2025-2026: Around the League

[pepe1991]

Clippers traded Norman Powell two weeks before Beal was officially bought out, knowing it's going down.

Knightro you keep telling what WIzards got for Smart. Why does it matter? I'll answer for you. It doesn't. Because Smart being bought out is anti-sportmenship move from compeating POV. They moved him to get worst, because they need to suck to save pick.
Lakers added established player, again, AT AGE OF 31 , for N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
He wasn't FA. Other teams never had chance to "pitch " him anything, he got bought out and signed with Lakers later on same day.

And for 1.5 of those seasons he was on Memphis who absolutely was trying to win and wanted him to play.

This simply isn't true tho.
On start of a season (2023-24) they lost 9 out of 11 games. He got hurt. By the time he returned ,they were already out of playoff picture on West. (9-19), but with him they started to win bit too much ( 5-4) , so naturally, once he got hurt again, they kept him for rest of a year.
After that, they went 13-32.

Grizzlies dumped him next year ( after going 12-7 with him) because they needed salary relief. Guess who won't need salary relief and will still have Smart , on silly salary?

Those moves are outside of relm of CBA. Both moves were orchestrated outside of nba rules and done either weeks in advance or in matter of hours because they were planned by player and handpicked team before they were executed. Even Billy King wouldn't trade Powell for Collins without being sure Beal is on a way.

Tide, do you know how many allstars on all star game 2025 were 30 or older? 10. And Beal and Smart are 31.


To me, whole thing is just another sleazy favor for big market teams and how they can get their hands on talent for free. Because poverty franchizes are fishing for Cole Anthony were luxury one gets multi times allstars and DPOY for ...literally nothing.

[tiderulz]

Clippers traded Norman Powell two weeks before Beal was officially bought out, knowing it's going down.

Knightro you keep telling what WIzards got for Smart. Why does it matter? I'll answer for you. It doesn't. Because Smart being bought out is anti-sportmenship move from compeating POV. They moved him to get worst, because they need to suck to save pick.
Lakers added established player, again, AT AGE OF 31 , for N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
He wasn't FA. Other teams never had chance to "pitch " him anything, he got bought out and signed with Lakers later on same day.

And for 1.5 of those seasons he was on Memphis who absolutely was trying to win and wanted him to play.

This simply isn't true tho.
On start of a season (2023-24) they lost 9 out of 11 games. He got hurt. By the time he returned ,they were already out of playoff picture on West. (9-19), but with him they started to win bit too much ( 5-4) , so naturally, once he got hurt again, they kept him for rest of a year.
After that, they went 13-32.

Grizzlies dumped him next year ( after going 12-7 with him) because they needed salary relief. Guess who won't need salary relief and will still have Smart , on silly salary?

Those moves are outside of relm of CBA. Both moves were orchestrated outside of nba rules and done either weeks in advance or in matter of hours because they were planned by player and handpicked team before they were executed. Even Billy King wouldn't trade Powell for Collins without being sure Beal is on a way.

Tide, do you know how many allstars on all star game 2025 were 30 or older? 10. And Beal and Smart are 31.


To me, whole thing is just another sleazy favor for big market teams and how they can get their hands on talent for free. Because poverty franchizes are fishing for Cole Anthony were luxury one gets multi times allstars and DPOY for ...literally nothing.

big cities are always like that. Free agents arent looking to go to Indiana or Milwaukee or Charlotte. They want big cities with everything that comes with those big cities.

[Knightro]

Clippers traded Norman Powell two weeks before Beal was officially bought out, knowing it's going down.

Knightro you keep telling what WIzards got for Smart. Why does it matter? I'll answer for you. It doesn't. Because Smart being bought out is anti-sportmenship move from compeating POV. They moved him to get worst, because they need to suck to save pick.
Lakers added established player, again, AT AGE OF 31 , for N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
He wasn't FA. Other teams never had chance to "pitch " him anything, he got bought out and signed with Lakers later on same day.

And for 1.5 of those seasons he was on Memphis who absolutely was trying to win and wanted him to play.

This simply isn't true tho.
On start of a season (2023-24) they lost 9 out of 11 games. He got hurt. By the time he returned ,they were already out of playoff picture on West. (9-19), but with him they started to win bit too much ( 5-4) , so naturally, once he got hurt again, they kept him for rest of a year.
After that, they went 13-32.

Grizzlies dumped him next year ( after going 12-7 with him) because they needed salary relief. Guess who won't need salary relief and will still have Smart , on silly salary?

Those moves are outside of relm of CBA. Both moves were orchestrated outside of nba rules and done either weeks in advance or in matter of hours because they were planned by player and handpicked team before they were executed. Even Billy King wouldn't trade Powell for Collins without being sure Beal is on a way.

Tide, do you know how many allstars on all star game 2025 were 30 or older? 10. And Beal and Smart are 31.


To me, whole thing is just another sleazy favor for big market teams and how they can get their hands on talent for free. Because poverty franchizes are fishing for Cole Anthony were luxury one gets multi times allstars and DPOY for ...literally nothing.

You just don't know what you're talking about really, man.

The Grizzlies traded TWO first round picks to acquire Marcus Smart who had 2 years and over 40M left on his contract because they thought he could help them win games more than Tyus Jones could. That is an indisputable fact. They were coming off a season where they won 51 games and were the 2 seed in the Western Conference.

The fact that their season went off the rails before it ever started because Morant got himself suspended for the first 25 games for flashing a gun doesn't mean that their intention wasn't to win basketball games that season before it began.

Morant ended up missing 73 games. Bane ended up missing 40 games. Smart and Morant played a grand total of 6 games together and they had a +1.7 NET rating as a pair, which was the best on their entire team.

The Wizards took on a player's contract that they knew they didn't want and in the end came away with four draft picks in the process. They essentially rented $14M worth of cap space for a year for a first round pick and three second round picks.

And we have people complaining about the integrity of the game? Just pure silliness.

[basketballRob]

I don't think being a big city has anything to do with it. The Clippers have a decent team and money to spend. If we substantially outbid the Clippers, we would've gotten Beal. I still remember when no player would go to the Knicks or Clippers.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[MasterGMer]

[x]

Read on Twitter

[/x]

[pepe1991]

Clippers traded Norman Powell two weeks before Beal was officially bought out, knowing it's going down.

Knightro you keep telling what WIzards got for Smart. Why does it matter? I'll answer for you. It doesn't. Because Smart being bought out is anti-sportmenship move from compeating POV. They moved him to get worst, because they need to suck to save pick.
Lakers added established player, again, AT AGE OF 31 , for N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
He wasn't FA. Other teams never had chance to "pitch " him anything, he got bought out and signed with Lakers later on same day.

And for 1.5 of those seasons he was on Memphis who absolutely was trying to win and wanted him to play.

This simply isn't true tho.
On start of a season (2023-24) they lost 9 out of 11 games. He got hurt. By the time he returned ,they were already out of playoff picture on West. (9-19), but with him they started to win bit too much ( 5-4) , so naturally, once he got hurt again, they kept him for rest of a year.
After that, they went 13-32.

Grizzlies dumped him next year ( after going 12-7 with him) because they needed salary relief. Guess who won't need salary relief and will still have Smart , on silly salary?

Those moves are outside of relm of CBA. Both moves were orchestrated outside of nba rules and done either weeks in advance or in matter of hours because they were planned by player and handpicked team before they were executed. Even Billy King wouldn't trade Powell for Collins without being sure Beal is on a way.

Tide, do you know how many allstars on all star game 2025 were 30 or older? 10. And Beal and Smart are 31.


To me, whole thing is just another sleazy favor for big market teams and how they can get their hands on talent for free. Because poverty franchizes are fishing for Cole Anthony were luxury one gets multi times allstars and DPOY for ...literally nothing.

You just don't know what you're talking about really, man.

The Grizzlies traded TWO first round picks to acquire Marcus Smart who had 2 years and over 40M left on his contract because they thought he could help them win games more than Tyus Jones could. That is an indisputable fact. They were coming off a season where they won 51 games and were the 2 seed in the Western Conference.

The fact that their season went off the rails before it ever started because Morant got himself suspended for the first 25 games for flashing a gun doesn't mean that their intention wasn't to win basketball games that season before it began.

Morant ended up missing 73 games. Bane ended up missing 40 games. Smart and Morant played a grand total of 6 games together and they had a +1.7 NET rating as a pair, which was the best on their entire team.

The Wizards took on a player's contract that they knew they didn't want and in the end came away with four draft picks in the process. They essentially rented $14M worth of cap space for a year for a first round pick and three second round picks.

And we have people complaining about the integrity of the game? Just pure silliness.

Point you try to make literally means nothing in context of buyout and why it's shady.

You keep bringing up Smart in context of what Grizzlies gave away and Wizards gain. To me it's simply irrelevant because it has nothing to do with buyout and his final destination- Lakers.
Those two moves are as relevant to each other as Dwight for Franz "trade". One thing is, by very loose end connected to other, but not really.

The Grizzlies traded TWO first round picks to acquire Marcus Smart who had 2 years and over 40M left on his contract because they thought he could help them win games more than Tyus Jones could. That is an indisputable fact. They were coming off a season where they won 51 games and were the 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Jones, 25th pick from 2023 and 18th pick from 2025. ( Picks turned into Sasser and Clayton ).
But irrelevant for topic of buyout.

Morant ended up missing 73 games. Bane ended up missing 40 games. Smart and Morant played a grand total of 6 games together and they had a +1.7 NET rating as a pair, which was the best on their entire team.

Still irrelevant for buyout and how Lakers got him. Grizzlies ended up dumping him because of salary issues. Guess who won't have his salary issues since it will only cost them 3% of cap?

The Wizards took on a player's contract that they knew they didn't want and in the end came away with four draft picks in the process. They essentially rented $14M worth of cap space for a year for a first round pick and three second round picks.

Even more irrelevant for buyout. It actually hurts integrity of a sport, since Smart is better at basketball than about 95% of Wizards roster. But you do you.


You are doing masterful job dancing to avoid honesty and answering two very simple questions:
1) What does previous Smart trades have to do with fact Lakers got him for nothing?
2) Why don't you find logic behind Beal buyout and how Clippers could possibly know about buyout, as they were preparing space via trades, two weeks before buyout happened?


Since everybody with IQ over 70 can answer both questions:
1) nothing
2) because it was planned and agreed upon before it happened, so it allowed Clippers to make a trade, open guard spot, and get better. By doing so, they are cheating CBA , avoiding FA and getting better costed them nothing. Just like getting better costed Lakers- nothing.

But keep telling me how Wizards got "multiple picks" from previous trades

btw that epic "three picks " that you kept repeating about:

Wizards traded 18th pick ( one they got for Smart, drafted Clayton) for 21st pick (Riley) and some dude named Jamir Watkins, who is 24 + another second round pick. Tbh i can't even find witch one.

The haul.

From start to finish my point is same , and you continue to try to dance around like a stripper on a pool about irrelevant arguments and trades that led to buyout. (ofc, only Smart).

Hypotheses - did two LA teams got better by collecting previous star players for nothing, avoided FA, paid friction of their salary and never had to lose any asset to get those players?

*checks notes* - Brad Beal on Clippers, Smart on Lakers. Both on 3% of salary cap. Both still in playing prime and just 31.

Final conclusions: Yes. Both LA based team got better for free.

But hey, "i don't know what i'm talking about". I'll let Knightro takes me back to June of 2023 to tell me how it all makes sense

Spoiler:

[Knightro]

Clippers traded Norman Powell two weeks before Beal was officially bought out, knowing it's going down.

Knightro you keep telling what WIzards got for Smart. Why does it matter? I'll answer for you. It doesn't. Because Smart being bought out is anti-sportmenship move from compeating POV. They moved him to get worst, because they need to suck to save pick.
Lakers added established player, again, AT AGE OF 31 , for N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
He wasn't FA. Other teams never had chance to "pitch " him anything, he got bought out and signed with Lakers later on same day.


This simply isn't true tho.
On start of a season (2023-24) they lost 9 out of 11 games. He got hurt. By the time he returned ,they were already out of playoff picture on West. (9-19), but with him they started to win bit too much ( 5-4) , so naturally, once he got hurt again, they kept him for rest of a year.
After that, they went 13-32.

Grizzlies dumped him next year ( after going 12-7 with him) because they needed salary relief. Guess who won't need salary relief and will still have Smart , on silly salary?

Those moves are outside of relm of CBA. Both moves were orchestrated outside of nba rules and done either weeks in advance or in matter of hours because they were planned by player and handpicked team before they were executed. Even Billy King wouldn't trade Powell for Collins without being sure Beal is on a way.

Tide, do you know how many allstars on all star game 2025 were 30 or older? 10. And Beal and Smart are 31.


To me, whole thing is just another sleazy favor for big market teams and how they can get their hands on talent for free. Because poverty franchizes are fishing for Cole Anthony were luxury one gets multi times allstars and DPOY for ...literally nothing.

You just don't know what you're talking about really, man.

The Grizzlies traded TWO first round picks to acquire Marcus Smart who had 2 years and over 40M left on his contract because they thought he could help them win games more than Tyus Jones could. That is an indisputable fact. They were coming off a season where they won 51 games and were the 2 seed in the Western Conference.

The fact that their season went off the rails before it ever started because Morant got himself suspended for the first 25 games for flashing a gun doesn't mean that their intention wasn't to win basketball games that season before it began.

Morant ended up missing 73 games. Bane ended up missing 40 games. Smart and Morant played a grand total of 6 games together and they had a +1.7 NET rating as a pair, which was the best on their entire team.

The Wizards took on a player's contract that they knew they didn't want and in the end came away with four draft picks in the process. They essentially rented $14M worth of cap space for a year for a first round pick and three second round picks.

And we have people complaining about the integrity of the game? Just pure silliness.

Point you try to make literally means nothing in context of buyout and why it's shady.

You keep bringing up Smart in context of what Grizzlies gave away and Wizards gain. To me it's simply irrelevant because it has nothing to do with buyout and his final destination- Lakers.
Those two moves are as relevant to each other as Dwight for Franz "trade". One thing is, by very loose end connected to other, but not really.

The Grizzlies traded TWO first round picks to acquire Marcus Smart who had 2 years and over 40M left on his contract because they thought he could help them win games more than Tyus Jones could. That is an indisputable fact. They were coming off a season where they won 51 games and were the 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Jones, 25th pick from 2023 and 18th pick from 2025. ( Picks turned into Sasser and Clayton ).
But irrelevant for topic of buyout.

Morant ended up missing 73 games. Bane ended up missing 40 games. Smart and Morant played a grand total of 6 games together and they had a +1.7 NET rating as a pair, which was the best on their entire team.

Still irrelevant for buyout and how Lakers got him. Grizzlies ended up dumping him because of salary issues. Guess who won't have his salary issues since it will only cost them 3% of cap?

The Wizards took on a player's contract that they knew they didn't want and in the end came away with four draft picks in the process. They essentially rented $14M worth of cap space for a year for a first round pick and three second round picks.

Even more irrelevant for buyout. It actually hurts integrity of a sport, since Smart is better at basketball than about 95% of Wizards roster. But you do you.


You are doing masterful job dancing to avoid honesty and answering two very simple questions:
1) What does previous Smart trades have to do with fact Lakers got him for nothing?
2) Why don't you find logic behind Beal buyout and how Clippers could possibly know about buyout, as they were preparing space via trades, two weeks before buyout happened?


Since everybody with IQ over 70 can answer both questions:
1) nothing
2) because it was planned and agreed upon before it happened, so it allowed Clippers to make a trade, open guard spot, and get better. By doing so, they are cheating CBA , avoiding FA and getting better costed them nothing. Just like getting better costed Lakers- nothing.

But keep telling me how Wizards got "multiple picks" from previous trades

btw that epic "three picks " that you kept repeating about:

Wizards traded 18th pick ( one they got for Smart, drafted Clayton) for 21st pick (Riley) and some dude named Jamir Watkins, who is 24 + another second round pick. Tbh i can't even find witch one.

The haul.

From start to finish my point is same , and you continue to try to dance around like a stripper on a pool about irrelevant arguments and trades that led to buyout. (ofc, only Smart).

Hypotheses - did two LA teams got better by collecting previous star players for nothing, avoided FA, paid friction of their salary and never had to lose any asset to get those players?

*checks notes* - Brad Beal on Clippers, Smart on Lakers. Both on 3% of salary cap. Both still in playing prime and just 31.

Final conclusions: Yes. Both LA based team got better for free.

But hey, "i don't know what i'm talking about". I'll let Knightro takes me back to June of 2023 to tell me how it all makes sense

Spoiler:

What exactly do you think Marcus Smart or Bradley Beal would’ve gotten had their contracts just been regular old expiring and had they both been just regular unrestricted free agents this offseason?

Like at this point in both of their careers, are they not both taxpayer MLE caliber players on good teams?

They’re both in their 30s. They have both made a ton of money already and aren’t in the same situation as a guy like Cam Thomas or Quentin Grimes who hasn’t really gotten paid all that much. And they’ve both struggled with injuries and generally not all that great of play for teams that weren’t all that competitive either.

They both got paid basically what they are worth at this point in their respective careers.

Being mad because the teams that had them on their huge contracts, which by the way were signed *three* summers ago in Beal’s case and *four* summers ago Smart’s case, didn’t want them anymore is completely irrelevant.

Acting like the Wizards should’ve held onto and played Smart in some sort of “protecting the competitive spirit of the game” argument because he would be their best guard is one of the silliest things anyone’s ever argued.

[Knightro]

The negative discourse around buyouts just doesn’t make sense to me.

Good teams do buyouts. Bad teams do buyouts.

It’s just part of the game and has been for a long time.

If a player wants to give back money that he’s contractually owed, that’s his prerogative as far as I’m concerned.

Just don’t find there to be anything shady or against the spirit of the game about it. It’s a mutual decision between team and player.

[pepe1991]

Acting like the Wizards should’ve held onto and played Smart in some sort of “protecting the competitive spirit of the game” argument because he would be their best guard is one of the silliest things anyone’s ever argued.

This is sad on so many levels

No man, competitive sports should be all about losing, "developing" 19 y.o. millionaires and replacing good players with bad, because heart of sport is losing on purpose for ping pong balls in lottery system. .

Silly me. That's what sports are all about.

Being mad because the teams that had them on their huge contracts

And yet you continue to put words in my mouth that i literally never said or argued for.
I'm not "mad" because they got paid, i'm "mad" because new team got them for next to nothing, knew they will bought out, traded out accordingly and got better without having to give up anything .

But you continue to argue everything but my actual argument. Any my argument was made out of two points:
1) 31 years old former stars should be subject of cheap transactions and that's how rich get richer ( big market teams, both LA based)
2) both buyouts were agreed with player and NEW TEAM, along with original team. By default, it goes against CBA because nba players can't negotiate with other teams. Since both teams snatched Smart/Beal hours after buyout.

1. Under Contract
If a player is currently under contract, they cannot negotiate with other NBA teams.

Doing so would be considered tampering, which is prohibited.

Only their current team or an approved representative (agent) can initiate formal discussions, and only in specific contexts (e.g., trades)

But hey, you do you.

[Knightro]

both buyouts were agreed with player and NEW TEAM, along with original team. By default, it goes against CBA because nba players can't negotiate with other teams. Since both teams snatched Smart/Beal hours after buyout.

1. Under Contract
If a player is currently under contract, they cannot negotiate with other NBA teams.

Doing so would be considered tampering, which is prohibited.

Only their current team or an approved representative (agent) can initiate formal discussions, and only in specific contexts (e.g., trades)

But hey, you do you.

If a team is seeking a buyout with a player and a player is receptive to being bought out, the team doing the buying out then gives that player's agent permission to start negotiating that player's next contract with other teams.

This is not some evil CBA circumventing. It's a team working with a player (as the player is subsequently working with them by taking less money than they're contractually owed). The Wizards and Suns knew for at least a couple of weeks ahead of the actual buyout transaction that they weren't moving forward with Smart and Beal and thus allowed those player's agents to start the process of finding them a new home.

[Knightro]

This is sad on so many levels

No man, competitive sports should be all about losing, "developing" 19 y.o. millionaires and replacing good players with bad, because heart of sport is losing on purpose for ping pong balls in lottery system. .

Silly me. That's what sports are all about.

Certain teams are in different stages of rebuilding/competing than others. What a shocking and disgusting development that is!

[JoshuaPotter]

I said it a few pages back before everyone moved goal posts.

How can someone be bought out, and sign a contract same day without breaking his current contract with a communication happening beforehand? That I think is the true "spirit" of the game I am concerned about. I couldn't care less about salary breakdowns and rich getting richer.

Are GMs just cooking up contracts non stop in the case a player "X" gets a buyout. That seems unreasonable.

In terms of Free Agency, we all know the date contracts end and the timeline for making preparations and contract offers make total sense. But for a random buyout? How can this happen without a discussion beforehand?

[JoshuaPotter]

As far as another team doing it to stay worse so they can get their lotto pick?

Seems dumb to me. In terms of team management. It sets off another healthy thought about whether or not the salary "floor" helps the product of the NBA. My thought is, it doesn't. It does enrich the players? So that's fine.

Parity in the NBA is pretty good at the moment so the system is working per se. Also, and this is my humble opinion is the best way to stop tanking to keep lotto picks is to make all picks unprotected OR outside of 1-14 protected or not. My opinion, hate it for what you want.

[Knightro]

I said it a few pages back before everyone moved goal posts.

How can someone be bought out, and sign a contract same day without breaking his current contract with a communication happening beforehand? That I think is the true "spirit" of the game I am concerned about. I couldn't care less about salary breakdowns and rich getting richer.

Are GMs just cooking up contracts non stop in the case a player "X" gets a buyout. That seems unreasonable.

In terms of Free Agency, we all know the date contracts end and the timeline for making preparations and contract offers make total sense. But for a random buyout? How can this happen without a discussion beforehand?

Because there was a discussion beforehand and permission was given to have said discussion.

If a team approaches one of their players about a buyout (or visa versa and the player approaches his team about a buyout), it's not like that process gets settled in an hour and that's that.

The moment both sides agree that they are going to part ways and they begin negotiating the actual terms of the buyout - aka how much money the player is going to give back - at the exact same time the team (and the NBA) also gives the player's agent permission to start negotiating the player's next contract with the other 29 teams.

The Wizards told Smart's agent probably 2 weeks before his buyout was actually official that he was free to negotiate with all 29 other NBA teams. Same thing happened with Beal. Same thing happened with Cole Anthony. Same thing happened with Clarkson and on and on and on.

There's nothing at all shady about it.

[JoshuaPotter]

I said it a few pages back before everyone moved goal posts.

How can someone be bought out, and sign a contract same day without breaking his current contract with a communication happening beforehand? That I think is the true "spirit" of the game I am concerned about. I couldn't care less about salary breakdowns and rich getting richer.

Are GMs just cooking up contracts non stop in the case a player "X" gets a buyout. That seems unreasonable.

In terms of Free Agency, we all know the date contracts end and the timeline for making preparations and contract offers make total sense. But for a random buyout? How can this happen without a discussion beforehand?

Because there was a discussion beforehand and permission was given to have said discussion.

If a team approaches one of their players about a buyout (or visa versa and the player approaches his team about a buyout), it's not like that process gets settled in an hour and that's that.

The moment both sides agree that they are going to part ways and they begin negotiating the actual terms of the buyout - aka how much money the player is going to give back - at the exact same time the team (and the NBA) also gives the player's agent permission to start negotiating the player's next contract with the other 29 teams.

The Wizards told Smart's agent probably 2 weeks before his buyout was actually official that he was free to negotiate with all 29 other NBA teams. Same thing happened with Beal. Same thing happened with Cole Anthony. Same thing happened with Clarkson and on and on and on.

There's nothing at all shady about it.

The Cole thing is almost understandable because well...it was in the news or at least all over the internet as such. If the Grizz couldn't get anything in return for him he was going to be waived. OK we are good there.

In terms of Beal - I believe it was being discussed about the potential of being waived or a buyout for some time. Am I mistaken? So this one can kinda make sense. Like for some dumb reason I think of him having buyout discussions as recently as last season unless there are too many Beals in the league.

Now where does Smart come into this? Point is I'm trying to make is. Even I sorta caught on to scenario 1-2 so nothing feels cheesed.

But you are just blatantly saying "it was probably done weeks beforehand". Based on what? How do the other 29 teams officially know without a statement? Did I miss something in the newswire? This is all honest questions.

It's totally one thing if The Wizards make a statement saying we are seeking a buyout. Then he can go and find his next bag. (Which by the way this isn't about Smart getting paid 2x over) it's about what feels like a lack of transparency or official newswire of such things.

Last example. It should come as no surprise if Lebron gets traded, waived, bought out and he resigns somewhere else within the next 24 hours because the news cycle is covering the Lakers non stop and his contract future there is totally up in the air unless I missed something.

[Knightro]

The Cole thing is almost understandable because well...it was in the news or at least all over the internet as such. If the Grizz couldn't get anything in return for him he was going to be waived. OK we are good there.

In terms of Beal - I believe it was being discussed about the potential of being waived or a buyout for some time. Am I mistaken? So this one can kinda make sense. Like for some dumb reason I think of him having buyout discussions as recently as last season unless there are too many Beals in the league.

Now where does Smart come into this? Point is I'm trying to make is. Even I sorta caught on to scenario 1-2 so nothing feels cheesed.

But you are just blatantly saying "it was probably done weeks beforehand". Based on what? How do the other 29 teams officially know without a statement? Did I miss something in the newswire? This is all honest questions.

It's totally one thing if The Wizards make a statement saying we are seeking a buyout. Then he can go and find his next bag. (Which by the way this isn't about Smart getting paid 2x over) it's about what feels like a lack of transparency or official newswire of such things.

Last example. It should come as no surprise if Lebron gets traded, waived, bought out and he resigns somewhere else within the next 24 hours because the news cycle is covering the Lakers non stop and his contract future there is totally up in the air unless I missed something.

All I can say...

Just because we didn't outright hear about the possibility of Smart being bought out until right before he was actually bought out doesn't mean all parties - the Wizards, Smart and his agent, and yes the Lakers (as well as every other team) - didn't know about it well in advance.

I don't know what else to say about it. Buyouts take at least a little time and that's usually done intentionally to give the player's agent time to shop his player's services before he's just cut loose into the cold world of free agency.

[pepe1991]

Well it is problematic that buyout was both:
1) better than actual FA market
2) that all the big names ended up in LA teams

Lakers finished playoffs with no C and Hachimura playing 5, very thing guard depth. After giving up nothing, their starting C is now 27 years old guy who was second leading scorer on 64 wins team, who was once good enough to be drafted 1# overall and also played in nba finals as starter.

And their depth guard is DPOY from few years back.

What they given up? Nothing.

We can argue about Ayton's focus, desire to play defense, desire to show up on time, but even on 80%, Ayton is so talented that he is better C than anybody from FA market.

[pepe1991]

So Jeff Teague on podcast just dropped "Lebron used to be on PEDs , had to fake back injury to get clean from testosterone " .
Than wrote on IG story he was "just joking"...

Poor Silver, has to make calls and bribes even in offseason

[drsd]

The negative discourse around buyouts just doesn’t make sense to me.

Good teams do buyouts. Bad teams do buyouts.

It’s just part of the game and has been for a long time.

The "discourse" is new in that the new CBA's apron effects are new. The concern is that the buyouts are being used to circumvent the spirt of the purpose of the two aprons.

[VFX]

The negative discourse around buyouts just doesn’t make sense to me.

Good teams do buyouts. Bad teams do buyouts.

It’s just part of the game and has been for a long time.

The "discourse" is new in that the new CBA's apron effects are new. The concern is that the buyouts are being used to circumvent the spirt of the purpose of the two aprons.

They are. To argue otherwise is stupid.

Beal signed an astronomical deal with a NTC for $251m and was owed $111m before his buyout.

It means that as long as you have an owner willing to spend money it won’t directly go against your cap when you make franchise killing deals like this. You can do whatever you want apparently and Front offices don’t need to face repercussions.

Beal can just go sign with whoever while he still makes the money discounted over a period of time. Just another way of players choosing where they want to go while circumventing the CBA cap restrictions by stretching guaranteed contracts that are nearly never fulfilled by these specific players.

How about players that sign guaranteed contracts play for the guaranteed time unless they are moved to another team willing to take on the remainder of the full contract? Shocking revelation.

Only nba lawyers and agents could find ways of getting bad teams to pay good players to play for competing teams that were previously unable to add more talent due to cap restrictions 90% of the rest of the league would otherwise face when backed into a corner.