami will send two future second-round picks to Memphis as part of 3-team deal, although one is heavily protected.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 16, 2016
Miami will send Chris Andersen to Memphis in deal too, sources tell @TheVertical
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 16, 2016
Let’s break this down by team.
Charlotte gets a guy in Lee who can help them make a push into the playoffs — he is a 3-and-D guy who will fit well next to Kemba Walker and Nicolas Batum on the perimeter. What they gave up is not something they felt was a critical part of the future.
Miami lands a veteran backup guard in Brian Roberts but mostly gets Chris Andersen off their books to save some money (it lowers Miami’s luxury tax hit by more than $2 million).
Memphis has me wondering: is this the first of several moves as sellers? Maybe not, there are certainly justifiable things in this deal for Memphis. Landing Andersen makes sense in that it gives them another big with Marc Gasol now out with a broken foot. They don’t have their first-round pick this season (top five protected), so they are not tanking. They get a project in P.J. Hairston and a couple of picks. This is a small step back, but Lee was going to be a free agent this summer. On the other hand, if the Grizzlies are going to make big changes this would seem the first step.
Probably not, the Grizzlies like their core and want to keep Mike Conley this summer, but it’s something to watch.