LAS VEGAS — The halls of the Thomas & Mack Center are more crowded these days. From the lobby that connects UNLV’s main arena and the smaller Cox Pavilion, to the back hallways where team staffers and veteran players weave their way through the building out of the public eye. Such a migration of NBA personnel, every July — despite the blistering heat that blankets the sport’s annual Summer League — sparks a whirlwind of conversation each year as the offseason slows down. For an industry, particularly the element of team building, which moves in cycles within a company that has a limited number of partners, the topic buzzing at group dinners and around the lobby bars of late night on casino floors can function as a form of bookmarking recent NBA history. It is a convention of ideas as much as a hobby.
Last year, the mammoth price Minnesota paid Utah to acquire three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert earned the top spot in the Summer League jabber. Trade demand for Kevin Durant in Brooklyn certainly loomed over the event, and onlookers were eager to snap photos of Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka chatting with Nets general manager Sean Marks — presumably about the impending demise of Kyrie Irving from Brooklyn. But Gobert’s price, pairing the 7-foot-2 center with the Timberwolves’ All-NBA starting big man Karl-Anthony Towns for five years of first-round capital, then some, plus the Hawks’ acquisition of Dejounte Murray for three unprotected raws, was the raucous backdrop to any Durant conversation, as it set the Nets’ benchmark for any possible Durant comeback.
Damian Lillard’s trade request from the Portland Trail Blazers, delivered on day two of this year’s free agency period, surely replaced Durant’s fodder from last summer. And it’s no coincidence that Brooklyn landed from Phoenix for Durant — two top young players in Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, plus four first-round picks — floats around the league as Portland Ballpark asks to separate from Lillard.
Yet for the steady stream of progressive updates on Lillard’s Miami-or-bust saga, even with Blazers general manager Joe Cronin speaking to reporters at a press conference this week, the shaky future de Lillard didn’t bring much theater to the field in Las Vegas. There was no substantiated word of any significant talks between Portland and Miami. There was no courtside seating arrangement, as, for example, Lillard’s agent Aaron Goodwin was visibly stationed with the Heat’s front office luminaries. Cronin delivered consistent messages about his activities to trade Lillard, even saying “if it takes months, it takes months.” He, or any of the top Blazers officials present, didn’t seem to behave as if they were standing at the center of the NBA’s latest storm. Just like Lillard, they act undisturbed by all those raindrops.
Some rival executives considered that moment the first spotlight that really landed on Cronin and his young front office. He’s a longtime Blazers staffer, dating back to a basketball operations internship in 2006, with extensive cap strategy and scouting experience. But it is common that the personalities of the team, who manage to spend a career with a franchise, are lesser known personalities in this world. Cronin appears universally hailed as one of the good guys in a sea of sharks. He became one of Portland’s assistant general managers in 2021, before being elevated to the starring role in December when former Blazers chairman Neil Olshey was fired for violating the team’s code of conduct. , but Cronin does not have a long history of this rival. teams can expect. What we know so far: So green in his No. 1 tenure, Cronin used the exact playbook Brooklyn ran with Durant last summer, and how Daryl Morey’s 76ers are handling ongoing trade demand by James Harden of Philadelphia.
Both of these current situations seem destined for a slow resolution. Many top executives began leaving Las Vegas after the league’s opening weekend, and many top prospects like Victor Wembanyama have already been pulled from business. Even with Harden’s continued interest in joining the Los Angeles Clippers after opting for a $35.6 million salary for the 2023-24 campaign, nothing looked like a real update on his dynamic with Philadelphia, at apart from the familiar thoughts that Morey and the Sixers are not. I’m afraid to continue his business process in September – and maybe a training camp if need be.
For the Blazers’ hopes of finding a multi-team package with Miami, league staff are optimistic that Portland will find at least one first-round pick from another franchise more eager to welcome Tyler Herro. Although aside from early rumors about Brooklyn and Chicago, the only team even loosely connected as a contender for Herro has been Utah. The Jazz’s assessment of Herro was also a key talking point during last year’s Summer League, as team staff members prepared for Utah to leave Donovan Mitchell – in part of a trade contest that NBA figures show would boil down to the Heat’s offer featuring Herro, similar to their eventual package for Lillard, and a potential offer from New York that could have included RJ Barrett . Both players went on to sign four-year contracts worth around $30 million in average annual salary, which will begin with this 2023-24 season.
There has been league-wide speculation that Brooklyn may have considered adding Herro in an effort to offload Ben Simmons. However, the Nets, league sources told Yahoo Sports, have had no meaningful trade conversations regarding Simmons and that Lillard blockbuster in Miami. Yes, it’s another offseason full of social media sightings of Simmons on the mend, shirtless and lifting and back on the court, but Nets officials seem genuinely intrigued to see how a former All-Star healthy three times can play in a lot different environment of Brooklyn. The Nets also have to recognize that any deal frame that would send the last two years and nearly $80 million remaining on Simmons’ contract from his All-Star past will be pretty tough to complete.
Pascal Siakam’s own contract status remains one of the other major dominoes in this summer landscape. Siakam is entering the final season of his contract, worth $37 million for 2023-24, and he has left rival teams with the impression that he only intends to sign the extension he is. eligible to receive this offseason if he stays in Toronto. If that stance remains as strict as Lillard’s constant eye for Miami, how could a team like the Hawks sacrifice the capital the Raptors would surely want to part with him?
Sportsnet first revealed Indiana’s apparent interest in Siakam, in addition to Atlanta’s longstanding lawsuit against him, which has also become a talking point in Las Vegas. Besides Lillard and Harden, Siakam has been certified as the second biggest trade name in the league’s ruthless rumor mill. Siakam’s absence has also become another hot topic in the Summer League. The All-NBA talent has made notable annual appearances around the event to practice with his Raptors teammates and watch Toronto exhibition games. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the 29-year-old veteran is going out the same summer that he has an open-ended contract and an unspecified city to live in.
Indiana would make sense as a possible destination, at least from the team’s side. Over the past year and change, the Pacers have seriously explored every modern starting-level forward across the NBA, from Tobias Harris to Harrison Barnes to Siakam’s teammate OG Anunoby, sources said. There’s no doubt that Indiana has at least discussed the premise of adding Siakam and the high price tag Toronto has, by all accounts, maintained for all of its veteran talent over the past few seasons.
The Pacers were mentioned in another possible trade discussion this week. Phoenix has continued to explore trade scenarios for backup guard Cam Payne, league sources told Yahoo Sports, and Indiana point guard TJ McConnell has been one of the players on the Suns’ radar. There have been discussions around Summer League about a developing multi-team trade discussion. There may be some business to settle with the Knicks. Rival front offices continue to say New York remains committed to trade routes for veteran shooter Evan Fournier, and the Knicks are open to doing so under multi-team frameworks, sources said.