The big news lately is the monster trade that has gone down and the one still rumored to come about. After Hedo Turkoglu turned around (because of his wife) and reneged on Portland, the Mavs worked to bring in Shawn Marion. It turned out to be in the form of a four-way trade with Memphis and Orlando. Including Orlando and Dallas made me wonder why Gortat and possibly Brandon Bass weren't included in this, but at least Marion makes it to Dallas.
The new trade rumored takes care of another of the issues circling this offseason: Utah's cap-space predicament. The rumor, and who knows how much creedence to give it, has Carlos Boozer going to the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich going to Portland, and Tyrus Thomas going to the Jazz. Boozer and Hinrich make sense, and Thomas would provide a power forward option if the Jazz don't end up re-signing Paul Millsap or else acting as Millsap's back-up. The question, however, is who Portland loses in this trade.
Besides the big five of Orlando, the Lakers, Boston, Cleveland, and the Spurs (who picked McDyess to bolster their acquisition of Richard Jefferson before the draft), the big winners of this offseason are the Dallas Mavericks and, surprisingly, the Atlanta Hawks. Dallas looks to get Marcin Gortat through free agency, retained Jason Kidd, and then went out and peddled that Stackhouse contract into Shawn Marion. Atlanta went out to and traded for Jamal Crawford, then re-signed Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia. It might not seem like major moves by the Hawks, but it's a big step away from their reputation as an NBA player acquisition black hole.
If you want the full down load on all NBA player movement, you can check out the ESPN movement central. Otherwise, here's a rundown of OtB's top 30 free agents and where they've landed. The players still without a settled home yet are now in red. Lamar Odom is probably the player left un-signed that will make the biggest impact. Other notablses are Brandon Bass, Allen Iverson, and Grant Hill. The unrestricted young'uns have been waiting for the other dominoes to fall.
- Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe chose not to opt out.
- Carlos Boozer - Utah Jazz: Boozer exercised a player option.
- Ama're Stoudamire - TBD (trade?)
- Ben Gordon - Detroit Pistons: Gordon signed a 5 year deal for $55 million.
- Paul Millsap - TBD (restricted)
- Josh Smith - TBD (trade?)
- Ron Artest - Los Angeles Lakers: signed with Lakers for five years and about $33 million.
- Trevor Ariza - Houston Rockets: essentially swaps places with Ron-Ron, to the tune of...well, an almost identical contract.
- Chris Anderson - Denver Nuggets: The Birdman re-signed with the Nugs for up to $26 million on a back-loaded, incentive based deal.
- Lamar Odom - TBD
- Jason Kidd - Dallas Mavericks: After flirting with New York, Kidd re-signed for three years with the Mavs at $25 million.
- Hedo Turkoglu - Toronto Raptors: Instead of signing with either the Blazers or Raps, Turkoglu got included in the trade that sent Marion to Dallas.
- Rasheed Wallace - Boston Celtics: 'Sheed signed with the Celts for 2 years of the MLE.
- David Lee - TBD (restricted)
- Shawn Marion - Dallas Mavericks: Marion signed-and-traded to Mavs after Raps picked up Hedo Turkoglu. He's getting a five year $39 million deal.
- Nate Robinson - TBD (restricted)
- Kyle Korver - Utah Jazz
- Charlie Villanueva - Detroit Pistons: signed for five years, $35 million.
- Brandon Bass - TBD
- Marcin Gortat - TBD: The Magic still have a few days to match the Mavs offer sheet for the Polish Hammer, but it's been a foregone conclusion that Gortat would be end up in Dallas.
- Allen Iverson - TBD
- Andre Miller - TBD
- Mike Bibby - Atlanta Hawks: three year deal estimated around $18 million.
- Drew Gooden - TBD
- Antonio McDyess - San Antonio Spurs: McDyess signed up for three years and a guaranteed $15 million.
- Grant Hill - TBD
- Zaza Pachulia - TBD: Atlanta Hawks look to re-sign the big man.
- Von Wafer - TBD
- Stephon Marbury - TBD
- Zach Randolph - Memphis Grizzlies: Traded from the Clips.
