The Warriors have either put themselves in prime position to get Dwight Howard or completely eliminated themselves from the race.
David Aldridge of NBA.com:
Source says the Warriors are sending Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson to the Jazz. Checking on what they're getting back.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) July 5, 2013
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com:
Brandon Rush is the third player going to Utah in the Jefferson-Biedrins salary dump, league source says.
— Ken Berger (@KBergNBA) July 5, 2013
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
Andre Igoudala has reached agreement with Golden State on a four year, $48 million deal with the Warriors, league source tells Y! Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 5, 2013
Golden State is sending multiple draft picks to Utah to unload the $24 million, including 2014 first-rounder, sources tell Y!
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 5, 2013
Sam Amick of USA Today:
The Warriors get Kevin Murphy in the deal from Utah, I'm told.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 5, 2013
In the short term, this makes the Warriors much better. Jefferson and Biedrins were dead weight, and Rush, after missing nearly the entire season with an ACL injury, can’t be counted on to offer much. Iguodala is an excellent wing player who will be key defensively and has point-guard skills that will allow Stephen Curry chances to play off the ball on the other hand
This might mean Harrison Barnes (or, less likely, Klay Thompson) goes to the bench, or maybe Iguodala becomes a super sub who still plays a lot. The Warriors have options – all of them better than earlier in the day.
As far as the cap implications, unless more details emerge – and isn’t fun when so many NBA writers collaborate to break details of a move? – the Warriors can offer Iguodala just $47,395,710 if they waive Kent Bazemore
, Dwayne Jones, Scott Machado and Murphy, who all have fully unguaranteed contracts. There’s probably some rounding happening in some of the reports, and I don’t expect Iguodala to throw away the deal over the missing $604,290 if it comes to that.
Now, the Warriors will set their sights on Howard, who will likely see a team that just added Iguodala for scraps as more appealing. But they won’t have any cap room or, guessing what it took to unload the bloated contracts of Jefferson and Biedrins, draft picks. So, if Howard chooses Golden State, it will certainly take a sign-and-trade.
The Warriors could offer David Lee and Bogut for Howard and Metta World Peace (another player who likely has negative trade value), though I doubt the Lakers would do that. Including Thompson and/or Barnes could make the deal palatable, but there’s still no guarantee the Lakers go for it.
For the Jazz, this deal comes down to the picks. What round are they? What are the protections? When are they coming? Without knowing more specifics, it’s tough to say whether this deal was worthwhile, but taking such bad contracts, Utah better be getting favorable protections and multiple first rounders.
Update: Jody Genessy of the Deseret News reports the Jazz will get unprotected 2014 and 2017 first rounders, and Wojnarowski says they will also get multiple second rounders. This seems like a pretty good haul, though Iguodala means that 2014 pick is likely to be in the 20s.
There’s an added cost for the Jazz, because this deal could cost them Paul Millsap.
If this trade is completed before they sign Millsap or make another move to clear cap space – trades can’t become official until July 10 – they will have to renounce Millsap. In theory, they would be allowed to re-sign him, but without his bird rights, without cap space and without the mid-level exception, that would essentially be impossible.
Utah’s best – and perhaps only – feasible plan for re-signing Millsap is to reach a deal before July 10, when presumably, the Warriors will want this trade executed. By waiving Jerel McNeal, whose contract is fully unguaranteed, the Jazz could offer Millsap five years for up to $ 41,200,843 and still have enough cap room to absorb Jefferson, Biedrins and Rush. Then Utah could simply execute its signing of Millsap before the trade.
But if Millsap wants more money or to take more time, he’s gone.